A short walk around Richmond
Jun. 14th, 2009 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustThe Guardian's recent series of walking guides inspired us to go down to Yorkshire yesterday; our starting point was this walk from Richmond to Easby (login required to see the full details), but since the walk described was only 6km, and started from the centre of town, where it would have been difficult to park, we parked at Round Howe picnic site, along the Swale from the town. Here's another variant of the walk.
This had the advantage of bringing us towards Richmond along the river: at first through fields above the river and then along a stone slabbed path by the water's edge, which gave us our first dramatic view of the castle. Then we climbed again to a meadow, thoughtfully provided with a bench facing across the river gorge to a fine view of the town - perfectly timed for lunch. Afterwards, it wasn't far down to the bridge, and once we'd crossed that, we were on our designated route, and altogether easier walking.
A stroll past the ruins of Easby Abbey (we didn't stop to look round, though we could have), and past several impressive and so far unidentified large houses brought us on to the disused railway line and back to the Station, Victorian station buildings now converted into a bijou shopping mall - and for once I mean that in a good way, lots of airy spaces and a tempting café bar, a bakery and various arty things to look at. (It's a real giveaway that the Guardian's description was out of date, that this wasn't mentioned).
We could have paused, but we didn't: we crossed back over the bridge and followed the river through a park along the length of the town. At the warerfalls we turned up towards the castle (our guide promised us 130m of climb, most of which seemed to have been saved for the last quarter mile).
Then![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
durham_rambler walked back to fetch the car, while I scoured the bookshops (two: one secondhand, one small independent) and charity shops of the town, and emerged victorious having bought books.
This had the advantage of bringing us towards Richmond along the river: at first through fields above the river and then along a stone slabbed path by the water's edge, which gave us our first dramatic view of the castle. Then we climbed again to a meadow, thoughtfully provided with a bench facing across the river gorge to a fine view of the town - perfectly timed for lunch. Afterwards, it wasn't far down to the bridge, and once we'd crossed that, we were on our designated route, and altogether easier walking.
A stroll past the ruins of Easby Abbey (we didn't stop to look round, though we could have), and past several impressive and so far unidentified large houses brought us on to the disused railway line and back to the Station, Victorian station buildings now converted into a bijou shopping mall - and for once I mean that in a good way, lots of airy spaces and a tempting café bar, a bakery and various arty things to look at. (It's a real giveaway that the Guardian's description was out of date, that this wasn't mentioned).
We could have paused, but we didn't: we crossed back over the bridge and followed the river through a park along the length of the town. At the warerfalls we turned up towards the castle (our guide promised us 130m of climb, most of which seemed to have been saved for the last quarter mile).
Then
durham_rambler walked back to fetch the car, while I scoured the bookshops (two: one secondhand, one small independent) and charity shops of the town, and emerged victorious having bought books.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-06-14 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-15 11:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-15 08:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-15 11:57 am (UTC)Catching up on stuff previously tabbed a long time ago...
Date: 2009-07-18 11:47 am (UTC)Heh. For some people, that would have been considered a defeat. ;-)
That's a fabulous photo, though. J and I are planning to walk to Finchdale Abbey and I wonder if our photos will be nearly as nice.