We made it to Ben Rhydding, Ilkley

He said:
I'm relieved that we have made it through the long transfer to the starting point of our walk.  We arrived last evening, Friday, after car, plane, train, walk, underground, walk, train, and train intervals.  The sky is gray today, with a chance of rain later, and we plan to do a day hike up to Ilkley moor.  We also want to look around the small town of Ilkley, buy some cards, and scout out where our path starts tomorrow.  I hope the prediction of the end of the world will not happen today (May 21) as advertised, life is good.
Lucky us to have a working wifi connection in our room this morning.

She said:

Big, fat, long flight from SFO to London – bad airplane white wine (two bottles!) – slept well.

Uneventful train ride from London to Leeds (1^st Class – woohoo!)

Leeds to Ilkley – small train to the end of the line.  We exited at the wrong train station but luckily, the train stayed in the station long enough for us to re-board and re-track.

Good travel serendipity as we met happy though tired grandparents who were minding their three grandchildren for the weekend.  Lovely family – the grandparents had taken the kids for tea by train.  The boys (Charles, 3 and George, 2) and the sweetest little girl (their cousin Camilla, 3 – honest!) were chatty and friendly and covered in chocolate.  Grandfather had worked in the Bay Area at one time, knew Palo Alto and had very fond memories of Sausalito.  He gave us good directions to our excellent accommodations for the next two days, The Wheatley Arms.  Camilla loved us and waved vigorously as we departed the train in Ben Rhydding. 

The Wheatley Arms is a welcoming inn – done to a very high standard.   We settled into our room then settled into the bar and enjoyed a delicious dinner of organic, locally sourced food.  R had his predictable Guinness and I was also my predictable self in ordering bad white wine (two glasses!)  R reminds me about the definition of insanity and I resolved to try the local ales going forward (though I am always hopeful of the dry, buttery chardonnay.  Sigh.)

A local family came in after their 8 (9?) year old son’s cricket match.  He was dressed adorably in his cricket “whites” and when asked if his team had won he gamely answered that they’d come in second!  Such a civilized way to report a loss.

Yet again, we are reminded that we live in the center of the universe as even though we don’t have chips in our credit cards like the Brits do (a little backward for being from the heart of Silicon Valley) we come from the home of Facebook so we are instant celebrities.

What a world.

Slept well, though only 5 hours. 

Up and out this morning – a bit of exploring around the village.

Our walk starts in earnest tomorrow.