on thursday, though it was a little rainy, we went on a hike to picnic at the waterfalls i had visited the day before with bea and chelsay. it was a great hike but the group of people made it really stellar. we ended up laughing most of the time and despite the weather, it was one of my most fond memories of the dales.
aysgarth is a tiny town (if you can even call it that) between two of the largest waterfalls in the dales. i stopped by here twice while i was in the dales: once with Bea and the other time, on our big group hike. though the town is very small, it is beyond picturesque, with beauty around every corner. at the top of the hill, there is a gorgeous cemetery and church. when i visited, the graveyard was shrouded in fog and looked like it should be out of a movie. there was also a little ice cream shop and gift store that we stopped in while we waited for the rain to stop. this town was so quintessentially old fashioned english and i’m so glad i got the chance to visit twice
my friend cheesy and i made the acquaintance of a very sweet little english woman while we were in the dales. we had tea with her then she offered to drive us around the dales to take photos and see all her favorite places. seven hours and thousands of photos later, we returned to the camp happily exhausted from our wonderful day. here are a few of our adventures:
// swelwith bridge //
// askrigg //
// the butter tubs //
// castle howard//
our first day in the dales, we were given a few hours to look around and explore. my dear friend ingliv and i decided to venture off the beaten path and ended up following the rail road tracks for a few miles. here are a few photos we captured along the way.
while we were in the dales, we stayed in little cabins at a christian retreat compound called the jonas centre. from the cherry blossoms surrounding the campus to the big red phone booth, it was wonderful and so quintessentially english. we explored, chased sheep, played cards late into the night, had worship nights and prayer meetings, ate amazing meals and lots and lots of great fellowship. it was the perfect home base for a weekend away and i’m so glad i had my camera to capture it.
this past week, my school went to the Yorkshire dales on a retreat. I can honestly say I’ve never been anywhere so beautiful in my entire life! it is beyond stunning there! I probably took a million pictures so ive prepared quite a few posts over the next few weeks to attempt to illustrate my wonderful week. the dales is somewhere I can see myself going back time and time again and never getting tired of. it reminds me of the ring of kerry in ireland, which is one of my favorite places in the whole world, mixed with the quaintness of carmel-by-the-sea. I had so many great experiences and adventures over this week and I wish it lasted longer. so stay tuned to follow along on my beautiful week in the dales.