Last but not least

Well I’ve now finished my last Helpx before my move to Scotland, and it was really good. The train journey up from Wales to Eden Valley in Cumbria was really good, especially on the final leg from Leeds to Kirkby Stephen. It turns out this journey forms part of a famous scenic train trip called the Settle to Carlisle line. There are even a few steam trains that go up and down it so it becomes a tourist attraction as well as a main train route. I think it’s a little like the Transalpine trip back home. Anyway it was definitely very beautiful as it went up the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The landscape changed pretty dramatically from what I had just left in Wales – it went from heaps of gently rolling hills, bright green and covered in trees, to an almost barren, yellow grassed large hilly area with very few trees. It was like the difference between the Canterbury foothills and the Mackenzie country at home (but nothing like these).

I especially liked the stone walls that were everywhere, marking out little paddocks right up into the hills. There were a lot of low stone walls in Wales too but there are way more through this area. It was really pretty to see, especially with the little stone barns that had all fallen into ruins. Apparently the small stations along this line are maintained by volunteers, and they are kept really well – all looking freshly painted in cream with dark red trims. So a very pretty train journey overall, although I think that first part was a lot more stunning than the second half which I travelled up on the way to Edinburgh after my helpx.

My hosts, Heather and Duncan and their three kids, live in a little village called Crosby Garret, not far from Kirkby Stephen where the train station is. They live in an almost finished barn conversion right next to one of the big viaduct bridges for the train line. 

It’s a beautiful area – about one minute’s walk away was some farmland on the ‘fells’ (hills?) with public footpaths all over it. It took about 15 minutes to walk up the first hill and then turn around to see the brilliant views. It was really nice to be walking alongside all the stone walls and looking in to fields full of buttercups!

I only stayed here from Monday to Friday but it was fun; I could definitely have stayed longer if our schedules were a bit more open. They are new hosts and I was their first helper! So I think it was nice for them to be able to have someone stay for a short time to see if they wanted to continue with Helpx. I was helping to get their new deck started by digging some holes and clearing some space, but it was a bit wet for a few days so I ended up being inside most of the time, prepping the hall for plastering, hanging pictures and stuff like that.

View from the house

View from the house

View from the church on the hill

A house in the village built in 1712