Friday
By lunchtime our jolly little band had assembled in a large field at Redmire. Nick and Margaret, our caterers for the weekend, provided an excellent lunch, after which we headed off with the Pixies to Castle Bolton.
The village is dominated by Bolton Castle! Home of medieval banquets.
After a visit to the Castle and a stroll in the gardens during which some got lost in a maze and I managed to pull a muscle during a vineyard race, we returned via a southerly route.
This path revealed that it would be unwise to be reincarnated as a mole hereabouts.
Alastair and Sue, with assistance from assorted Pixies, managed to combine their culinary and pyromaniacal tendencies to assist with the catering, though we did think it rather unfair on Margaret that she was shrunk and magiced by her devious son into the bubbling pot.
Luckily she survived the ordeal and our resident magician converted the pan’s contents to ‘diced brains’. They tasted much like potatoes.
Saturday
Some of the brains survived until the following morning, when breakfast could be described as ‘sumptuous’.
Morning exercise was up nearby Penhill, which emerged from the mist as we ascended, taking late evasive action to avoid an imminent volley of bullets that would no doubt accompany a fast approaching line of ‘beaters’.
We had forgotten that this was the first weekend after ‘the glorious twelfth’. That explains the early morning baying of hounds…
A couple of cows took refuge on the campsite. They were remarkably clean!
The afternoon saw us transported to the mysterious world of Forbidden Corner, “a unique labyrinth of tunnels, chambers, follies and surprises created in a four acre garden in the heart of Tupgill Park and the Yorkshire Dales. The temple of the underworld, the eye of the needle, a huge pyramid made of translucent glass, paths and passages that lead nowhere, extraordinary statues - at every turn there are decisions to make and tricks to avoid.”
Here, the Pixies chuckle at those progressing down a deceptively narrowing pathway.
The garden sported a profusion of flowers, and ice creams.
After another fiery cooking session, copious quantities of red wine, and the sleep of the contented, we woke on Sunday morning to Alastair’s tending of a roaring fire below a ‘full English’.
The cows soon abandoned the camp site, then the rest of us strolled off to explore the banks of the River Ure around Redmire Force, part of which can be seen below. It’s just a little down river from Aysgarth Falls.
Here’s where we spent the weekend….
… we walked all of 10 km!
The sunny afternoon continued into the evening, when, after a pleasant journey home via Wharfedale, we enjoyed a stroll to Marsland Bridge with Julia, who was on holiday here in Timperley.
The above images are just a small selection from the weekend, the participants of which (and anyone else interested) can view a full set of about 80 images, including many from Forbidden Corner, here.
