Yorkshire Dales Cycle Way - Sunday Aug 27th, day 1 - Otley to Malham

I'm sitting in the pub on the green in Malham (the Lister Arms Hotel) drinking real ale. There's no mobile reception here, which is frustrating as I can now send emails from this (my Palm PDA) via my mobile. There are of course a lotof big limestone hills around here. I'll have to mail this tomorrow from some rest point en route - perhaps over coffee in Settle or Ingleton.

A wet man has just come in, so it must be raining outside again. We had some very brief and light showers during the day - a mere sprinkling! At about 5.45, 2 1/2 miles out of Malham there was a serious downpou - very cold and very wet. My padded knickers will take forever to dry!

We left home around noon - a mere two hours later than intended. Stopped in Burnsall around 2.30 for a picnic lunh beside the River Wharfe. It was a typical August Bank Holiday weekend scene: people huddled on benches, dressed in warm anoraks and gloves; rubbish strewn across the ground from the overflowing bins. Actually it was very quiet for a Bank Holiday weekend. We picnicked on leftovers from home: home made spelt flour bread, hummus,cheese, olives and salad. There was quite a lot of sun when we set off, but from Burnsall on we kept our jackets on.

We stopped at a Farm Shop in Crcoe to get some veggies for an evening meal (we brought the Trangia this time so we can cook for ourselves). It was a very carniverous shop - lots of 'award winning' meats - so we had to make do with onion and tomatoes. Supper was a good meal though: Thai jasmin rice with tuna, onion, tomatoes and garlic, with some Thai cuury paste that Paul prepared earlier. Mmmm.

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