Today was our last full day in Richmond and the weather was cool and “misty”. While the others stayed back and did things at home, I decided to go out and explore the castle who’s shadow we’ve been living under for the past 2 weeks!

Richmond Castle was constructed by Alan Rufus from 1071 onwards following the Norman conquest of England. This property is the best preserved early Norman Castle in England.

The dominant feature of the castle is it’s 100′ high keep with walls that are 11′ thick!

The huge column you can see in the doorway supports the second storey floor of the great hall. Although the sandstone stairs are worn and quite narrow at times, I climbed to the top to take in one of the best views of the Dales!

This castle is both a dominant feature of the town as well as the surrounding landscape. Looking at the ruins, one can imagine the stronghold that this castle offered.

With my short tour done, it was time to return to the house to join the others. We planned to head over to the local community pub and enjoy lunch at Hudswell. We followed the river Swale there taking the upper path through Hudswell woods.

When we got to the top of the ridge we crossed a number of fields through the requisite styles!

I think the photographer was caught in the act…thanks to Dan!

This style even had a door for dogs!

As we crossed the fields we came across a herd of “Belted Galloway” cows…or as Dan calls them, “OPP cows”.

After 45 minutes or so of “tramping” we reached our lunch spot, the George & Dragon.

Just in time I might add, as the rain started to come down more enthusiastically!

With a warm lunch in us, and the rain easing somewhat, we decided to hit the trail back home. This time we would descend the ridge down to the river and follow it along into Richmond.

A lovely, but somewhat wet walk! We were glad that this weather didn’t accompany us on one of our many longer walks!

The views of the river dale were lovely nonetheless!

Dan and Gwen even found a beautiful refuge where they waited for Glenn and I to catch up!

As we approached the bridge that would take us back across the river to the village, we heard a lot of cheering, and looked up to see quite a crowd on the bridge. We wondered what it could be, until we got up to the bridge and saw that the “Duck Race” had begun!

Yes, all those yellow dots in the river downstream were little yellow rubber duckies that had been released for the great race! You can also see people on paddle boards trying to free any ducks from rocks and little eddies that might deter their path! Lots of fun on a May holiday weekend!

Tonight we treated our hosts to dinner at the King’s Head hotel. What a lovely way to celebrate our trip visiting our good friends! Thank you Glenn and Gwen for providing such a welcoming home base for our travels!

Tomorrow we leave for London for a quick stop overnight before catching our flight home! Until next time…