Two days in the Yorkshire Dales to visit caves and to walk : Part 1, The Journey and the Hotel

Last week, I took my two off days in the middle of the week to proceed to the Yorkshire area. Travelling to Clapham, where I had booked a night's stay at the Brookhouse Guest House. 

The journey from my home to the hotel took nearly three hours. I had to take a bus to the Blackpool North station (10 minutes, plus a waiting time of 15 minutes), from where a rail-replacement bus took me to Preston (50 minutes, plus a waiting time of 11 minutes); from here, it was a short rail-ride to Lancaster (24 minutes, plus a waiting time of 12 minutes); and, a railroad journey of another 40 minutes to Clapham. However, this does not finish the journey. From the station, it was a long walk of 1.7 km to the guest house. This is a sleepy village in the Dales, and there were no taxis or any people on the roads, so, it was pretty much down to me by myself as I walked the distance to get to the guest house. 

Here are some photos of the route I took from the Clapham station to the guest house:

No one on the road - a very quiet but pleasant walk

Ewe with her lamb in one of the fields

Another one with two lambs

This is the ram with a pigmented face quite different from the ewe

All kitted up for the strong, cold wind and the showers that are a part of the UK climate

Arriving at the Brookhouse Guest House

To be honest, the day was a sunny one with the temperature in the high single digits. It soon moved on past 10, and stayed around 10-12 through the morning and into the early afternoon. Arriving at the guest house, I rang the bell and was immediately welcomed by Mr Alan, who, I later learned, is the sole proprietor, manager, service provider and chef of the property. I was shown to a very well-kept room on the first floor. Interestingly, the rooms (all 4 of them - and similar to each other) - were named after localities around Clapham. My room was called the Ingleborough room. It was a single room with a nice double bed, streaming sunlight, a TV with Freeview channels, and a very clean and well-accessorised bathroom-cum-toilet. 

Some photos of the guesthouse and the facilities:

The flight of stairs

The Ingleborough room

Room 1: corner 

Room 2: Wall decor

Me inside the room

Room 3: Bed and TV with tea and coffee machine

Restaurant 1

Restaurant 2

Alan, the proprietor, chef and everything else

Restaurant 3

Restaurant 4

After leaving my luggage in the room allocated to me, I set off immediately to go to the Ingleborough caves. More about this in my next post.