There’s something very comfortable about returning to a place. I don’t mean coming home, that would be more comforting. I’m referring to returning somewhere you’ve visited, a repeat performance if you will.
We came to the little village of Kirkby Stephen in the English Lake District back in December of last year. It was an opportunistic stop for a house sit during our 6 months in Europe. You can read a couple of blogs from that stopover here and here. Winter was firmly entrenched, and we got snow the last few days we were there.
We loved the small English village atmosphere. We loved the pubs, the shops, the one-main-street simplicity. And then the surrounding area is a natural wonderland, with the Lake District National Park to the west, the Yorkshire Dales National Park to the south, and the Pennines to the east. History abounds with castles and ancient churches dotting the countryside everywhere you look and Hadrian’s wall just to the north. To top it all off, the people here, curious why there were two Americans hanging out in their village for so long, were warm and inviting, especially our host, now friend.
In Kirkby Stephen we’ve seemed to go one step beyond being a temporary regular.
Returning to a place gives a traveler a different perspective, it can change and reinforce your memories at the same time, and the visit can benefit from your familiarity. In December, it was thoroughly winter in Northern England: freezing temperatures at night, bitter winds, bare trees, Christmas decorations and celebrations. Now, it’s thoroughly spring: the trees and gardens are full, temperatures mild, people (particularly hikers around these parts) are out and about.
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| Aloof Sheep in Winter |
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| Friendly Sheep in Spring |
We would have returned solely for the opportunity to breathe the fresh air in.
Even spending nearly 3 weeks here in December, we left things undone. There was the fish and chips shop that we had never seem to catch open (we’ve already been this time). There were a couple of castles nearby we wanted to get to (one we’ve already seen, another we’ll get to the day I write this). And we wanted to get up to the northeastern cities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Durham to see their cathedrals (accomplished). A 4-day fair has started up in nearby Appleby: not a Christmas “Fayre” as we saw back in December, but a horse fair that has been held annually for a few centuries (we’re going to the Appleby Horse Fair tomorrow, where we’ll catch up with our friends from Scotland: keep an eye out for that blog).
Even still, we suspect that when we leave again this time there will yet be things we didn’t get done. That in mind, we’re already looking forward to returning in the fall to see the leaves changing.
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| The Eden River After Flowing Through Kirkby Stephen |
