Looking along a long straight road amidst lush green farmland

Home Travel Stories

2 Go Wild In York and Settle 2005 - By Ren Withnell

On Thursday I find out the gf is not working on Monday or Teusday. I also find out she's not got the kids to look after. So on Friday I book the same Monday and Teusday off. A few phone calls ensue and it's decided we're going to go away for a few days, Sunday night and Monday night. But we're going to be WILD!!. Yeah, we're so far out and zany we ain't going to book anywhere to stop, just find somewhere, wherever takes our fancy. Now most folks reading this think there's nothing wild there, but the gf and myself are both planners and fearful of the unknown. It might not seem much to you, but to us this is life right on the edge. Sad, but true.

Sunday comes and after my fatherly duties are done we load up the bike. The first suprise is the relatively small amount of clothes etc the gf is taking. Only 1 saddlebag for her and one for me, the topbox is for boots and nik-naks. We go to Rivi and talk with friends, whom laugh at our pathetic concept of "wild and zany", then assure us we'll have no problems finding accomodation. We leave in the mid-afternoon, with no more direction than a leaf on the breeze.

I find myself heading south first, due to a light snowfall earlier it seems the prudent thing to do. But the weather is fine and soon I'm on the M62 heading for Yorkshire. I'm aiming to get past Leeds. Once past I pull off and find myself following signs for Selby. The gf, though tiny, is a monster eater and I'm aware I'm a touch peckish so she must be ravenous. I stumble upon a sign for Sherburn-in-Elmet, a well known biker haunt, so I follow the signs and we arrive at a large pub in the countryside. We eat and chat with the locals. It seems York is only half an hour away so that's where we are going.

On the road in we pass so many BnB's I have to laugh at my nervousness and fears about not finding a place. We stop at one claiming to have been voted "Best guesthouse in York". I'm very suprised at the cost, £60 for a night in a double room en-suite, but I'm assured by the gf and the host this is perfectly normal. I cough up the cash and we settle in. The place is fine and clean, but we can't figure out why it was "The Best".

We venture into York in search of food. There's plenty of choice and York is a pleasant town to walk around. We decide an Italian is in order but the one we choose is fully booked. The next one looks just fine so we go in there. Prices were average but the portions were tiny. The gf ended up with half my pizza due to her canelloni portion being fit only for a baby. Dissapointed we leave. We are totally lost in York, but it's a nice place to be lost. I use my superb sense of direction, knowledge of the wind direction and a suspition we'd come into town from the south to guide us back to the BnB. Basically I guessed, and for once struck lucky. The night was comfortable but the heating was too warm.

We wake, hungry. We dress in anticipation of a hearty full english breakfast. Suffice to say the breakfat might have been english, but it was not full. We sated the hunger, but we knew it would be temporary. We loaded up and went into York to see it in the daylight. It is a city, with all the things you'd expect to find in a city. But it's a pleasing city with good architecture and variety. It's not been ruined by endless high rises either.

York Tower I'm the Queen of the castle! I'm the Queen of the castle!
The Queen of the castle is only tiny next to the Minster The Queen of the castle is only tiny next to the Minster
Typical York Street Typical York Street

York is a good place to visit and you could be entertained for a few days there, plenty going on. But we leave at lunchtime. We decide to head into the dales, again being wild and zany we've no plan at all! We travel west clipping the border of Leeds then out through Otley. I find myself following signs for Malham as I'd been there as a kid. In Malham I spot a ford, so I have to stop to take piccies, for the ford spotting records you understand.

A ford in Malham A ford..I found a ford!!!

We stop in Skipton for food, finding a Morrisons which always has good cheap food in clean surroundings. The gf has a jacket potato and I have burger ands chips. Suffice to say with the luck we're having with food the burger is pink inside. I promptly send it back then wait half an hour while the almost cremate the next one to make sure I can't complain. I like my meat well done and it's just fine now...hehe!

Again we're on the road, and boy what a road. I'd followed signs for Malham Tarn, and travelled for 15 - 20 miles on single track roller-coaster super windy roads. Never found the Tarn, but hell I enjoyed looking. We stop at one point to admire the view and question why drystone walls continue down steep rocky valleys when no animal (except the stupid humans building it) would care to venture. We continue and hit a rise in the road. The bike takes to the air, as do the gf and myself, and the luggage. I land on the gf's lap but the bike doesn't even shake it's head. Awesome.

Splendid views fromthe roadside View from the road...notice the walls into the valley, why?

We end up in Settle, not by plan or design, just the fact the day was getting on at the time we were in Settle. Again the fear of not finding accomodation is very quickly quenched as we book into another BnB. No doubt this one was better. More room in the room and around the place, well presented and just a nice feel. And the view from the bedroom was splendid, rolling dales and a brook in the valley. And we had control of the radiator so we controlled the heat, excellent.

View from the bed in the hotel in Settle View from the bed!

We walk into Settle insearch of food, again. Settle is small. Thers a couple of restaurants but nothing grabs our fancy. The chippy supplies a good hearty meal. It's a shame when the best meal is the cheapest. Being Valentines day we stay in the room...and watch TV among other things. We sleep very well and wake not really wanting to get out of bed even though breakfast is calling. Breakfast is not huge but more than adequate and as usual I consume tons of toast. Time to hit the road again, but this time it seems a little hollow, knowing we're heading home.

We go to Devils Bridge, just to put a place to the name for the gf. We then head home in an indirect fashion, taking in the edge of Lancaster, Scorton and Garstang. We stop at a bike shop then rip around the back of Chorley. There's only one problem with having a good time. When it ends there's the come down. The gf went home after tea and I went to the bike club. It all suddenly seemed so normal, so mundane and so...so...URGH! I want to live like this all the time! I wanna be free and drift with the winds! I wanna go where I wanna and leave when I wanna and stop when I wanna and go when i wanna. But I can't afford to.

Reader's Comments

Post Your Comment Posts/Links Rules

Name

Comment

Add a RELEVANT link (not required)

Upload an image (not required) -

No uploaded image
Real Person Number
Please enter the above number below




Home Travel Stories

Admin -- -- Service Records Ren's Nerding Blog
KeyperWriter
IO