Orchid

We've had an interesting day. One of the main reasons for our trip to North Yorkshire was to visit Harlow Carr RHS Garden. We decided that it would be better to avoid the weekend, so either go on Friday or wait till next Monday.

We drove over there this morning, stopping briefly en route to admire the acrobatics of a jet, doing loops, rolls and other exciting manoeuvres. Presumably practicing, he had an audience of various people who, on hearing and seeing him, had stopped their cars, or emerged from their houses. I did catch him on a photo, but he's just a speck.

Having taken back roads most of the way from our apartment to the Garden, once we joined the main A roads, we queued our way from Knaresborough, through Harrogate, to arrive at Harlow Carr and find a huge queue to get in. At this late stage, I Googled it, and discovered that we'd chosen to visit on the first day of the Flower Show. It was clearly going to be unpleasantly busy, and that was always assuming we ever managed to park.

So we did a U turn, and decided to find something else to do. We set off towards Bolton Abbey, with the intention of having a walk there, only to find the A59 was blocked. So we headed north, and I suggested we visit Aysgarth Falls. W kindly drove there via various scenic, but narrow and fairly busy roads.

At this point the day definitely improved. We found a lovely walk through woodland to the middle and lower falls. I took a number of photos, one in extras because how often do you get such a glorious blue sky in Yorkshire, but they are mostly spoilt by a splodge, now traced to a spot of dirt on my filter and duly cleaned. Luckily, the splodge is disguised in the photo of the orchid.

After spending a couple of hours on the walk, and then in the cafe eating ice cream, we headed back to our accommodation. We've done more miles than we intended, and learnt that we should do our homework. We're planning a trip to Bempton Cliffs tomorrow, and we have checked they're open, and there's no major event taking place.

We'll try Harlow Carr again on Monday, when the Flower Show will be over.