Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire

Bolton Abbey
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Ever since my brother and I visited Bolton Abbey last week I’ve been raving about it to my parents. Finally they’ve decided they want to see it before we leave. I’m delighted as I really enjoyed it last time and think mum in particular will enjoy the easy lower walk beside the river.

We arrive, after a few false turns, at the vast car park cum picnic area down by the river. It isn’t quite as busy today so we find a nice spot and start setting out the picnic. Then Dad decides to go in search of a loo – taking the car with him. It was probably half an hour before he finally returned – he could have walked it in five minutes!

My legs are so sodden I decide the only option is to unzip the detatchable legs of my trousers so that I can wring them out.

The Strid, Bolton Abbey
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After a very pleasant meal we decide it’s time to go for a wonder. I’m slightly worried about the dark clouds that are beginning to build up in the distance, but luckily our walk should all be under cover of trees, so a little rain won’t hurt. Dad doesn’t really fancy the walk so opts to stay back at the car park whilst Mum and I go off.

As I’d discovered last time, the walk doubles up as a sculpture trail and Mum’s quite keen to see some of the art works. Unfortunately the first one we come to has apparently been removed. We aren’t sure why but it looks like it may have been vandalised. However as we continue it becomes apparent that something slightly more dramatic is happening. Not one of the sculptures I saw last time remains, just the odd notice describing an invisible object. It takes us a while to work out what is going on. It’s only when we begin to notice the flattened foliage around us that we realise that vandals are probably not the culprits, could the river have damaged them instead?

The Strid, Bolton Abbey
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As we walked on the rain began to fall and as predicted it really wasn’t too bad. We were well sheltered and had coats with us just in case. However as we closed in on the Strid, and the wonderfully dramatic rocks that I was keen to show Mum, the rain began to really hammer down. After a very brief look, we decided that the rain was getting far too heavy for the walk to be enjoyable. It was time to turn tail and start the long walk back … which became a brisk trot … which became a jog … and finally we just ran.

It’s been a very long time since I saw rain like this, let alone walked in it. Unfortunately I hadn’t come with all my wet weather gear, just a light weight mac for emergencies (which this definitely constituted). Sadly my coat didn’t cover my legs at all and frankly what it did cover wasn’t really being protected as well as it might have been. I was truly soaked through and just had to accept it. What really annoyed me was that I was wearing very expensive waterproof walking books and my feet were sloshing about in them. The rain was so heavy it was running straight down my legs and into my poor boots!

We had almost reached the car park when we spotted Dad ahead of us. I had tried ringing him to tell him we were on the way back, but naturally he hadn’t thought to turn it on. We finally make it back to the Visitor Centre where we find a dozen or so hardy walker types sheltering under a handy overhang. We join them, causing a great deal of hilarity and earning a round of applause. Well there’s no use being cross about it, so we join in with the joke. My legs are so sodden I decide the only option is to unzip the detatchable legs of my trousers so that I can wring them out. I wish I’d thought of this earlier, it would have been preferable to cold, wet trousers.

The next thing we have to work out is how on earth we are going to get back to our cottage. Dad doesn’t seem too keen on the idea of me and Mum dripping all over his rental car (his had broken down just before we came away). Luckily we have the picnic blanket we had used earlier, with its waterproof lining. We arrange this on the back seat and then carefully clamber in. It’s really wonderful to be in a warm, dry car. In fact by the time we make it back to base I’ve almost dried out.