A LESS STRENUOUS day, but again, I have my doubts about any more cycling. Hopefully the problem is minor - I'm starting to worry. There's a grinding sort of squeak in my Achilles tendon. It isn't unbearably painful at the moment, but I don't really like this grinding sensation.

The sleep last night was great. Though I find the house itself quite cool, I had an electric blanket which I found great. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I was cozy warm as soon as I'd pulled up the covers.

This morning Mrs. Simpson's breakfast was great. Of course, I was down early but Jane and Jenny were down soon afterwards. I decided to stay another night so I left with them soon after breakfast to drive through the Dales National Park. We drove up to Ingleton where we took an 8 km walk along two rovers with some absolutely beautiful falls over shale and limestone. We stopped for tea at the halfway mark then continued onward.

There was one bad part. As we went past a farm, the owner was spreading muck (ie manure) with a machine that sprayed in every direction. Unfortunately, we got a few remnants on ourselves. I can laugh about it now.

Near the end of the walk there was a bridge over the river that was being repaired. There were only two beams across. The workers said we could cross at our own risk. Rather than retrace many kilometres, we crossed and were back into town in no time.

Back at the car, we went to see another falls which I've seen pictured in many books. It was only sixteen to twenty kilometres from Ingleton. We continued up Buttertubs Pass where we saw the butter tubs, themselves. They were tall pillars of limestone which had been eroded from mountain streams. They were like vertical caves. Quite amazing but being the highest pass in the Dales, it was quite cool so we got back into the car to continue down the mountain which was, at times, a 25% grade.

Today the weather was great, though quite windy. We had about eight drops of rain as we drove to Ingleton but no more. Most of the day was sunny with cloudy periods and by evening there wasn't a cloud in the sky. As a matter of fact, I later saw the crescent moon and Mars (I think).

We were back at the house by 7 pm so we went to the lounge for tea and scones where I found there were four Canadian guests from Belleville. We talked about Toronto, Western University and all agreed we'd rather live in Canada.

When they left, the three of us took our turns in the shower then we drove to Skipton where I had fish and chips. The fish wasn't done in batter so I didn't like it. I fed some of it to the cat who seemed to adopt me. Mrs. Simpson has a cat, too!

By 10 pm we were back to the house then we joked about Jane's car which has a huge hole in the muffler - bigger than the pipe itself. I keep telling her that it's going to blow up the way the one on the van did last year. We talked a short while longer but were so exhausted that we all hit the sack. I shot into the beautiful electric blanket.

I think I've found one difference between the people here and in North America. At how things are rushed, no time to rest, keep going all the time. Here, there are thousands of kilometres of footpaths, along beautiful parts of the countryside where many people go whenever they get the chance. Take, for instance, Jane and Jenny. They're in their early twenties and they have a week off so they spend it on footpaths in the Dales. On the other hand are Ann and Sharon from Australia who are rushing around in a car not to experience anything, but 'see' everything just to tell everyone they'd seen it. They saw the US in six weeks (!!) and say they've seen it all. Maybe they've seen it, but they've experienced nothing. I could have continued north with them but I'd have done nothing but raced through the country. My snail's pace [on the bike] is preferable to me.

I think the Lake District is out for me due to my Achilles tendon. I'll try to head south and if I have problems, I'll hop onto the train to Manchester then along northern Wales. I'd like to head to the Isle of Anglesey where I can see the area, using the house as a base. Then I'll see the Cotswolds with Stratford and/or Warwick as my base. About a week each should do it (I hope). I'm hoping to see as many plays as possible. I feel almost sick about being unable to cycle. I suppose it's better than permanent damage which may already be in the picture. Let's say it's not!