It's not often that Le Tour de France
comes to northern Britain, and on this occasion it coincided with my birthday
holiday. We spent a few day at friends down in Ilkley,
Yorkshire, to see the start of Le Tour, and then headed off to The Lake
District for a couple of days.
I
think most people were surprised at how well supported the event was.
Certainly, in Ilkley, there were many thousands of folk lining the route!
One of the people staying with us, a much better photographer than
we, has a Flickr account with
his photos of Le Tour.
Whilst in Yorkshire we did a couple of walks:
We walked through Trow Gill
We walked past Gaping Gill on our trek to the summit of Ingleborough.
At 322ft deep, Gaping Gill is Britain's 2nd deepest
single-drop pothole, opening into Britain's largest chamber, and giving it
England's highest single-drop waterfall!
Don't Do It!
After our few days in Yorkshire we headed off to the Lake
District, and two nights of culinary splendour
We stayed at L'
Enclume and dined at Rogan & Co on the
first night, and L' Enclume's restaurant on our
second night. Both evenings were exceptionally good!
View Coniston Old Man in a
larger map
We
did an excellent loop walk taking in the summit of Coniston Old Man. We parked
at Walna Scar and did a 7.5-mile loop
It was a fabulous weather-day, and a really excellent walk!
Looking out to Lake Coniston
High-Level walking at its very best!
This route up Coniston Old Man is not frequented
When you finally reach the summit you get the crowds
At the top!
View Faifield Horseshoe in a larger
map
On our second day in the Lake District we did the Fairfield
Horseshoe, a classic Lakeland walk of 10.5-miles.
It was another fabulous day!
We did the clockwise circuit. Here looking along the valley to
Fairfield summit.
Great ridge walking!
A memorable birthday for several reasons: Le Tour, Le weather, Le
walking and Le eating!
The menu on my birthday: 20-courses of simply sublime food
Birthday Boy