Coronation Confectionery

Well, we actually made it! We’re here in our beloved Langdale valley and we can’t quite believe it.

We left just before 5.30 am, so we had a good journey up, with light traffic for most of the way. There was a glorious sunrise, and the journey was dry until we reached Yorkshire, at which point it started to drizzle a bit. We stopped for a second breakfast at Betty’s café at the RHS Gardens, Harlow Carr, just outside Harrogate. This is where today’s blip comes from, and it shows some of the Coronation cakes and biscuits on sale in the shop area of the café.

The journey across the Yorkshire Dales was stunningly beautiful. At one point we saw a kestrel hovering ahead of us for some time, and then swooping down on to the grass verge beside us, having pinioned its prey with its claws. Not a sight we’re too familiar with in suburbia!

That part of the journey was marred only by a stray stone which was flicked up by a passing car on the other side of the road, making a loud bang and leaving a nasty star-shaped mark on our windscreen. Five minutes on and we heard another loud bang as the star shape then widened, with long cracks forming on either side. It didn’t get any worse, fortunately, for the rest of the journey, but it means that Smithers will have to try and sort it out before we go much further in the car.

As we neared the Lakes the weather closed in, mist descended on the fells and the windscreen wipers were on constantly. However, the next few days are forecast to be dry, so we’ll just hunker down now and have an early night. It’s been rather a long day …