Travelling again Part 18

This will be the last episode of this series relating our travels, as our holiday is sadly almost at an end. Although we have had a wonderful time, had exciting adventures and met many new friends, we are looking forward to getting home and making contact with our friends and family again. Our lack of adequate internet access has proved to be quite a problem at times and a huge frustration, as we are so used to being able to contact all and sundry at any time either by email or Skype. However, we have survived it all and are only sorry that we were not able to respond more frequently to the many emails we have had.

This last week started on a quiet note as Carol and I finished putting up the hems of, and hanging, the second batch of curtains in the dining room thus finally completing the task. The men busied themselves in the garage – just out of hearing range! They deserved the rest though, because the next morning we were all up early, ready to drive to Settle to catch the train to Appleby, famous for its Gypsy Horse Fair. In the past, the fair has extended over about a week with the streets of the normally quiet town resounding to the clatter of hooves over the cobbles, while the River Eden which runs through the town has always been a favourite place for the gypsies to wash their horses before parading them for sale. This year though, no doubt a result of unruly behaviour in the past, the fair was restricted to the weekend only so we in fact missed the fair but we did get to see Appleby which is a delightful little town.

The train trip was great fun and a very pleasant way to see some of the most beautiful countryside, and out of the way villages. We were quite amused by one place where the station is four miles away from the town. Obviously they couldn’t get the line down into the valley and back up again, but four miles is quite a step if you have to walk it. When we arrived in Appleby we discovered that a similar situation existed there – the town was in the valley while the railway line was above on the contour. Luckily it wasn’t four miles away though! We spent a pleasant few hours wandering around the town and in and out of shops, and then after lunch, staggered up the hill again to catch the train back to Settle where we picked up the car and came home via a roundabout route.

On Wednesday we had to drive to Cleveleys not far from Fleetwood to keep an appointment. I had looked at the map and seen that Fleetwood was almost due west of where we are, so had thought it would only take a short while to drive there. When I looked at a different map though, I realised that between us and Fleetwood was a large estuary which could not be crossed by car and so we had to drive a fair distance south before arriving at a bridge over the river. I think it must have been Pensioner’s Day in Cleveleys as I have never seen so many elderly people at one time. I was rather amused to find a parking area that had special parking spaces for not only disabled drivers but for less able drivers too.

Thursday is market day in Garstang, so Neels and I went up to the market and ended up buying a few birthday cards (60p) and a jersey (£15), and the jersey was not made in China but in England! After lunch we went to Leighton Hall, a privately owned ‘stately home’, which is still occupied by descendants of the original owner who built the house some 400 years ago. First we were entertained by a display of falconry, the handler showing off the capabilities of a Lanner Falcon, a mixed-breed German falcon and a beautiful but ferocious-looking Steppe Eagle from Russia. The Lanner Falcon prefers to eat small birds and doesn’t catch its prey but knocks it out of the sky and then pounces on it, so while the handler was swinging a piece of meat on the end of a long rope around his head, the falcon climbed to a good height and then came swooping down at a phenomenal speed, to knock the ‘bait’ on to the ground. Of course, the handler made sure that the falcon did not connect with the bait on the first pass, so we had a good view of what it could do.

The mixed-breed bird was something of a disappointment. He had originally been bought as a stud bird, but when his mates did not produce any young, he was sold on to this handler who now has to teach him to ‘fly’. After several years of being kept in a cage he is neither fit nor able to fly any distance, so the handler has to exercise him every day to try to build up his strength. The falcon was very unco-operative and after a couple of low swooping passes and very clumsy landings on the perches at either end of the lawn, he was returned to the aviary and the enormous Steppe Eagle was brought out. Even the handler was rather wary of this fellow and his fearsome talons, but he was very beautiful when seen at close range.

We had to rush a little as we had also booked a tour of the house and were already nearly ten minutes late, but the guide had waited for us and took us on a very interesting and informative tour of that part of the house that is open to the public. When we emerged about an hour later the sky had clouded over and as it looked like more rain, we gave the beautifully manicured garden a quick look and then made a dash for it.

We had intended to go to two car shows over the weekend – one which was a grand two-day affair, and featured old-fashioned steam traction engines, barrel organs, fairground, stalls and much more, and another which was a much more refined type of show, limited to one make of car and held in a beautiful public garden. Sadly the first one was rained out completely on Saturday, and although we could have gone to it on the Sunday, the field in which it was scheduled to be held would have been a quagmire, so choosing to go to a different one was not really difficult. The steam show would have been fun but will have to wait for another time. Instead we attended a Rover Rally and we took the old 1937 Rover along, all gleaming and polished up. It didn’t win any prizes, but we had a great day and fantastic weather. The whole affair took place in Stanley Gardens in Blackpool. The garden cover an enormous area and has various different sections such as the lake, with many types of small boats on it;  a large childrens play area with climbing frames and other gymnastic equipment all made of wood; a formal garden, with each bed containing flowers of a different hue; and a large pond with an elaborate fountain in the centre as the main focus of it all. The cars were arranged all around the pond and there must have been about a hundred of them, ranging in age from the early 1900’s to about the 1970’s. It was quite a sight!

So our time in England is almost at an end. Tomorrow we go to stay with friends in Manchester and fly out home on Wednesday morning. To those who have ‘tuned in’ regularly, a big thank you for your support and we hope you have enjoyed travelling with us.