Month: August 2020

Wonderful waterfalls

stitchesoftime2 Comments

My second holiday was a trip away with my sister in her fabulous camper van Eva, named after my Nana who lived to be 100 and loved travel.She and my grandad went abroad twice a  year, every year from the 1970s which was very unusual for families like ours at that time.Last October we went to the Dales near Settle and had a fab time.We were going to go to Wales but there were still a lot of restrictions on sites there so we ended up back in the Dales again.

My sister loves waterfalls so I found a great site at one of the most famous waterfalls in the Dales, at Asysgarth. The site is at the back of the Aysgarth Falls Hotel in a stunning location with beautiful views and a very nice beer garden to enjoy them in. It is a very small site with only 10 van pitches but beautifully kept with great facilities.

Dales waterfalls 46

Dales waterfalls 45

The shower and toilet block is these little green garden sheds and there are two sinks for washing up.

Dales waterfalls 44

Ellen joined us for one night’s camping and she was in the very well – kept tent field which was just below ours.

Dales waterfalls 47

We met some friendly campers as well who came and admired the van. It is so convenient, I will always love camping but it is so nice to drive up and everything is there for you, and no wet tents to dry off when you get home!

We went cross country on the drive there which was fun, large camper van on small country lanes 🙂 Luckily my sister is a very experienced driver. She wanted to stop at some waterfalls she had found on the map so we had a picnic at a cute spot in the middle of Wharfedale on the way.

Dales waterfalls 5

We started on the second day with a visit to Hardraw Force, which is the largest single drop waterfall in England. It was a beautiful setting and after seeing the waterfall from the bottom of the gorge we climbed up to the top to look down on it which was amazing.

Dales waterfalls 22

Dales waterfalls 23

The power of the water as it thundered into the pool was amazing and I could have stayed watching it for hours. At the top there were these huge rocks in the river leading to the waterfall and beautiful views across the valley.

Dales waterfalls 26

We stopped at Hawes on the way back for a look round and to purchase some Wensleydale cheese as we were staying in Wensleydale. There were some beautiful little waterfalls in the middle of the village as well and very cute cottages.

Dales waterfalls 29

Our second day was spent at the Aysgarth Falls and also going on a 2 mile walk (there and back) to another waterfall, Cauldron Falls, which we spotted on the map in the little village of West Burton.

We have been to Aysgarth many years ago and it is still an amazing place, the sheer power of the water is stunning.My sister got a lot nearer than I did as last year I fell over near the waterfall we were visiting and badly bruised my hip so stayed safe this time.

Dales waterfalls 36

Dales waterfalls 34

It was a very hot day and after an ice cream and a little sit down the walk to West Burton seemed a very long way. It was a very pretty village though and thankfully the village pub was open so we were able to have a cold pint of cider to keep us going for the way back to the pub at the campsite.

Dales waterfalls 38

Dales waterfalls 37

The Cauldron Falls were amazing, we had expected only a little waterfall but instead we got this.It was a really nice walk along the river as well.

Dales waterfalls 41

We also had a bbq, only the second of the year and had lots of time to just sit and chill and catch up with my sister. It was a fantastic relaxing and fun filled 4 days and I can’t wait to buy my own camper van next year. I loved taking pictures of all of the different textures of trees, water and rocks.

The journey back was in a very warm 32 degrees, just in time to get me acclimatised before I flew to Spain the following day. I didn’t take any pictures while in Spain as it was a very low key time. I did go swimming almost every day, and had some trips to the beach and a couple of meals out. Most of the time was spent sitting reading, knitting and generally chilling (albeit in 34 degrees!).

I have been so lucky to be able to get away and feel very, very happy to have been able to see my Mum and my aunt. There was a time in April when I thought I was never going to be able to visit Spain again and it was so brilliant to be able to be there with them.

The new Steampunk outfit is going well and I have completed the hat. I will be able to give you some updates in the next post and fingers crossed by Monday I will have most of it completed.

Although I still love the colour, the satin fabric has been quite tricky to work with. Aside from my ever present fitting issues (why do I always cut out things so large?), it is a very slippery fabric to work with and shows every pin mark. Hopefully the overall impression will be so stunning people won’t notice the tiny holes in some of the pieces, note to self, next time don’t ever use a pin in the centre of the fabric 😉

I hope that you have all had a nice week, work has been fine as luckily we are not too badly affected by all the A level trauma in the department I work in. I feel so sorry for all of the students, their teachers, and the university staff who have had to try and deal with this. My heart goes out to all of the young people in what has been such an awful year for them without all this.

Take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting, liking and commenting, it is lovely to get such nice feedback from you all.

A picnic in style

stitchesoftime3 Comments

On the way back from Whitby we visited Beningbrough Hall for a walk around the gardens and a picnic. The house is not yet open but it was a beautiful day and it gave us chance to try out our new picnic basket.

Beningbrough 1

Beningbrough 2

Beningbrough 3

Beningbrough 12

I have been looking for a basket for our Steampunk days out for a while, especially for the event that is coming up over the August Bank Holiday. By chance we we staying right next to a Boyes store in Whitby and they had one in the window. I had never been in a Boyes but loved it- great haberdashery as well!

It is perfect and we really loved having a sophisticated lunch under the shade of the trees.Ellen was very impressed that it even has salt and pepper pots 😉 We felt like we were in some glam post war novel.

Beningbrough 4

Picnic basket 1

Picnic basket 2

The gardens themselves were very lovely, I would like to return to the property and see inside and also go on some of the longer walks by the river at some point.

 

As always there were the most amazing flowers, this agapanthus is one of my favourites and I particularly like this photo as it looks like a painting. I am always amazed by the variety of flowers that there are and love the sculptural forms of them.

Beningbrough 7

Beningbrough 9

Beningbrough 15

Beningbrough 13

Beningbrough 11

Beningbrough 5

Beningbrough 10

We didn’t stay for long as Ellen was going home after dropping me off but it was a really lovely little visit and the perfect end to a wonderful weekend away.

I hope that you are having a nice week, I am making some progress with the knitting but have had to do one bit three times now. I am hoping to be able to post some progress shots of both the knitting and the newest Steampunk jacket soon. I am still working on re-sizing it and can then get on to the fun bits of of appliqueing the embroidery.

Have fun whatever you are doing. Take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

A pirate’s life for us

stitchesoftime9 Comments

I have had a wonderful three weeks away. The first trip to Whitby with Ellen turned out much better than we expected as the weather was excellent. The forecast had been quite poor for the Saturday but it was really lovely apart from one small rain shower so we took advantage of the beautiful sunshine.

We didn’t get chance to visit the abbey last year as it was closed and really enjoyed our visit there on Friday.

Whitby Abbey 1

Whitby Abbey 2

Although it must have looked amazing when it was first built I also love it as a ruin.

The contrast between the stone and the sky and the way that the stone is degrading due to the wind and weather makes it an amazing place.

Whitby Abbey stone 2

Whitby Abbey stone 1

Whitby Abbey stone 3

We went down and back up the 199 steps to find the tea shop we so enjoyed last year. It was just closing on Friday but we went back on Saturday for the delicious gluten free cream tea and were able to have lots of other nice cafe and bar stops over the weekend.

Whitby steps Ellen

It was so nice to be out enjoying these things again, apart from a pizza in the village last month I have not done anything like this for four months which seems impossible when you think about it. It was lovely to see Whitby bustling with lots of businesses open again and we found some lovely new places like this little courtyard cafe.

Whitby cafe 1

We had a drink watching the sunset on the Friday night and then on Saturday went to a blitz themed restaurant and a bottle of my one of my favourite lagers, very appropriate for this current situation!

Whitby evening drink

Whitby meal out

We had one boat trip on a pirate themed boat and then as we had seen another that was a scaled down version of the Endeavour that Captain Cook sailed on we had to make another sea trip on that as well. That had a really interesting summary of Cook’s life and voyages which was good as we had not managed to visit the museum as it was closed.

Along with sausage and chips on the pier ( the little boy next to us had his sausage stolen by a very large seagull so we had to guard ours carefully), a few ice creams, a paddle, seeing the entertainers on the street,  and a go on the penny arcades, it was a wonderful British seaside weekend.

Whitby paddle

 

Whitby entertainer

We did see a few Steampunks and met these lovely people up at the abbey. This is Vintage Dapper Chap and friends who very kindly let us take pictures.

Whitby Steampunks

We are really looking forward to next year’s event and will be going for longer next year so that we can explore the beaches and go fossil hunting.

 

 

I then had a day to repack for my next adventure off in the camper van with my sister which I will tell you all about in the next post. We had a great time and are already planning more adventures for next summer after I retire. I was using the plane fight back from Spain yesterday to look for lovely places to visit.

Spain - flight

This is an area of France that I often fly over which looks brilliant. It is lovely to be reminded that there is a beautiful world out there which we can hopefully see more of next year.

I hope that you are all ok and have nice things planned for the week ahead. It is back to work for me, but first I have some work to do on the Steampunk jacket and hat and a bit more knitting to do.

Take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.