Easter

Smardalegill Viaduct

Easter is early this year, so the children didn't break up until the Thursday before Good Friday.

Good Friday
Desparate to get out walking again, but with the weather not at its best and our legs not the fittest they have been (especially me as I've managed to pull a groin muscle - no idea how - but it hurts a lot!) we decided to explore a new part of the Dales, along an old train line, so we knew it would be flat.  It is a walk we saw on the telly - Tony Robinson did it: Smardalegill, it near Kirkby Stephen, quite a drive in fact, but well well worth it.

Smardale Bridge

We parked up, and luckily two ladies passed by who told us where to go (just as well as there was no signage anywhere!)  It was a beautiful walk and flat which was great and even had the odd pile of snow left over from last weekend meaning I could chase Tom with a snowball.  It took us past old quarries, into the Dales full of sheep and abandoned buildings to a lovely huge brick built viaduct from the 1860s spanning a tiny river and which we could walk along - hurray!  If only we could do the same with the viaduct in Ingleton, oh hum!!!

Anyway it was a lovely walk, and we managed to turn it into a circular as we could see a track on the other side of the river to follow back.  Lovely 15th century pack horse bridge to walk over, shame the 15th century pub wasn't still there too!  We got back around 1pm, with rumbly tummies, however, we met a lovely man on the way back who told us of 3 nearby eateries, so we jumped into the car and headed to one of his recommendations - The King's Head in Ravenstonedale.  Wow, there is some money round here - this was the 'poorer' of his recommendations, and it was very posh.  Tom had macaroni cheese which was made with smoked cheddar (yuck! I HATE smoked cheese), he was very happy with it, Matt had a full chicken dinner with haggis and whisky sauce so he was in seventh heaven.  I chose unwisely: wild mushroom risotto which had sooooo much cheese in it it was basically cheesy rice and therefore very greasy - oh hum, the boys were very happy with their choices, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.


We got back, had showers etc and then headed out to the Wheatsheaf as it was Sheafstock (basically Ingleton music festival) this weekend and Matt was on the bar.  Tom and I joined him, so burgers for tea with a healthy smattering of some great live music (Thr33 in particular were a great band - played Pink Floyd, Beatles, Peter Gabriel - stuff that all 3 of us enjoy so we were very happy).  Didn't get home till late.

Easter Saturday

Biker's lunch

Tom had requested a Bike Ride, so we put on the bike carrier and headed to Bull Beck car park.  Tom had requested the Lancaster canal and Morecambe prom ride with lunch at the Shore Cafe so that is what we did.  Of course last time we did it, Tom had a much smaller bike, with his new bike his wheels are on par with ours and with added gears too, there were some places where I couldn't keep up with him.  Yep, it has happened, poor Mum is at the back struggling to keep up.  Pants!  Luckily Tom is still nervous overtaking others which slows him down, giving me the opportunity to catch up with him.  We got to the Shore Cafe in no time at all so had an early lunch.  Tom opted for carb loading - having potato and broccoli cheese bake with chips.  Enough for all 3 of us to eat, just as well Matt and I ordered much smaller meals so we could help him.

At Sheafstock

We continued on to the stone jetty, then through Morecambe and along the old railway line back to the river, across the bridge and back under the aqueduct to the track we started on.  Tom did start to tire here, so we stopped at Crook o Lune for a drink and snack before finishing off at Bull Beck.  It was a 20 mile ride all together, albeit mostly flat, but my legs were screaming at the end and ached for the rest of the day.  Oh hum, we got home, had a quick tea and headed back to Sheafstock were we managed to get a table in the music tent so sat down for the night, made new friends and enjoyed the music.

Easter Sunday

New engine at Millerbeck

We thought we would have a slow day today and found out that Millerbeck was open, so we headed over.  It was a lovely day, blue skies but freezing cold.  We got there just after it opened and were shocked to find the car park almost full and the place heaving, we think word has got out now, we have never seen it so full.  Never mind - we joined the queue and waited patiently for our turn on a train.  We all managed a trip on Alf (a diesel), then Tom and I had a ride on a rather lovely looking Canadian Pacific train (a diesel) and then Matt and Tom had a ride on Geoff (yet another diesel).  We bumped into Rebecca and her family whilst there as well - Rebecca is in the year above Tom but an avid train fan, and although they know of each other, they haven't spoken at school at all which is a little silly.  We have arranged something with both of them later in the week in the hope that they make friends and be train geeks together.

Atop Gummer's How

After Millerbeck we headed to the car museum cafe for lunch, it was rammed, but didn't take that long for the food to come out which was as good as ever.  Then we decided to head to Gummer's How for a mini walk to the top to take in the splendid view of Windermere.  It was as lovely as we remembered.  Always a good walk, not much effort required for huge reward.


We headed home, had another quick tea and then headed over to Sheafstock again for the last night.  Wow, the place was rammed, with all the families from school - there were children everywhere.  We thought it would be great for Tom, loads of children for him to play with, but no, I think there were just too many children, and he clung to me and got teary?! Oh hum, he had had lots of late nights, so I think they were catching up on him.  The families did seem to leave after an hour or so, then Tom started to play with those left and relaxed.  We came home a little earlier, and vowed a slow day for Monday.

Easter Monday
Easter Monday was a horrible day: windy, rainy and cold.  There was no incentive to leave the house so we didn't!  We snuggled up on the sofa and watched netflicks - Tom chose Free Willy which we all really enjoyed (although it did get Tom going on a number of occasions).  We then headed to Ireby for lunch, before returning home.  We had a game of Ticket to Ride (Daddy won again - one day we will beat him!), then an episode of Planet Earth before tucking into a full roast dinner.  Very satisfying, and what else to do on a horrible day?