A day and night in the Dales

Sod it! We're going to have a day away from hospital appointments and try to get back to some sort of normality.

The Yorkshire Dales and a rather special watering hole at West Witton would provide the answer we were sure.

Above Hawes at the beginning of the 'Buttertubs Pass'.

'Buttertubs' with Swaledale in the distance

Weather forecast was tremendous for Tuesday, which was expected to be the hottest day of the year, in what has been a very indifferent summer to date, so we decided we would spend the day pootling around the Dales and spend the night at the 'Wensleydale Heifer'.

Another view of Swaledale on our descent.

An early start found us motoring from home to Hawes, then a left turn that took us over the Buttertubs Pass to Muker, followed by a delightful run down Swaledale to Richmond for lunch, an ancient market town that we had never visited before.

The weather was hot, very hot and we managed to find a parking spot in the shade of a tree for the Morgan while wandered off to eat our picnic.

The River Swale at Richmond

Plenty of waterfalls

Richmond Market Square with the Norman Castle in the background

Then it was just a short drive from Richmond to Leyburn and on to our overnight stay at West Witton.

Richmond

A welcome pint of Black Sheep ale

The 'Wensleydale Heifer' has quite a big reputation and it certainly lived up to that. Somewhat, quirky, at least our bedroom was, the service, cuisine and comfort was superb and the steak that we had in the crowded restaurant that evening was the best we have sampled in years. It is a place that we will return to again.

The 'Wensleydale Heifer'

Not great lovers of 'themed' bedrooms, but it was great!

With stormy weather forecast for our drive home, we set off immediately after breakfast, almost immediately experiencing very heavy rain with thunder and lightening to boot. Not a lot of water ingress into the Mog, but on what was a very fast and enjoyable drive, there was suddenly a 'ping' under my clutch pedal, rather like wire snapping which is what it turned out to be. Fortunately it did not affect the function of the clutch and investigation when we arrived home showed that the spring which ensures that the pedal is at its maximum outward position had snapped.

A phone call to Lifes at Southport confirmed this, so I have booked the car in for a replacement spring, two new king pins and greasing/oiling to cure a most annoying squeaking noise eminating from the suspension.

We have immediately started saving for that event!!!!!!!