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Monday 6 September 2010

The highs...

Had a weekend of highs and lows... The highs were here - Dentdale, one of the smaller and less well-known Yorkshire Dales, up to the northeast of Saltaire (almost in the Lake District). My journey started on the glorious Settle to Carlisle railway line, known as one of the best railway journeys in England. On the way to Dent, the train soars over the Ribblehead Viaduct among some wild and beautiful scenery. Dent Station is actually about 4 miles outside Dent village, up a steep hill - so I was glad that there is a special bus connection on Saturdays for visitors. I walked a circular walk around Dentdale, up onto the edge of the moors and then back along the riverside. At one point I found this wonderful viewpoint over the Dale. There was a plaque showing the main points of interest and this verse (from: 'Smiling Along' by Kathleen Partridge), which pretty much summed up how I felt:

Roaming the byways outside the great city
The sky seems too large for my little concerns;
Worries are lost in the green of the landscape
A sense of wellbeing and wonder returns.
A good wholesome breeze sweeps the frown from my forehead,
Here is simplicity, fragrant and free.
It is enough to be living this minute;
To feel and to hear, to think and to see
.

The lows?... Unfortunately my worries didn't stay lost for long. My washer-dryer broke down, necessitating a great deal of rewashing, by hand, to try and get the oily marks out of the clothes (!) - not to mention the expense of a new machine. Ah well, luckily Saltaire has a launderette until I can sort out a replacement.

10 comments:

  1. Do you know I have never been on the Settle to Carlisle line. Perhaps I will take my niece when she comes - it will be a treat for all of us. Here's wishing you some good drying weather.

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  2. I have to say that the dales and hills in that part of the world beat the concrete of the M4 corridor.

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  3. Beautiful rolling panorama... pity about the technical difficulties!

    Hugs,
    Eleonora xx

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  4. Life knows how to bring us back quickly to a certan reality...but at least, you had this precious "minute" among a wonderful landscape...

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  5. Amazing view, it would be hard to leave.

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  6. How fortunate you are to have accessible railway service! This sounds like a ,ost pleasant day!

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  7. Awwww! That is so unfortunate about the washer drier! I love the poem. It sums up exactly how I feel when I stand in such a location with the green of the landscape all around me and a vast empty sky :)

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  8. What a lovely lovely landscape! Hugs from Luzia.

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