Another old post, this one was started in August last year, when we’d just returned from a trip to Yorkshire.
I know I mention it a lot, but I’m always amazed by the wild flowers there, it’s not that there aren’t wild flowers in Kent, but there’s something about the variety and abundance when we’re walking back home, that has me permanently reaching for the camera, or just taking a moment to sit and admire.
I walk quite a lot with the boys. We have, in fact just returned from a few days North a couple of weeks ago and as we went up on the train (I drive there enough and at nearly 5 hours it’s sometimes nicer to be a bit more relaxed and go by rail), we had no car, so walking is only way to get around….or ‘Foster Cabs’ as my poor Brother is sometimes known. We usually walk from Burnsall to Grassington (as above) one way via Thorpe and then back later, along the riverside. It gives us a chance to see all my relatives and it’s a good excuse to get the boys outside and moving.
I love walking along the river, it does tend to be quite busy, but there’s always so much to see. Once, last year, we spent quite a lot of time watching the swallows swooping low to catch insects, it was fabulous to watch, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them from above, I was amazed at how bright and blue their back feathers are.I also try to go up and walk on my own, when I get a chance, as I do like a proper trek, ideally up a big hill and back. I walked from Burnsall to Mossdale Scar on one of my visits last year.
The little yellow violets all over the fields above Grass Woods were just stunning
As were the orchids.
I take pretty crap photos on my phone, I just don’t have the knack, or the patience, and I always find that the flowers, which look amazing in real life just look a bit flat and unexciting when I’ve attempted to capture them.
I also seem to photograph my lunch a lot, more because my own daft choice of food always makes me laugh (at myself, I should add). On this walk, it was a pork pie (bought in Grassington as it’s a bit of a highlight to stop by the butchers, for me), some beef jerky and an entire bar of Lindt chocolate!!!???
I remember I’d saved it for the ‘top’ of the walk (Mossdale Scar), as a kind of reward but when I got there, it was all a bit eery and somber. It was the scene of the world’s worst caving accident when six young men died there in the late 60’s. Both my parents helped with the rescue (Mum helping with food and Dad with sandbagging the river, he was a potholder himself and for some time part of the Fell Rescue Team)…I don’t think they knew each other then, but everyone in the area came out to do what they could.
The only other couple I saw out walking that day had clearly had the same plan, as they stopped briefly, then changed their minds and walked back some distance to shelter under a wall to eat with me. We all had a chat about how grim it was and who in their right mind enjoys potholing (it’s honestly not for me, squeezing through small holes in the ground and crawling through water, nope, the idea makes me shiver).
I often think of my Dad when we are walking. We walked a lot as kids (I remember him walking us up to Mossdale Scar, actually) and he usually had his camera with him, which considering it was a huge thing to lug about back in those days must have been an effort. I blame him for my not enjoying having my photo taken, he made us pose at every available opportunity. The nice thing is, I have many scanned slides of us in familiar places where I also walk the boys. I believe this is Tom Lee’s Cave (Cove Hole??), Grassington, where we go often (although we can’t seem to get to cave itself any more, only view it from below).
And on our last walk, I tried to get the boys to replicate one of Dad’s usual posed shots by standing on a stile…
with mixed results, mainly them trying to shove each other off!!
That’s better boys.
One I wont be asking them to copy is this…. Dad, what were you thinking!!!
I have no idea what my original plan for this post was…I can only assume from the title I had thought to add lots more photos of flowers I’d taken randomly over the years but it’s clearly morphed away from that. Still, I’m enjoying getting all this unpublished ‘drafts’ out there, even if they are a bit chaotic 🙂
Rock Cottage Year 
