Day 10

Day 10 Ilkley to Pateley Bridge
 
I was given a grand send off by members of the Walker family, the heat of the sun started to warm up the day and even the traffic on the main road seemed a little more benign than it might have been. It really did feel like the start of a new, and very good day. Who cares about punctures and blown up car engines- they're all just 'stuff' and when you've got a bunch of brilliant friends and family around you, that sort of 'stuff' just isn't important.

Bolton Abbey was humming with visitors but, as I huffed & puffed up Wharfedale the roads became quieter. At one point whilst travelling along a relatively flat road at the top of the valley, the air was so still & quiet that all I could hear was the occasional squawk of a bird, the whisper of the breeze and, unfortunately, also the rhythmic crunch of my slightly arthritic knee as I pressed down on the pedal.

It was late summer at its best - so different from when WW pushed his cart along this road. He complained that he missed the turning for Appletreewick in a cloud of rain and that he was so starved of human contact that he actually found the signpost under which he rested 'quite good company'. I took a photo of the present signpost, just for the hell of it.

At the top of the dale I was enticed to stop at Fancarl House by the sight of a painted mobile theatre trailer parked outside. The folks there from the Penny Plain Theatre Company, weren't aware of Walter and his ramblings in the area but, after reading through a few pages in the book we worked out that the derelict house in which he described having tea with an old soldier, must have been their home. They told me about the ghosts in the house and it wasn't until later in the day that I re-read the passage in the book about the encounter with the soldier.
 "He was thinking of spending the night in the empty house, which looked to me haunted......"
That really made the hairs on the back of my neck tingle!

The remainder of the trip to Pateley had me singing a selection of old 'Carpenters' songs, loudly - and of course - out of tune. I really felt I was "On top of the world, looking down on creation"
By 'eck - it were grand. Makes yer proud t' be from Yorkshire.


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