We headed for a campground that we found in our Caravan Club book but they were fully booked. They sent us off to another site and they sent us of to another. After about 4 sites we managed to find a spot in the car park of a transport company, in Gargrave. We had to walk a long way to the toilets and showers.
Next to us were a lovely friendly couple from Blackburn, Dave and Frida. We joined them for a shared meal, a few wines and lots of laughs.
The National Park Office in Grassington was well organized and they set us off with a map for a 2 and half hour walk through the dales. It was a beautiful day and the pay and display carpark outside the office soon filled up with hikers and their dogs, and the tour buses rolled in. We could then understand why it was difficult to find a campsite!
The walks ran through farms with grazing sheep, there were only a few signposts and no coloured tags or posts to guide the way.
Some places were walled off so you knew you were on the right path anyway.
I had always wanted to visit Yorkshire after having had our English teacher, Mrs Wright, read us instalments of The Secret Garden, with a Yorkshire accent of course.
The dales are rolling hills with stone walls dividing off each farm or field. The day started out sunny and warm but the hills in the distance were quite smoggy. Some of the streams had signs stating they were private fishing areas while others had 'no fishing' signs.
The walk ended at the small village of Grassington where we bought some local home made bread and relish and sat in the main square watching the hikers roll in. Some of the cafes even had signs saying 'Dogs welcome'!
