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| Ribblehead Viaduct |
A viaduct is a bridge formed of several smaller
strands. My wife had seen something in a
guidebook about Ribblehead Viaduct, and had caught a glimpse of it on our first
drive through the Yorkshire Dales National Park. But on our return visit to Askrigg, she saw
the long bridge, and some sheep gathered around a small parking area along the
road, and so she stopped the car for a few moments.
It had been warm the day before, short pants weather, out
where we were staying near Lancaster, along the West coast of England. But returning to the Dales, on this foggy
morning, we were glad we had returned with our long pants, warm shirts, and
jackets. The sheep might have had their
woolly coats, but we needed extra clothing to keep us warm, and block out the
chill breeze.
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| "Uh, could I borrow your woolly coat?" |
I once knew a lady who claimed she didn’t need to travel. If she drove anywhere, to visit anything or
anyone, she returned home by that evening.
Home was where she felt comfortable: it was where she felt she belonged. And she was right about the complexities and
complications associated with travel: I’ll give her that. She argued that she could see anything she
wanted on the internet, or by reading a book or magazine, and to a certain
extent, I’ll grant her that as well. I
certainly could have read up, done endless study on the places we visited, and emerged
with a knowledge of Holmfirth, Thirsk, and Askrigg that would have rivaled many
of the locals.
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| "Brrrrr!" |
But there’s one aspect of travel that you can never substitute
with research, and it’s those special places you discover along the way, that
you’d never learn about or really appreciate unless you were there to notice them. For me, Ribblehead Viaduct is one such place. I still remember the amazement I felt
standing there in the tall grass, gazing at that long stretch of
stonework. I can still feel the chill
wind blowing so hard I had to remove my hat or I would lose it. I remember how I smiled at those sheep
wandering around in the grasses. They
might have looked unconcerned, but they kept their distance from me. After we took our photographs, we headed back
to the car, and approached a food truck in the hopes of warming up with a cup
of tea. But the people inside hadn’t
opened up yet, so we got back in our car and continued onward.
Someday I’d like to return there, and take the walk featured
in the “Walk of the Week” video below. For
Ribblehead Viaduct is an awesome example of human achievement, set amid some of
the most pastoral landscape imaginable. It
has an interesting history, and reading about how it was built can give you a
sense of its importance and history. But
such knowledge is empty and incomplete without traveling there and actually
seeing it. Nor can photographs convey what
I experienced standing there on that cold, cloudy morning, gazing across the
windswept field at Ribblehead Viaduct.
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| "We've unfinished business, Ribblehead." |
I’m glad we discovered it
Dragon Dave
Related Internet Links
Walk of the Week (10 minute video)
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