Leaving Scotland and on to Yorkshire

So the time had to come when we left this fair land <<Co-pilot's note: Dear reader, you need to imagine a clàrsach (Scottish harp) playing flower of Scotland as you read that sentence.>> Yes we still have two nights away before getting home, but as we leave Scotland the main focus of the holiday comes to an end and I can reflect on what has been a wonderful experience, with so many images and memories to draw on in the years ahead. 

Our route today was from Glasgow to Ramsgill in Yorkshire, so it looked like this:

Farewell to Scotland

Our route out of Glasgow took us past the medieval Glasgow Cathedral and on to the M8 which led us quickly out of Glasgow on to the M73 and which merges with the M74 heading South.

Most noticeable of all was the quantity of wind farms around this part of Scotland. It was amazing to see how many wind farms were on every hill. We had noticed this throughout Scotland, but today it struck us very prominently as we knew we would see so many fewer once we returned to England and Wales. During our time in Scotland on one day Scotland produced more wind energy than its total energy needs. This kind of planning for the future is an example of where the Scottish Government is way ahead of other parts of the UK.

Gretna Green 

  

To mark our departure from Scotland we decided we would stop on the border and the only place on the border on our route was Gretna, so we pulled off the motorway and into Gretna Green.

One reflection on Scotland is that many of the most amazing places: e.g. Queen's View; Callanish Stones; Dun Carloway; are very understated and tourists, while welcome, aren't overpowered, in the way they would be the case for similar, or even less important places, in the USA. This is not the case for the Blacksmiths Shop, Gretna Green, which has been developed into a tourist spectacle. Though quite fun.

Having passed the last house in Scotland, we say goodbye to Scotland and welcome to England as we travel into Cumbria.

North Pennines and North Yorkshire

From the border we rejoined the M6 and travelled down to Penrith before taking a more rural route for the rest of the journey. 

As tonight's check-in isn't until 4pm, and the direct route would get us there far to early, we decided to take a more rural and picturesque route to the Yorke Arms. We took the risk of putting the satnav on to shortest rather than fastest route and began the fun of the journey. 

This part of the journey took a lot of twisting turns that wouldn't show up on the map above, so I include two detailed maps of the journey. 

First here is a more detailed picture of the route through the North Pennines area of national beauty from the motorway to Hawes in Wensleydale.

Kirkby Stephen

Eden Valley

This took us through the fertile Eden Valley  including Kirkby Stephen and Nateby

Aisgill

River Eden

then we were on to Aisgill and further along the River Eden.

                          

We then climbed higher into the hills and across the border into Yorkshire and on into the Yorkshire Dales National Park and on into the Nidderdale area of national beauty. This bit of the route goes from Hawes to Ramsgill:

The route was lovely and the day was warm. I'm not often jealous of my brother-in-law's open topped car, particularly given my bald head, but today was exactly the day for the speed of the car to cool those in it. Just as I was enjoying the view a bomber appeared in the sky, as you can see in the photo. Sorry there is so much car in the photo, another reason why a roof-less car would help.  

Yorkshire Dales

The views across the dales, on such a lovely day were really amazing. I hope my photos do some justice to them.

We passed an amazing selection of old-fashioned pubs along the way with many people sitting outside enjoying a cool cider in the heat of this wonderful day.

We then drove past the lovely views in the place called The Forbidden Corner and then a route across the river with a distinctive fortified bridge. There is something very 'Game of Thrones' about this, though I'm not sure I had actually seen an image of this before. So I was very impressed. 

As soon as the road went over the river it got narrower and narrower. Soon we were on a one track road when a stone carrying lorry came by. Getting out to let him thorough I thought this would make a great picture, giving a flavour of the drive.

We went on into Nidderdale which is another amazingly beautiful place with wonderful countryside, lovely rivers, old farm houses and more and more spectacular views.

We finally came to The Yorke Arms in Ramsgill just before 4pm, a perfect time to check in. 

The second person we met as we went into the Yorke Arms was the chef patron Frances Atkins who greeted us enthusiastically. I just thought she was being welcoming, Drew's view was that she had mistaken us for someone else. <<Co-pilot's note: But how she could have imagined this is beyond me as both of us are quite distinctive! We don't fit discretely into our surroundings do we!!>> 

More about this lovely venue and Frances' excellent food in my post tomorrow.