A Dales Diary

Monday 28 March - I've been on holiday in The Dales and figured that you might like to know what I've been up to. Then again, maybe you couldn't care less, but I'll tell you anyway.

We had been down in Bournemouth and arrived back home late on Thursday. We rose early on Friday and repacked our bags for the Dales. Then we did a quick food shop as the cottage was self-catering. It was just over an hour's drive away, at a place called Fleetham Holme near Reeth, and we arrived just in time for lunch. There was a "welcome" pack waiting for us with breakfast cereals, milk, eggs, cheese, butter, orange juice and a bottle of wine. That was very thoughtful. We packed away our own groceries and had some lunch, then set off to explore a little. The cottage is one of three at the bottom of a 25% incline from a single track road, perched on the side of the south side of Swaledale. We decided to walk further up the road to see what we could see. After about half a mile we left the road and struck off left along a bridleway through a succession of stonewall enclosed fields. We eventually reached a field that bordered moorland near the top and we could see an artificial turret-like building high above us. The back wall of the field had tumbled down so we went through it and headed up through the heather to investigate. When we finally got to the top there was other track and we were no wiser as to what the ruined building had been. We later found out that it was an old lead mine working, so presumably the track was for hauling away the material from the mine. We then descended back to the cottage just in time for tea. The cottage had a wood-burning stove in the front room so while Lynn was preparing the meal; I went out to the woodshed and chopped some logs up for fuel. Not being used to wielding an axe I managed to send a log spinning and bashed my knee, I've a lovely bruise I could show you. In lighting the fire I managed to set off the CO detector which I then had to disable. After tea I re-enabled the detector and we cosied up on the sofa to watch some TV.

The cottage, although originally built in 1694, was fully equipped; it had an electric oven and halogen hob, all the pots, pans and implements you could think off. There was a shower room, living room and kitchen downstairs. The kitchen still had stone storage shelves. The upper story had a lounge area, which we called the solar as the sun beamed straight into this room, and a huge bedroom. Of course, when it was built people were a bit shorter than today and whilst Lynn managed okay I was constantly banging my head on the stone lintels over the doors and the wooden beams in the ceilings. In the end I walked around the cottage in a permanent stoop. Lynn was in fits of laughter. Water from the cold tap was like the melt from a glacier!

The curtains in the cottage were lined and very thick, and with no light pollution from outside, the bedroom was pitch-black, you couldn't tell if your eyes were open or not! Anyway, at 06:20 on Saturday morning we were awakened by an "a-lamb" clock; it was bleating in the field alongside the cottage. We scoffed a cooked breakfast and then planned our day out. At this stage the weather was a bit iffy but promising to be better the following day so we decided to check out the nearest village, Reeth, and then we drove out to Richmond just to explore the town and its castle a bit. The Swale also passes through the centre of Richmond and tumbles over rocks there which made for some nice pictures. There was a market in full swing and, after a tasting session, we bought some raspberry & redcurrant jam and lemon curd. It turned out that they were made in Elvington near York, duh! We had fish 'n' chips for lunch on a bench in a churchyard, and the cod was particularly tasty. I was on the lookout for a pair of slippers as I was finding the stone flags in the cottage very cold underfoot, so we bought some from the Edinburgh Woollen Mill shop and Lynn bought a new fleece. When we got back to the cottage I noticed that the slippers were a tad snug and I then discovered that I had held them upside down and bought a pair of sixes, not nines. Double duh!

On Sunday the weather was looking very nice indeed. We had a couple of walks that we wanted to do and we thought it best to start with a gentle four and a half mile circular stroll going up and around the north side of the dale. We parked at Reeth and set off following the directions on our crumpled bit of paper, only half trusting it, but secure in the knowledge that we had a proper map just in case. We crossed the Swale by a small suspension bridge and then swung left entering the village of Grinton and then back out into open countryside. We passed through High Fremlington and then the gradient started taking us up. About two hours into the walk we lost faith in our directions thinking we had walked too far along a footpath, so we backtracked and climbed back up a slope called Cuckoo Hill so that we could see the lie of the land, consult our map, and eat lunch. It turned out that the directions were sound; we just needed to go a little further along the path before turning back along the river. We set off again and found the turning with no problem. Once back in Reeth we pottered around the village for a while and then set off back to the cottage. At no point in our travels so far had we got the faintest glimmer of a signal from our mobile 'phones so I just turned mine off completely. I was getting the hang of the fire by now and didn't set off the alarm this time.

On Monday it was brilliant sunshine again so we decided to try the second walk. This was a five and a half mile circular but we decided to extend this by walking from the cottage along a footpath that ran outside our back gate, this would add an extra two miles. We set off after another big breakfast and joined the walk proper at Scabba Wath Bridge. A farmer was coming over the bridge on a 'moon-buggy' loaded with sheep feed so we stopped and watched him drive into a nearby field. The sheep and lambs immediately charged from the adjoining fields towards the farmer, all except for one sheep that had a limp and was plaintively bleating as it desperately hobbled towards him. I'd never make a farmer, I just wanted to pick the poor thing up and carry it to the food. Anyway, we crossed the bridge and bore left towards Fleetham then right onto a footpath that doubled back and took us high up through the fields again. We passed over Barney Beck Bridge and into the tiny village of Healaugh, then gently descended into Reeth again. We stopped off at the King's Arms for a drink and then sat on a bench at the top of a rise in the centre of the village to eat our lunch. Then it was back down to the river and, following its course to the right, gradually rising up until we reached a road that led to Askrigg up and across open moorland. The road then dipped down to Scabba Wath Bridge again and we continued onwards to the cottage. By this time I was sunburnt so as we sat out reading our Kindles in the late afternoon sun I had to wear a hat to stop me from burning any more.

Tuesday was our last full day so we decided to visit the Wensleydale creamery at Hawes. This entailed a rather hairy drive over the top of Swaledale and down into Wensleydale via Askrigg and Bainbridge. The route was hairy because part of the way was very winding and we were enclosed by high drystone walls, so going faster than 20mph was likely to propel us into the front of another vehicle, or the back of a tractor. Where there were no walls, the right hand side of the road fell away like those roads you see in the Italian Alps. Scary stuff. Anyway, the creamery itself was fairly interesting; we watched a film on cheese making, went through a little museum of dairy farm in the Dales, and watched the actual process from a viewing gallery. As it was approaching lunchtime we visited the café area and had some sandwiches and a drink. Then we went around the cheese shop where you can sample all the different types, and buy some, obviously. I went for a blue cheese and an oak smoked Wesleydale, Lynn had one with stem ginger in it and another containing Mexican spices. We browsed the gift shop for a while and then heading into Hawes itself for a wander around the town which was very picturesque. Finally, we headed back to the creamery, jumped in the car and drove back over the top of the Dale back to the cottage.

We were a bit sad to leave on Wednesday as we quite liked the idea of being on our own and just doing what we wanted to do, but we packed our bags and waved goodbye to the cottage. Then we drove towards Arkengarththwaitedale (I may have exaggerated the name for comic effect) where we intended to take lunch at The Charles Bathurst Inn, a popular 'foodie' pub in the area. We arrived before the pub was open so set off across the road and down a footpath that took us about halfway up the side of the dale. There we found a rocky outcrop and sat down to admire the view. The road below us wound its way up the opposite side of the dale, heading over the top and on towards Barnard's Castle. We saw that the pub was opening and so descended for lunch. We had had another large cooked breakfast and weren't terribly hungry, so we just had a mushroom, tomato and mozzarella baguette with side of salad and chips; very tasty indeed. After that we made our way home, which seemed like a foreign country really with even the rural areas looking very built up compared to where we had been staying.

It was back to work, back to reality on Thursday and Friday. We were out at The Basement in York on Friday evening to see our favourite band, Hope&Social. They didn't disappoint and we had a brilliant night out. Ed 'Hombre' had trouble with his amp and it was making dolphin noises. During one song Si forgot that it was his turn to play which led to an hilarious "do I do this bit then?" moment. There was plenty of singing along and even a Mexican wave in the audience with a Zumba Zumba at one end and Ooo Ooo at the other. I'm not going through the set-list for you but there were songs from both albums; Architect Of This Church and April. Both are available as PWYW but better still go watch this band live, you won't regret it.

Tell me why you lied, And what it is you do to keep your eyes all shiny

Friday 11 March - was a complete departure from the norm for us as we travelled into Leeds to see The Decemberists at the O2 Academy. This was a somewhat bigger venue than usual for us and we arrived reasonably early in order to get prime position near the front of the crowd. Support came from Blind Pilot, an American indie folk band based in Portland, Oregon. They were perfect warm up showcasing songs from their debut album 3 Rounds and a Sound with Fleet Foxes-style harmonies and breathy-voiced vocals.

The Decemberists are also an indie folk from Portland but they have no less than six studio albums to their name and are currently touring their latest one The King Is Dead. The band consist of; Colin Meloy (lead singer, guitar, harmonica), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (Hammond organ, accordion, melodica, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, harmonica), Nate Query (bass guitar, double bass), John Moen (drums, backing vocals, melodica), and for this tour they have Sara Watkins providing Violin, backing vocals, and more guitar. After a brief light 'n' sound theatrical prelude the band launched into Shiny from their 5 Songs EP. This was followed by three tracks from the new album; Down by the Water, Rox in the Box, and Rise to Me. Next they re-visted older material with July July!, The Bagman's Gambit, Annan Water, Won't Want for Love (Margaret In the Taiga), and the epic The Island: Come & See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel the Drowning. Quite how they managed to include excerpts from The Hazards of Love, basically a concept album, into the set is a testament to their musical talent. Then we had another three new songs; Don't Carry It All, Calamity Song, and This is Why We Fight, with Military Wives from Picaresque added into the mix.

For an encore they played two more old numbers; Red Right Ankle (Her Majesty the Decemberists) and Sons and Daughters (The Crane Wife). We even got a second encore when they finally rounded off the gig with June Hymn (The King Is Dead).

This was definitely the gig of the year for me and I can heartily recommend that you try and catch them on tour, or failing that, buy one/more of their albums.

It's been a long hard year, with many ups and downs / and now the summer's here, and we can all come out.

Friday 4 March - now, I'm sorry but I've been really busy at the moment with decorating my house so there's only time for a quick splash 'n' dash of a roundup of our latest outing. This was a RockSound showcase taking place at The Duchess and from the start we all felt the need to grab a pair of free ear defenders from behind the bar, the noise was way too loud. Support came from These City Walls who seemed pretty average to me, which is to say that there was nothing striking about the music, lyrics or stage presense that left any lasting ;memory.

There were three bands being showcased and apparently they take it in turns to be the 'headline' act, so we kicked off with Dinosaur Pile-Up, an alt rock band hailing from Leeds, comprising lead singer and guitarist Matt Bigland, bassist Harry Johns, and drummer Mike Sheils. Musically they reminded me in parts of Nirvana, and Ash, definitely a grunge thing going on there. That said, there was variety in the styles and delivery of each song and I enjoyed them so much that I actually bought their 2010 album Growing pains from the merch stall at the interval. Very good indeed.

This was a bit worrying because it was looking as if my wallet was in for a bit of a battering. Not to worry though, the other two bands weren't a patch on DPU. Next up were The Xcerts a three-piece from Aberdeen; Murray MacLeod (vocals & guitar), Jordan Smith (backing vocals & Bass), and Tom Heron (backing vocals & drums). I'm pretty sure that most of their set was drawn from their album Scatterbrain but none of the material stayed in my head long enough to register before it was blasted out by the next song. The volume was doing nothing to endear me.

The 'headline' act was Japanese Voyeurs, London based and comprising; Tom Lamb (guitar), Johnny Seymour (bass), Romily Alice(vocals/guitar), Steve Wilson (drums), and Rikki Waldren (keyboard). Once more the sheer volume of noise deadened any redeeming factors. Romily looked like a young Avril Lavigne but had a voice like fingernails on the classroom blackboard. Their material was pretty much Paramore with very little variety between each track. If I sound dismissive, I'm sorry. I'm sure that I'm doing these bands (part from DPU) a disservice by my lack of enthusiasm but I really struggled to hear much beyound the volume, and I'm not some miserable old goat, and I have listened to some louder bands who still managed to get their music across, so there's no excuse.

I've looked under chairs, I've looked under tables, I've tried to find the key, To fifty million fables

Friday 25 February - no original music this week, we are happy to settle for decent beer and a covers band, so that'll be at The Roman Bath then. Apparently there's a band called The Pepperhearts playing tributes to The Beatles and they certainly seemed to be popular as we have to queue up to get in as the pub was so full. After fighting our way to the bar and coming away with an armful of beers we took up station to watch/listen to the band amid a constant river of folk streaming in and out of the front door, and en route to the rest rooms. The Pepperhearts were good, they certainly recreated the sound of the Fab Four as far as humanly possible, but the material began to sound a bit samey and it dawned on us that they didn't seem to be able to break through 1965. It was all the very early stuff, which is OK if you like 2-3 minute songs, but 1965 was the year that The Moptops spread their musical wings and transcended every other band. Maybe the later years were to be featured in the second half of their performance, but by half-time we were jaded and decided to move on.

As so it was that we found ourselves in O'Neills to watch The Mothers. Now we've seen these before on a couple of occasions but tonight they are sporting a new vocalist and a chap on keyboards that looks suspiciously like a refugee from Hijack Oscar. Nonetheless, we were treated to a fine selection of old and (relatively) new covers including Take Me to the River (Al Green), You Really Got Me (The Kinks), Superstition (Stevie Wonder), The Seeker (The Who), Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine (James Brown), I Predict A Riot (The Kaiser Chiefs), Back In The USSR (the Beatles) which segued into Jumping Jack Flash (The Rolling Stones), In The Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett), Paranoid (Black Sabbath), Tainted Love (Soft Cell), The Jean Genie (David Bowie), and many more. Top stuff.