Wet and wild in Yorkshire

If you read my recent post about staying at Swinton Bivouac you’ll know I went up to Yorkshire a couple of weekends ago. On the Saturday we unpacked and had a nice meal at the barn in the evening. On Sunday, after a cosy nights sleep in our cabins we headed out for bracing (read: bloody wet and windy) walk in the surrounding woodland. Everyone had packed sensible outdoorsy clothing but I think we were all a bit envious of Cerys’s long coat.

First stop – Druids Temple! A folly set in the woods surrounded by other freestanding stones.

We then walked up a small hill towards Leighton reservoir. The view over the moorland was pretty vast and I’d imagine on a clear day you could see for miles in either direction. I think the rain and fog made for better photos though. You can’t beat the colour of orange ferns against bluey/grey fog.

Some of the gang needed to head off early on Sunday so after our walk we bundled into a pub called The Black Swan for lunch. Three courses was the general consensus. Needless to say I didn’t need much convincing on that.

I had baked cod which came with pretty much everything a roast dinner did minus a Yorkshire pudding; red cabbage, courgette, carrots, potatoes and mashed potato! I’ve never had a roast with two types of potato before but the mash was good for soaking up all the herby butter. It was so big I had to leave some so I could fit my pudding in!

Feeling very full, me, Annie, Cerys and Emma said our goodbyes to the others and started our [dry] walk back to the cabin.

When we reached these woods we knew we were getting close to our cabin. They were unbelievably dark inside. If the light hadn’t been fading it would have been good to do some exploring. I doubt we would have found our way back out again if we’d gone in when it was already dark. Although after that huge meal it’s not like we would have starved.

The last thing I want to show you is the crochet seat covers in Annie’s car! I travelled in style…