This is my second day here at Church House Farm near Danby, North Yorkshire. I arrived late yesterday afternoon, and it has taken me a while to get used to adjusting the heat, finding controls for light and plugs, and even turning on the shower and adjusting the water temperature. The heat that comes from hot water registers are on programmed controls and is set to come on and off at specific times. The owner showed me how to adjust the temperature, but it has not been easy. Temperatures during the day yesterday were in upper 60s, but it dropped to lower 50s in the night, so I was chilly.
This morning I tackled the washing machine in the kitchen and was happy to get my clothes all clean, but the machine, which is a front loader, took over an hour to do that small load. It seemed to chug along forever. When it was finished, I hung my things on the clothes drying rack that was in the closet. There is an iron and ironing board in there also if I choose to iron things, but it has been chilly and damp all day today, so most things are still wet. And now that the sun has set, it is really getting cold, so just turned on the heat, but it will go off in 30 minutes, so will have to remember to turn it on again soon.
It was supposed to rain today, but in early afternoon, it looked like it would be partly cloudy instead, as the sun briefly came out. The small villages around here are all located in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, so I hopped into my rental car to find the Duck Bridge, which was named, not after ducks, but who I believe to be my 7th great-grandfather who rebuilt this medieval bridge in about 1700 so he could access both sides of his farm on the River Esk.
I also wanted to find Kadeland Farm, which is where George Duck lived. Both were less than a mile from here. Below is an example of a typical country lane around here and in the Moors. Mostly, they are only one lane wide, so if you see a car coming, one of you, usually both of you, slow down and pull over so you can pass each other.
And here is Kadeland Farm. It is on Easton Lane, which is one of the tiny farm roads that begin in Danby Dale. (Easton is the surname of my 3rd great-grandmother and is a common family name in this area. It is very likely that she was a niece or distant cousin of the Duck family.)
For a long time, I have been trying to find out what and where "Kadeland" was located. On baptism, marriage, and death records, people with common names have been distinguished from each other by the use of the term "Kadeland" after their names. Most of these were Eastons, not Ducks, so I need to find out whether they were employees of the Duck family or owned the property at a later time, or something else. But at least now I know that Kadeland was the name of the farm owned by my likely ancestor George Duck in 1700.
And the famous "Duck Bridge." Originally, it was called Castle Bridge after the nearby Danby Castle, but was renamed after George Duck rebuilt it so he could access both parts of his large farm.
Duck bridge was built for walkers, horses, and animal driven wagons, so in the 20th century, a wider and stronger bridge was built next to it. However, this bridge is meant to be forded when the river level is high. The sign showing feet refers to the depth of the water so that drivers could decide if they wanted to chance driving over it or not.
The River Esk flows under the bridge, and there is sign that forbids fishing unless you are a member of the local fishing club.
This shows the path over the bridge and how narrow it is.
My rental car.
I continued driving on the farm lanes and could see Danby Castle in the distance. It is mostly a ruin, but I need to find out if and when you can get a tour of this castle. It was built in the 14th Century by the Latimer family. Catherine Parr was the 6th and last wife of Henry VIII, and after he died, she came here to live and married John Neville, Lord Latimer.
At this point, I decided to just drive and follow wherever the road would take me. Passed a lot of sheep and lambs, and some walkers and bike riders.
The moors are amazingly wild and empty, but I knew eventually I would find my way out and into a village.
Bumped into some bicyclists and took their advice to turn left when I hit this road. I decided I needed to find some gas since I seemed to be a long way from anything. Actually, a town with a Shell station was only 15 miles away, but I was driving slowly because even this road was not very wide, line down the middle or not, and there was a drop-off in the asphalt on the edges.
After getting gas, I drove back into the moors. This road supposedly has a 33% gradient, and although it was steep going downhill, it really did not feel that steep. Need to check sign out again. Better to go down, by the way, than come up, and I only passed two cars going the other direction, and both turned into farms along the way. It does not look that steep from my photos below, but it really was steep.
Just found an article on this section of the road that confirmed it was a 33% gradient and not appropriate for "lorries." The article focuses on bike riders, but it applies to cars, I think. Rosedale Chimney is one of the steepest climbs in Europe
Over the last couple of days driving around, I noticed a lot of cattle gates, but it took me a while to realize that the signs that said "animals and people" were pointing to the gate on the left. This makes sense because if you were riding a horse, you could not go through the cattle gate.
Not sure what I am going to do tomorrow--will depend on the weather.
Fitbit says I took only 1.237 steps today and walked only half a mile. However, my knee, hips, and legs are more stiff and aching today. Walking like a little old lady, I guess.
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