My first impression of Reeth was that I loved it. There were beautiful green hills all around with old stone walls dividing people's land. The village itself consists of a small church, a couple rows of stores in old stone buildings, a few pubs, a post office, a general store, a bakery, an ice cream parlor, a village green, and rows of beautiful old stone houses. To get from one end of the village to the other takes at most 5 minutes, which is a big change from London and Paris (and even Coutevroult). And there are sheep and cows everywhere! This place is straight out of a post card.
I essentially only had a day and a half there, so we got moving right away. We dropped our stuff off at the cottage and then headed to the Black Bull--one of the pubs--for dinner, since it was about 6pm by now. There I had my first Giant Yorkshire Pudding, which is a big soft bread bowl full of beef and gravy that you add french fries and vegetables to. I was definitely full. Next up we made the rounds to some of Rachel's aunts and uncles (her dad has 10 brothers and sisters). We met Uncle George and Uncle Jack, who were very nice, and then we went over to Aunt Hannah's. She. is. hilarious. She's this tiny older English woman who had her hair up in curlers. My first impression of her was when she went up to Rachel and said, "I'm glad you're here, because I was calling Gillian 'Rachel' all day yesterday...aren't I naughty?!" And then she burst out in little English giggles.
The rest of the night involved hanging out at another pub called the Buck, where I had a pint of cider (Strongbow...not Longbow...since that was really confusing to me) giving me a grand total of 1 1/2 pints of cider for the night. Therefore, I was silly. It was a lot of fun to sit around and talk with Rachel, Cote, Gillian, Laura, Ryan, and Rachel's cousin Mel, who's a couple years older than us. There were Asian and Jewish jokes galore, just proving that Cote and I are deeply loved by the Aldersons. And we had a long discussion about awkward things (turtles, turkeys, palm trees, etc.). AND we made a new handshake. Incredibly successful pub visit.
Our last stop was a return to the Black Bull. I was all set with my 1 1/2 pints, but I did spend the rest of the night playing pool (Rachel and I won once, woooo!) and listening to the juke box, which we took over. On top of being a horse whisperer, it turns out that Cote is a pool maven. Here she is, being a Cote:
And that was our first night in Reeth. I am a fan. The next day was our first full day (and my last for a week) so we got up and headed out to the Swing Bridge, which Rachel's grandfather helped to build. The bridge sits over the Swale, which is the very shallow river that runs through Reeth and all the nearby villages (collectively called Swaledale). We started out on a 15-minute walk out to the bridge. And thus begins a riveting account of our magical journey into a beautiful land of green hills and animal friends...
We walked to the edge of the village and started walking past farmland, as in pastures where cows and sheep were grazing. But then...we walked INTO a field of sheep! They were everywhere! I was excited to bond with the animals, so I made my way over to my new friends...but they didn't necessarily reciprocate.
NBD...I knew I'd have more opportunities later. After a few more minutes of walking, we arrived at the bridge. And just at that moment, the sun came out and lit up the bridge, the Swale, and the hills.
And it wouldn't be a true PAC(K) outing without a silly bridge picture:
Yeah Cote. We hung out by the bridge for awhile in the sun. Rachel and I kicked off our heels (or flip flops) and waded into the water. Then we discovered that there were tiny fish swimming all around us! They were eating stuff off of our feet, which made me feel like one of those fancy ladies who gets that fish pedicure treatment. Please note how tiny they are in relation to my foot (and the world at large):
So I at least bonded with one thing in nature. We headed back to the cottage and started getting ready for Rachel's Uncle Jack's 80th birthday party. This started another series of friendships with animal friends...
We got to the village where the party was being held (after driving past a field...full of bunnies. That was beautiful animal moment #1) and got out of the car. Immediately, this pidgeon landed near all of us and started pecking at our feet. It was following people around, and when Ryan bent down and reached his hand out, it started biting his fingers. Cote was naht a fan.
Nicole Cote: horse whisperer, pool maven...pidgeon kicker. We left our pidgeon friend and walked over to the tea room (I want my 80th birthday party to be held in a tea room) to meet the rest of the family. But on the way, we found...STEALTH CAT!
The night's animal friend count: 2. (20,002 if you count the bunnies). We went to the party, ate our meal, and then went outside after dessert to get some fresh air. And who did we find? Our pidgeon friend (at this point he deserved a name so we named him Jasper). Turns out Jasper was trained, and Ryan got him to jump up on surfaces and then perch on his hand multiple times. Check ittttt!
Aaaand, after a couple more hours of minglin' with the Aldersons, we headed back, playing a game of "dodge the suicidal bunnies" on the car ride home. We won.
This was a very long post. As a reward for anyone who got this far, the much-talked-up picture from London Dungeon in which Rachel's face is probably the greatest thing I've ever seen:
I wrote that comment about you having lots of pictures of animals prior to reading this, my old comment is NULL AND VOID, it has been trumped by this lovely post. You have a codswallop of pictures of animals!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am so glad I kept reading and got to see that glorious picture of Rachel's face! :)