Toasty toes and fingers in Yorkshire.

Between Christmas and New Year we decided to go and burn off the Christmas Dinner we enjoyed at Paul's parents in Scotland.(Also the chocolates and sweets which were in bowls everywhere and I just couldn't resist again and again....)
We set off from Clapham, for some of the route we followed part of the Yorksire Dales 300 route   https://www.facebook.com/yd300/ and the rest of the time we made it up!!   It was pretty chilly, riding in and out of mist, we had a great stop in Malham for coffee and cake followed by an uphill on the road which warmed me cockles and nearly saw me apple pie again.  We continued to Kilnsey where we cut out some of the route and headed up the road.   As the sun set and the temperature dipped and dipped a chilly downhill encouraged us to divert along the road to Aysgarth.  Sitting at the bar in the pub I held back the tears as the hot pains came rushing violently into the fingers.  We considered ringing a local youth hostel to see if there was a room for the night.  Then we had strong words with our brains and bodies saying,  "Toughen up, you are northerners".   The Wheatsheaf in Caperby was our next stop with an amazing pie (not apple but steak this time) and beers resulting in us feeling much cheerier and ready to bivvy out if the bothy was not open.  A slog from Castle Bolton lead us to a bothy, our spirits were high when the door was unlocked and these soon became sky high by the time we were wriggling our purple toes in front of a roaring fire.

A peep out the front door as the sun rose saw that the ground had been kissed by Jack Frost.  Wrapped up, hot porridge and a brew in our tummies set us up for a beautiful ride out, a detour from the route with an amazing ride across the moors.  We were grateful the ground was frozen, by mid morning we were heading into Bainbridge and stopped at the Village shop for warm food and snacks.  Fresh coffee and baked beans on toast covered in melted Wensleydale - perfect.  As the afternoon came upon us we continued dreamily along the route surrounded by the yorskhire hills, stopping to observe the landscape and enjoy the delicious sausage rolls bought earlier.  The sky glowed red, blessing us as we enjoyed the last descent down towards Clapham.  The heat was turned on full blast as we dived into the van, quickly filling the kettle for a brew.  Just what we needed.