When Charles and Di got married in 1981 I was 23 and walked up what must have been my first mountain, Pen y Ghent, from Horton in Ribblesdale. Two things I remember about that day – my Greek American friend M, stayed back to watch the wedding on a portable TV brought up from Cardiff just for the wedding, and someone wanted a steak sandwich, which most days in 1981 would have been quite a challenge in the Yorkshire Dales but because of the wedding was amazingly an easy find. These were the days when avocado was a colour for bathroom fittings. We’d moved on from buying olive oil in a chemist but opening hours and food choices were nothing like today.
I drove up to Malham and parked near the tarn. I did a 15km circular walk avoiding the cove and all the busy places. At first there were quite a lot of people but I soon got away from them and had the place pretty much to myself.
Passed Victoria and Jubilee caves. Didn’t go in because I reckon the interesting bones of elephants, rhinoceroses and bears discovered by the Victorians are long gone (and so they are, see the link) and I don’t much like caves.
It was warm and sunny and great weather for walking.
