This is Yorkshire!

Unspoiled nature with my Welt Shedron

Often nicknamed, “God’s Own County”, Yorkshire is best known for its Roman and Viking heritage. By far the largest county in the UK, Yorkshire also boasts well-maintained Norman castles, medieval abbeys and two stunning national parks (The Yorkshire Dales and The North York Moors). Widely considered to be among the greenest areas in England, due to the vast stretches of unspoiled countryside, this trip presented the perfect opportunity for breaking into my Shedron with a spot of hiking and general exploring.

Haworth

I first stopped in Haworth – a small village situated at the edge of the Pennine moors. The area is also known as Brontë country since it served as the home of the Brontë sisters during their most prolific period of novel writing. Among the tea rooms, souvenir and antiquarian bookshops are attractions including the heritage railway and the Brontë Parsonage Museum. A picturesque pub and hotel named The Black Bull also sits proudly in the Village centre and is allegedly the place where Branwell Brontë’s (brother to the famous sisters) decline into alcoholism and opium addiction began.

No matter where you go in Yorkshire, the county is bursting with beautiful countryside walks. Once a thriving tourist resort, the beauty spot of Goit stock is now considered by many to be a well-kept local secret. With my yellow lab Alfie to keep me company, I headed toward the main attraction of this particular walk – the Goit Stock Waterfall. The rocky and wet terrain proved to be of little inconvenience whilst wearing the Shedron. Following my hike through the deciduous woodland, stone wall bordered fields and winding streams, I stopped off at Dick Hudson’s Country Pub for one of Yorkshire’s famous Black Sheep ales.

Knaresborough

The next day, I headed off to Knaresborough – a historic market and spa town located in the borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire. ­Sights in the charming riverside town centre include Knaresborough Castle – a Norman structure dated back to around 1100, the House in the Rock, the railway viaduct over the river Nidd, and St Robert’s Cave. Knaresborough makes a great place to visit for a half-day with its scenic views, homemade ice cream parlours and riverside cafes. Visitors can also hire rowing boats from the small jetties situated beneath the lofty viaduct to enjoy an alternative vista of the town.

Malham Cove

I spent my final day in Yorkshire visiting Malham Cove – a large curving amphitheatre shaped cliff formation of limestone rock situated deep within the Yorkshire Dales. The cove’s peculiar shape was formed by an enormous waterfall carrying meltwater from glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age. The cove also features an intricate system of caves estimated to be around 50,000 years old. Standing at a whopping 80 metres high, the cove serves as an ideal habitat for platform nesting birds such as Peregrine Falcons and the summit affords spectacular views of the surrounding landscape.

Geology of Malham Cove

The geology of Malham Cove is relatively unique in England with many clints and grykes forming a limestone pavement at the top of the cove and nearby areas. This has encouraged an abundance of flora and fauna to thrive there, including rare wild flowers and ferns such as wood sorrel and green spleenwort. The area has been a popular tourist attraction for centuries and subject to much media attention. In fact, the Cove was featured in a scene of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where the famous wizard trio can be seen camping! Other scenes from the film franchise were filmed at different venues within the vicinity including Malham Tarn and Gordale Scar.

Compared with Great White Shark diving and mountain climbing, a trip to Yorkshire might not be the most swashbuckling of my adventures in my Shedron boots, but it was an enjoyable one nonetheless.

Thanks to OZAPATO for the amazing adventure boots and for inspiring this post!

12 British Habits I Lost When Moving To Rwanda

1. Travelling everywhere by car

Rwanda is fairly easy to get around via public transport – as long as you don’t mind getting a little uncomfortable every now and again. For longer journeys, Rwanda offers reliable and somewhat character building bus links to all major towns and cities. For shorter journeys, motorbike taxis are a quick and affordable method for getting from A to B. Aaaah the moto taxi. The nimble, traffic weaving bane of the male reproductive system. My own experiences ranged from leisurely drives through the Rwandan capital to ball-crushing off-road hell rides of death.

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2. Handshake greetings

In Blighty, nothing is more proper than greeting fellow citizens with a good old-fashioned knuckle-crippling handshake. Indeed, many of us might judge the strength of one’s character by the rigidity of their shake or the firmness of their grip. In Rwanda, however, a simple strong handshake just will not do. Expect to be embraced by Rwandans with a warm hug followed by three quick kisses and the prolonged holding of hands.

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3. Whinging about the weather

Let’s face it, most of us Brits love a good old moan and there’s nothing more reliable than the consistently inconsistent British weather to get us all grumbling. I had to find something else to grouch about in Rwanda, however, as the country boasts spectacular weather pretty much all year round.

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4. Eating junk food

Rice, beans and potatoes comprised more or less my entire diet during the two years I spent living in a rural village in Rwanda. Every fortnight I’d have the chance to grab some western style food in Kigali, but I slowly started to enjoy eating a simpler, healthier diet.

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5. Taking water for granted

Lack of sanitised water and numerous outages made me really appreciate how good we have it in the UK and across most of the western world. As Monty Python’s four Yorkshire men might have said, showers were, “luxury”, as was the opportunity to flush the toilet or wash the dishes during periods with little rainfall. Sterilising each glass of water before drinking became routine and hand washing my clothes in rainwater was fairly commonplace.

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6. Keeping up with the football

Alright, so I didn’t totally lose the plot. I managed to locate a bar in Kigali that showed Premier League matches, but I had to make do with catching games every other weekend. Before moving to Rwanda, I could more or less state the dates, times and opponents of at least the next three matches that involved my team. But within a few months it got to the point where I was checking results a few days after each game took place.

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 7. Strict time keeping

During the first few months I spent in Rwanda, I found myself getting overly frustrated with the cultural differences regarding time management. Slowly but surely I adapted and came to peace with the fact that most events would start 1-2 hours after the scheduled time.

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8. Feeling like I’ll be deemed insane for greeting random strangers

While the people of smaller towns and villages in Britain seem to have retained their tendencies toward random “how-do-you-dos?”, it would be fair to say that one might be considered an oddball if they were to start chatting to random folk in larger towns and cities. In Rwanda’s capital – Kigali, no such judgement would be made.

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9. Watching TV

Due to the abundance of power outages, and perhaps more significantly the fact that I didn’t own a television, I spent my free time more productively by reading books, photographing wildlife and cooking meals from scratch.

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10. Expecting to find everything I need at the supermarket

Understandably, it would often be difficult to get hold of certain items in any of Rwanda’s supermarkets. After my first proper shopping trip, I really began to appreciate the variety of options available in British stores. It was from that day forth that I vowed never to take caramelised onion flavoured houmous for granted.

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11. Unnecessary worrying

We all worry about things from time to time, but in reality most issues we allow ourselves to become stressed or anxious over aren’t really worth it. The year I spent in Rwanda entailed living and working with some of the poorest people in the country, yet they were also some of the happiest, care-free people I’ve ever met. The wonderful and inspirational people of Rwanda taught me so much about letting go of unnecessary worries.

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12. Disconnection from the natural environment

In Britain, most of us are far too busy pottering about our days to pay any attention to the wildlife that surrounds us. In Rwanda, however, the biodiversity is so rich and colourful that it’s almost impossible not to get distracted by the enchanting array of flora and fauna that inhabits the beautiful green landscapes.