It's Show Time Darling!

I don't know what it is about agricultural shows but we always fall out every single time we go to one. Today we decided to go to the "Gilsland Agricultural Show". My husband loves these shows but I am ambivalent about them. I usually like them once we are there but I have to work at it. (City girl that I am.) Muddy boots galore, ruddy cheeked farmers in their tan brogues, animals in abundance left, right and centre. Bouncy castles. Fairgrounds. Ice creams. Food tents. Arts and Crafts tents. Face painting. Ancient tractors, cars, steam engines: all shiny and on show.

We went to the Northumberland County Show at Corbridge (which is massive) last year. It rained and I can't remember why but we argued. We went to the Cumbria County Show at Carlisle this year and I sobbed outside the food tent. Today before we even went to the Gilsland Show my daughter had an all out tantrum. We all made up, we put on our coats, our wellies, our broadest smiles and went out.

We live five minutes from Gilsland. We go to Gilsland. No signs seen for the show so hubbie roared off in the direction of Low Row. We went up hill and down dale. We eventually met up with the Military Road going to Banks (see previous posts). We drove back in the direction of Gilsland. We turned off to the left half way along Military Road (hubbie had seen a sign for the farm mentioned in the paper as to where the show was being held)....we drove down hill and up dale. We turned down a lane so tiny that we made an eighty year old granny reverse back down for, oh say, at least three and a half minutes. We drove past her. We thanked her. It was a very pretty hamlet. We reached a beck. We reached a closed gate. We turned around. We drove back to where we had come from. We got back on the Military Road. Husband roared off again. We had left late. The Show was about to finish. Daughter groaned in the back seat. She felt sick. We slowed down. We admired the tourists, who had come from afar, climbing onto the Wall at Birdoswald. Ah ha! A sign was espied for the Show at Gilsland. Turn left at the bottom of the road it said. Left past Slack House Farm. We saw more signs, the letters daubed in red paint, for the Show at Gilsland. At last we had found it! Eureka! When we asked the man at the gate why there had not been more signs, at the centre of Gilsland (which anyone can drive through in sixty seconds), for the Show, he said they had run out of them. We parked the car. We looked at each other and started to giggle hysterically. Makes a nice change.

Desert Island Drive #1

(Click on photos to enlarge)
I drive this "drive" quite often and it always fills me with great joy. This is why I have called it "My Desert Island Drive". (Blogger only lets me upload a certain amount of photos in one post so these posts all represent the entire drive.)

It follows the "Military Road" (B6318) and this particular bit is from Brampton to Birdoswald. Needless to say the views of the countryside combined with the winding country lanes lined with cottages and farmhouses just leave me lost for words every time I drive it. I hope these pictures go some way to convey their beauty.

The view of Lanercost Priory from just above Lanercost. As the road winds it way down from Brampton to Lanercost you see the Priory just over the drystone wall from the road.

On the way down to the village I drive under a canopy of dense foliage which fills me with childlike wonder. On my left hand side I see Lanercost Bridge (which strangely reminds me of an old Roman Bridge in Cangas de Onis, Picos de Europa, Asturias, Spain...although this bridge in Cumbria is not Roman).

I was quite taken with this old sign at the Western end of the bridge. The road has its own bridge to take the strain from the old one built in 1724 for £493 by four local masons: Isaac Monkhouse, William Railton, Philip and Joseph Simpson (there were older bridges on this site which got swept away by ancient floods).

Hadrian's Wall at Sunset

But I'm glad I went. I'd shown willing.

The highlight of the night for me was driving back along the Military Road at Sunset. It shows that I have fallen 100% in love with this area of the world. If you'd told me that I would feel like this 20 years ago I would have looked at you as if you were an escaped lunatic. I thought (then) that if you went as far West as Hexham you fell off the edge of the world.

The countryside is extraordinarily green and luscious. Hawthorn trees, with their pretty white flowers, are flowering in abundance standing like guardians of each village, each outpost. As I sped past them the sun was setting against Hadrian's Wall showing it in relief on the right hand side of the road.

Half way along the road I wound down my window so I could hear the wind rushing in and around the car. I find that every time I drive along this road I discover new sights (and sites), fresh sounds varying with the time of day and season. Do those magnificent looking gates, lost and forlorn, lead to Aydon Castle I wonder? I remind myself to check the map when I get back. (They might be a reminder of the remains of Halton Castle. Need to do some more research.)

The famous Sycamore tree at Sycamore Gap (as stood under by Kevin Costner in 'Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves') seems even more beautiful in the crepuscular light.

It is a joy and a treasure to experience all of this and more. I try to sear these pinky blue views in my memory bank. I reach my destination. I park my car and the bats swoop overhead.