After getting an excessive amount of sleep last night we awoke just before 8 for breakfast. We had left the house by ten and headed up the A1. The rain followed us throughout our journey sometimes just drizzling but other times descending in bucketfuls.
Our first stop took place just at the point where the A1 becomes the A1(M). We pulled off the motorway and had a coffee at a garden centre. The coffee only just passed the acceptability test. Back on the A1(M) and we turned off at Wetherby. The cough that had started on Thursday continued and we stopped at Aldi to buy some tissues. I needed somewhere to spit the phlegm coming up from my chest.
We drove on and as we continued the roads became narrower. We passed through Pateley Bridge and headed towards The Sportsman. When we arrived it was closed. We decided turn back towards Pateley Bridge and on to another possible pub only to find the road closed. Back to Pateley Bridge again and a bite to eat in a back street café called The Willow. It wasn’t expensive and I had a bowl of soup and sandwich.
When we left the rain carried on pouring down and the roads became bumpier and narrower. Hedge’s driving didn’t seem to slow down to compensate for the narrowness. On and on we drove.
Suddenly we stopped at Wensleydale Creamery and I was given the chance to buy the cheese I said I liked at Ingrid and Hedge’s house. I was being polite about about the food presented to me. I was now presented with the option to buy it. I chose to buy something different.
We bounced along further in the rain and on these winding roads. Eventually we arrived in Dent. Not feeling great with a hacking cough I lay down and had a little sleep for 90 minutes. The others went for a walk and came back soaked. We popped over to the nearest pub for a couple of drinks and then returned to eat the meal Ingrid had already compared. Lots of meat and very little veg. She finished off with a pie. I had an apple.