Bright and early the next day, we enjoyed a full English
breakfast in massive proportions and then hauled ourselves and our luggage to
the car for the next leg of our journey.
We were heading to Pateley Bridge where my parents last lived but on the
way we planned to visit “something”. We
didn’t know what the “something” was going to be but we knew we would know it
when we encountered it. That amazing
man of mine made navigating the motorway look like he’d been doing it all his
life and soon we were rolling alongside a big lorry which was so close I could
see the scratches on the lug nuts.
Around lunchtime we
rolled into Knaresborough where my parents had lived and owned a business for a
few years. We moved here when I was
eighteen during the summer after I left school and before I headed to college in
Wales, (we don’t “graduate” senior school/high school in England but we had a
heck of a time celebrating regardless!) I
was, I admit it now many years later, quite resentful. I was forced, yes, forced I tell you, to
leave my home town of Oldham, my friends, my social life and, worst of all, my
boyfriend, simply because my parents wanted to start their own business! I was not happy about it and determined that they
would know this, every stinking day! I
was pretty consistently in an incredibly bad mood and demonstrated a complete
lack of graciousness in acknowledging that the empty nesters might want to
fulfill some dreams of their own having dedicated their last eighteen years to
my dreams. Eventually even I was bored
of myself and I finally learned what this village had to offer and grew to love
the views and its picturesque nature. Knaresborough
is quite small with a High Street (equivalent of Main Street in America), lots
of little shops, several pubs of course, a castle and Old Mother Shipton’s
Cave. Perfect…Old Mother Shipton’s Cave
was our “something”.
Old Mother Shipton was born to humble roots but was famous because
of her predictions for the future. Royalty
visited her to understand the fate of their kingdoms and people came from far
and wide to hear her words of wisdom. For
example, if this bridge in Knaresborough falls three times it signifies the end
of the world. Just for the record, it has
fallen twice so if it falls again we may all be in trouble.
Of course the logical answer to this
impending doom in England is to name the local pub accordingly, hope for the
best and down a pint in case the worst comes to the worst!
After following the instructions to the letter at the Wishing Well
we walked through a beautiful park and were able to see Knaresborough viaduct
from a variety of angles. I have always
thought the viaduct and the river do not have a bad side and I enjoyed taking
lots of photos. We visited Knaresborough’s
castle and then realized it was time to head to Pateley Bridge to meet up with
my wonderful friend Rita and her companion, Frank.
I learned from my Dad that once British gentlemen and ladies
reach a certain age, they no longer have girlfriends and boyfriends, they have
companions. About three years after my
Mum passed away, with my Dad and I by her side holding her hand and becoming even
closer than we already were, my Dad met Rita She quickly became his companion, probably because she is fun and adventurous and strong in a
way that she does not see which makes her humble and unassuming.
In that cruel and surreal way that life has
sometimes, my Dad died two years later with Rita and I by his side. To say that Rita is a cherished part of my
life is an understatement and when she traveled all the way to America to meet
the man of my dreams and attend our wedding I was overjoyed. That
was three years ago and we had not seen her since even though we had exchanged
many cards, emails and phone calls in the meantime. Add to all that the fact that we had
reservations to stay in my parents’ house which was renovated into a Bed and
Breakfast after I sold it and this was going to be the most emotional leg of
the trip for me. Having said that, it
was still a surprise to me when I promptly burst into tears when we drove into
Pateley Bridge. I was a weeping fool by
the time I was hugging Rita and trying to tell her how happy I was to see her! I pulled myself together in true English
fashion…stiff upper lip and all that…and we headed to Fox House...more to come!
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