RICHMOND, Yorkshire

We booked a couple of nights at the Richmond Travelodge.  This is at the Scotch Corner Service Area on the junction of the A1(M) and A66.  Notwithstanding the location, it's a great hotel and is surprisingly quiet ... and of course the food is available all night.  It also has a great big dog walking area.  

Being just down the A1(M), it is not far from home and this was more of an experiment than an expedition.  We wondered how Tara would get along staying away without the comfort of her crate for sleeping in at night.  In fact she did marvelously and probably slept much better than we did!  So now we know that staying away for just a few nights all in one room, with a cloth stretched over the back of a couple of chairs to make a cave for Tara, works easily!  Its a place we may well return to later in the year so we can avoid the late evening noises that come with Halloween celebrations and Bonfire night - scary stuff for a Greyhound.  

We spent the intervening day exploring Richmond itself.  It is a lovely little place with a central circle rather than a square and built on the side of a hill so it slopes quite dramatically.  It is almost entirely cobbled which makes walking an art and approaching cars sound weird.   

We found the gates to Richmond Castle, circled the central church and the tall monument and enjoyed coffee and buns sitting outside a lovely little cafe.  Tara embraces the street and cafe culture.

Back at the Travelodge we walked down through the nearby village (Middleton Tyas) comparing the old houses and cottages with the more modern ones and reading all the different house names that folks had used for their homes.