Yorkshire Walking Trip – looking back

We’ve been home something like 2 days now, it’s Friday morning and we got back Tuesday night, so I’m thinking I better write down a few more thoughts about the trip before I forget. And, now that we’re back, we’re tumbled into fall busy-ness, like the UW-Libraries book sale where I volunteer, and the last couple of weeks before the presidential election, and I’ll be working as an election official, stress, and we have a sick kitty who seems to be nearing the end, more stress, and my car was sitting in the garage with a dead battery when we got back so last night we got it jumped and it’s now at my regular garage awaiting a full charge and maybe a new battery, final extra stress.

After spending our rainy Saturday afternoon in Penrith in the library and cafes, we checked into our BnB, the Blue Swallow Guest House, and got settled. We had the room up under the eves with a single bed that we used to chuck stuff on, and a double to sleep in. Then we went and had OK thin crust pizza and a much better salad than the wilty one in Appleby, for dinner.

In the morning after our BnB breakfast we packed up and went and had coffee at Xaviers, a place furnished in antiques that are all for sale except the crazy blown glass light fixture above the bar, on our way to the train. They serve breakfast and coffee until 1:00, then soups and sandwiches, and they turn into a tapas and wine bar in the evening. We were morphing into urban tourists with a night in Oxford and one last night in London.

The train to Manchester was very nice; Manchester to Oxford less so. And the trip took a bit longer than expected so all we really did the first night was find dinner in Oxford. We went to a place called Gee’s that was in a Victorian conservatory. It was a bit touristy – lots of other American voices in there – but the food was good. Small plates, kind of Mediterranean. I ordered all small plates, fried zucchini, an arugula and Parmesan salad, and scallops with butternut squash, one of the starters, for my main. Mark got a pasta, duck ragu, tomato sauce with shredded duck on rigatoni, and we got a basket of bread for the table and shared everything. And we had a nice chat with the other Americans at the next table, a woman and her mom, about their travels in England. The younger woman used to teach at a school right near where Ethan and Megan live in Denver.

Our room in Oxford gets the prize for the least nice room of the whole trip. I’m sure it was whatever the tour company could book at the BnB rate in Oxford which had to be more than what we were paying in the small towns on the walk. It was mostly clean, except for the dead fly on the window sill and the odd rhinestone black ribbon buckle thing left under the bed  that actually looked more doll- or dog-size then human, and quiet, but it was remote and just ugly. And the IKEA wardrobe was broken – no door. The hotel was made up of several buildings, two older, one of which was where the bar and restaurant were, and another older part across the street. We were in the new part hooked awkwardly onto the across the street part – you can see it behind the street light in this photo.

   

In the morning we had breakfast in the older part of the hotel which made me feel better about it, since there were lots of people there, stowed our bags, and took a walking tour of Oxford in the rain. We walked back to the hotel after the tour, after the rain had pretty much stopped, and got a cab to the train station to get us to London. Which was another nice train, and were in London in 45 minutes, which seems to me what we should be able to do Madison to Chicago. I left my Willy St Co-op hat behind when we rushed to the taxi. And when we got to the train station we found out that although we had flown to England on British Airways we were going back on American. At first we didn’t have seats together by Mark fixed it in the morning. 

Back in London, we stayed at the Lime Tree Hotel again, and happily, there we had a much nicer room than we had our first two nights.

Our big night out in London was dinner at St. John Bread & Wine. I’d always wanted to eat there, and we enjoyed it, but we ordered a little too much food. And some things were not really to Mark’s tastes. I should’ve had an offal-eating wine drinker as a dinner partner, or even someone like my brother who would’ve liked all the vegetables and split a bottle of wine. From the small plates we got roasted green beans with shallots and capers, shown below, and chicken liver on toast with prune and cornichons, not shown. We wanted the Welsh Rarebit but it had run out, as had the deviled crab, which Mark would’ve really liked. So we ordered the fennel and cheddar which came with some kind of dressed greens on the side dressed with balsamic and olives. It was good but not very attractive since the balsamic and olives were kind of muddy looking. We followed all that with a salad, the sole, and roasted squash with ricotta and a green sauce made from pumpkin seeds and oil and herbs. And we got a half dozen madelines and a little ice cream for dessert. So yea, way too much but we each only ate one of the madelines so we bagged them up and ate the remaining four while we were waiting at the gate in Heathrow for our plane home and they were still good.

We had coffee at the fancy and oh so Instagramable place across the street and headed for Heathrow, where the security lines were nuts but we made it.

Plane window pictures:

The bus home was crowded and we had a terrible seat with no legroom but that, too, passed.

Bests:

Best dinner was Sunday roast at the Buck Inn in Buckden. Three kinds of potatoes in one meal.

Best porridge was in Skipton on our first morning.

I’m not sure beyond that which breakfast I liked best. The sourdough bread baked by our hosts in Kirkby-Stephen was really good and the brewed coffee at the ugly sleeping room Oxford b&b was really good. I know Mark has some votes, I’ll ask.

Best overall meal of the trip was either River Cafe or doughnuts at Bread Ahead at Borough Market.

Best bakery is a tie between &then cafe in Kettlewell, where we had Eccles cake no cheese and a raspberry bakewell slice, and the Bake-Well in Askrigg, where we had scones with cream and jam, and a Nutella bar.

Nicest room is a tie between Bongate House in Appleby or the nicer room at Lime Tree our last night.

We loved how when we went to a cafe, we were served our coffee in real china cups and baked goods on plates. In the small towns in every cafe there was almost always two little old ladies and a teenager waiting on us. And washing all the dishes, presumably. England is way ahead of the US in environmental concerns – in Heathrow there were recycle bins for paper, plastic, glass, and cans, and another for coffee cups. And accessibility – wheel chair ramps and adult changing tables in public toilets and even for Sunday roast there were vegetarian and vegan options.

England is just more civilized than us. Everything is done with more ceremony and people talk to you. It’s important that if you like your tea with milk the milk is provided. And the sugar and whatever sauces you prefer with your main course.   

And, now we’re back almost a week since I’m finally finishing this the following Monday. The book sale’s done, and I’ve done two election trainings. The kitty has gone to a better place. The car has a new battery. I had a dermatologist appointment and a bunch of blood work this morning – all that seems to be OK. The basement didn’t leak while we were away and the landscaper is coming tomorrow to improve the drainage. I have a pile of unread New Yorkers & cooking mags on the kitchen counter. So basically nothing bad happened while we’re away and seems like we’re readjusting. Life sure was simpler when all we had to do was walk all day.