Kirkby Lonsdale
All my life I've travelled to Barrow-in-Furness quite often - though not as often as I'd like! My mother's from there and some of my favourite relatives live there, and it has some of my favourite beaches.
To get to Barrow-in-Furness from Leeds, the best way is along the A65. Though tell that to my satnav! For some reason which I've never quite fathomed, she thinks the best way is along the motorway - the dreaded M62, always incredibly congested. Whereas the A65 is a pretty country road, much shorter and hardly ever busy.
Even when we instructed the satnav to favour motorways a bit less and country roads a bit more, she just wasn't having it. "Turn around when possible" she says, repeatedly, until you're nearly halfway there. Then she sulks, thinks to herself for a bit, and finally decided that okay, if you MUST go that way, she'll reluctantly give you directions. And the distance suddenly jumps from about 130 miles (because she wants you to go all the way back to the M62 and start again) to about 55 miles. Pah! I think whoever devised the satnav programming must have had a hated relative who lived along the A65.
You travel along the A65 until you cross the M6 motorway, and then you travel west for what seems like forever, and you reach Barrow. It's one of my favourite journeys.
On the way, just before the M6, is Kirkby Lonsdale. All my life I've liked it! When I was little, and the drive to Barrow took a lot longer (it seemed like days, but it was about three hours for a hundred miles in those days) I used to do the "Are we nearly there yet?" thing that is a necessity for all proper children.
Eventually, my parents realised that "Look out for Kirkby Lonsdale, because when we get there, it's not that far to Barrow" would keep me quiet for a while.
And what a lovely name. Kirkby Lonsdale. Along with Cark and Cartmel and Nook and Cow Brow - - ahh, there are some lovely names you pass on the way to Barrow and round about there.
By the river in Kirkby Lonsdale is a favourite meeting place for bikers, and my biker cousin Robert from Barrow often used to drive out there. He died from cancer in 2008 and I always think of him when I see all the leather-clad bikers meeting by the river there.
And the river's always worth a look if there's time to stop.
Last time I drove through Kirkby Lonsdale was when my mother and I took our cousin Amy back to Barrow, in early September - she'd been staying with Mum in Leeds for a while.
It had been raining. A lot. So I thought that the river might be rather full.
I sometimes use an application on my phone called Glympse, which allows friends and family to follow your route and see where you are - it's good fun and can be useful too of course. I'd sent a Glympse before setting off from Barrow.
Even so, I thought it was very amusing to get a message from Silverback on my way home which said "You're standing on the bridge at Kirkby Lonsdale taking photographs, aren't you?"
Of course, the Glympse just says where your phone is located - - you need a bit of insider knowledge to work out what I was up to. Did he guess right? It's a fair cop, guv. Guilty as charged.
To get to Barrow-in-Furness from Leeds, the best way is along the A65. Though tell that to my satnav! For some reason which I've never quite fathomed, she thinks the best way is along the motorway - the dreaded M62, always incredibly congested. Whereas the A65 is a pretty country road, much shorter and hardly ever busy.
Even when we instructed the satnav to favour motorways a bit less and country roads a bit more, she just wasn't having it. "Turn around when possible" she says, repeatedly, until you're nearly halfway there. Then she sulks, thinks to herself for a bit, and finally decided that okay, if you MUST go that way, she'll reluctantly give you directions. And the distance suddenly jumps from about 130 miles (because she wants you to go all the way back to the M62 and start again) to about 55 miles. Pah! I think whoever devised the satnav programming must have had a hated relative who lived along the A65.
You travel along the A65 until you cross the M6 motorway, and then you travel west for what seems like forever, and you reach Barrow. It's one of my favourite journeys.
On the way, just before the M6, is Kirkby Lonsdale. All my life I've liked it! When I was little, and the drive to Barrow took a lot longer (it seemed like days, but it was about three hours for a hundred miles in those days) I used to do the "Are we nearly there yet?" thing that is a necessity for all proper children.
Eventually, my parents realised that "Look out for Kirkby Lonsdale, because when we get there, it's not that far to Barrow" would keep me quiet for a while.
And what a lovely name. Kirkby Lonsdale. Along with Cark and Cartmel and Nook and Cow Brow - - ahh, there are some lovely names you pass on the way to Barrow and round about there.
By the river in Kirkby Lonsdale is a favourite meeting place for bikers, and my biker cousin Robert from Barrow often used to drive out there. He died from cancer in 2008 and I always think of him when I see all the leather-clad bikers meeting by the river there.
And the river's always worth a look if there's time to stop.
Last time I drove through Kirkby Lonsdale was when my mother and I took our cousin Amy back to Barrow, in early September - she'd been staying with Mum in Leeds for a while.
It had been raining. A lot. So I thought that the river might be rather full.
I sometimes use an application on my phone called Glympse, which allows friends and family to follow your route and see where you are - it's good fun and can be useful too of course. I'd sent a Glympse before setting off from Barrow.
Even so, I thought it was very amusing to get a message from Silverback on my way home which said "You're standing on the bridge at Kirkby Lonsdale taking photographs, aren't you?"
Of course, the Glympse just says where your phone is located - - you need a bit of insider knowledge to work out what I was up to. Did he guess right? It's a fair cop, guv. Guilty as charged.
posted by Daphne at 4:57 pm
3 Comments:
What a beautiful place. And yes, you have such wonderful names for towns. When I was fifteen, my aunt and uncle took their daughter and me for a drive through the Cottswolds. I Fell in love with Burton-on-the-Water, a town full of walled in secret gardens, and canals with bridges not unlike the bridge in your picture. That was 44 years ago, but I can see it vividly. You even have a better name for your driving help--Satnav. We yanks just call it the GPS.
Lovely entry and pictures.
Kirkby Lonsdale is one of those places that I will always associate with camping. Or to be more specific, caravanning. It seems like almost every weekend in the seventies our parents would hook up the caravan to the Cortina and take us to some distant part of Yorkshire - or occasionally strange places like 'Cumberland'. I can remember nothing about Kirkby Lonsdale except that it was one of those places - usually just a farmer's field with a makeshift sign tagged on the gate saying Leeds DA (District Association of the Camping Club) or 'BCC' (British Caravan Club). Would love to go back and see the place again - along with places like Spofforth, Silpho (N Yorks?), Gargrave and Withernsea.
My friends Patti and John named their SatNav/GPS "Rhonda" so that they can sing, "Help me, Rhonda, help, help me, Rhonda" as they drive.
If you don't know that song, you are young. And if you do know that song, well, need I continue?
Great photos as always, Daphne!
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