Tales from the Highway: August 2025

It's been almost a month since our last post. We had just arrived in the Lake District and I was learning the finer points of chicken wrangling.

I'm happy to say that all the chickens survived and provided us with more eggs than we could possibly eat.

Our place was on a farm a few miles outside of Ulverston, Uk. We've been there before and liked both the location, the house, and the host with whom we've kept in touch over the years.

Sunset from the farm.

Our place is the large window in the center of the photo

There's so much to do in the Lake district. Much of it is centered around long walks. One day we drove up to the National Trust site called "Tarn Hows". It's a scenic location with lots of great views in all directions.

We took a nice walk for a couple of miles around the lake with the mutts.

Tarn Hows

The views around Tarn Hows

Another trip was over the skinny roads to Coniston which is a nice town on Coniston Water.

The road to our house - a nice daily commute.

On our trip to Coniston, we parked at the north end of the lake and walked the few miles into town and had lunch at a pub.

Coniston Village

Another day trip involved some really small roads thru the mountains on our way to Hardknott Pass.

We'd driven over the pass before, but this time we took some different roads to get there.

Along the way on the one lane road we met a Semi Truck coming the other direction. It was at a really tight spot with stone walls on both side. We had to back up to find a place where we could completely get out of the way. It would have made a great photo - this truck filling our windshield and the road in front but I was too busy running down the road in reverse and trying not to scrape the sides of the peanut.

It's all part of the fun driving around this place.

On the way to Hardknott Pass

Along the way we discovered this stream running thru a small chasm and spilling out under this scenic bridge, finally filling a nice swimming hole. We stopped to enjoy the spot for a bit. There was a woman swimming in the clear pool.

A nice swimming hole.

Finally we made it to Hardknott Pass. In the photo below if you look closely, you can see the road make about a half dozen or so switchbacks. At one point it is a 30% grade!

The top of the pass looking west towards the ocean in the distance.

Further along we took a detour to visit the scenic lake called Wast Water. Glacially carved it is the deepest lake in England at 258'. The surface of the lake is 200' above sea level, while the bottom is more than 50' below.

Scenic road heading to Wast Water

Wast Water

Another trip took us to the west shore of Lake Windermere. We stayed here on the East Shore 2 yrs ago. It was on our last night here that Lucy had her stroke and passed the next day.

We stayed right behind the marina across the lake

This area is a big training ground for the RAF as well as the USAF pilots who conduct joint excercises. If you look closely below you can see 2 jets flying over the lake.

Fighter jets over Lake Windermere

Phoebe and I have a "moment"

We walked a couple of miles along the lakeside path, then made a u-turn and walked back.

Along the way we spotted this tree with a vine that had been growing for some time around it. Pretty neat design.

Heading back home we decided to take the ferry over to the east side of the lake and drive from there.

Windermere ferry

Our next to last morning.... I discovered we had a flat tire with a nail in it. Our host had a small 12v air compressor, so I was able to get it pumped up, and took the car to a shop in town to have the tire plugged.

The peanut gets a plug

Our 2-weeks over, we headed to our next port of call. An old home in the center of the market town of Hawes, UK located right in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales.

If you are a fan of the PBS Show All Creatures Great and Small, you should recognized the scenery. The story is about this place and was filmed throughout the Dales.

Our house in Hawes

Our house was steps away from the White Hart Inn, so we enjoyed Sunday Roast on both of our Sundays while in town.

Beef for Kate and Lamb for me

Sheep, Cattle, and Dairy are the three big livestock businesses here. With fall approaching, the fields are starting to turn golden, and the winter hay is being harvested.

This stream ran near our house. One day it was dry, and the next it ran full. The hills are limestone and highter up they are covered with peat. The water seeping thru the peat gives it its tea stain color.

Our house is up on the hill right next to the church.

The main market square in Hawes.

Dating back hundreds of years, many "field barns" are scattered all over the hillsides. In the winter the farmers will move livestock to the barns for protection from the weather. Hay is also stored there. By having the barns scattered about, it was easier in olden times to follow this method rather than trying to move hay about in inclement weather.

In the spring, the manure would be removed from the barns and spread on the fields for fertilizer.

Dale is the word for a "valley". The region is Yorkshire and because this area is basically large hills with deep wide valleys between - it is Yorkshire Dales.

Driving down one of the valleys

We took a drive down to Grassington. This town is the main shooting location for All Creatures Great and Small, and is the setting for the fictional town of Darrowby.

The square in Darrowby (Grassington)

Below - the green banners on the right would be the grocer and to the left, the Devonshire would be the Drovers Arms in the show.

Below is a scene from the show of two shops next to the pub. If you look closely you can see they are the same buildings with different names.

Darrowby as seen in the show

Grassington as seen in the real world

Driving. back home from Grassington took us up a couple of different Dales. Just beautiful and peaceful scenery!

Scenes mostly untouched for hundreds of years.

Another trip took us over Buttertub Pass.

So named due to the holes in the limestone that has been carved by the slightly acidic water that filters thru the peat and dissolves the rock. These holes at the top of the pass are up to 30' deep and cool in the bottom.

It is said that farmers would bring their butter over the pass to Hawes for market day and any butter that did not sell... rather than bringing all the way over the pass the following week - they would store it at the bottom of the cool holes to be retrieved the following market day. Hence the name buttertubs.

A Buttertub at the top of the pass

A light stream of water flows into the buttertub continuing to make it deeper

We also visited a bunch of castles while out and about on our travels.

Below: Pendragon Castle Ruins.

According to legend, the castle was built by Uther Pendragon, father of King Arthur, who is said to have unsuccessfully tried to divert the River Eden to provide its moat. It is recalled in a well-known local Rhyme:

Let Uther Pendragon do what he can, Eden will run where Eden ran.

Pendragon Castle

Ribblehead Viaduct. Opened in 1875 to train traffic. If you look closely you can see a freight train crossing the viaduct.

Our time here is running out quickly. As of today (Tues Aug 19) we are down to 38 days till we get on the ship. Towards that end, we need to keep the mutts looking shipshape for the Queen Mary2

Annie gets a scrub

Followed by Phoebe

On the way back from the dog wash, we cruised by Castle Bolton. Built between 1378 and 1379. It has never been sold and is still owned by the same family. It is not a dog friendly venue at all. Unlike most places, the dogs are not even allowed outside of the castle. So we drove up, took a few photos and said adios.

Viewing it from a distance - it does have that whole King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table Vibe.

Castle Bolton in the distance.

In Skipton - Skipton Castle is at the other end of the spectrum. Super dog friendly. They are not only allowed on the grounds... they can come inside.

Almost 1000 years old, and with walls up to 13 feet thick, it withstood a three-year siege during the English Civil War.

After the war, an order of parliament had the castle slighted (made less impregnable). A photo below shows how the walls thickness was reduced.

Skipton Castle

The Courtyard

The Main Hall

Below you can see where the castle was "slighted" (the walls reduced in thickness)

Kate gives some perspective as to just how thick the walls are where they weren't slighted.

The dogs guard the grounds, ready to be called to action.

Our 2 weeks in Yorkshire coming to an end - our next stop is the historic city of Chester where we are currently.

Our door is just a few steps from the medieval city center.

An interesting feature there is a group of streets they call “The Rows“. In some places, the ground floor shops are covered galleries where you can stroll out of the elements.

In some places, it’s the second floor that is a covered gallery. And in some places, it’s both floors.

The start of the Rows with Eastgate Clock in the center

The Rows

Lest you get confused dear reader - over here they call the first floor the Ground Floor.

And they call the second floor the first floor.

I'll be using the local vernacular.

The Rows 1st floor gallery

View from the 1st floor gallery

We've barely scratched the surface of The Rows. We'll be doing more exploring as the week progresses.

On each of the past 2 days we took a walk around the old city wall. 2000 years ago, the Romans were here and built a wall around the city center. Over the years that wall was expanded further outward. Today, some of the wall follows the old Roman wall, and some of it was built in later years.

It’s about a 2 mile walk around the entire wall and you pass by a number of the interesting sites in the city.

Some of the sites we passed by included the horse race track, the Roman gardens, the Roman amphitheater, the riverfront, and much of the old city.

In the coming days, we plan to explore some of those things in greater detail