Ripon 2025 - Day 3

On Thursday (31 July), we were expecting friends, but they cancelled about two hours before they were due here. They were very apologetic about it, and we agreed on them driving up to see us next Wednesday (they live in the Barnsley area), but it was disappointing - not just because we had been looking forward to seeing them, but also because another friend had asked whether we were free that day, and we had told her no because of our plans with them.

Finding ourselves unexpectedly without anything lined up for the day, we took advantage of that and turned it into a shopping day. 

Ripon has been having a market on Thursdays for donkeys years, and this was where we went first. You can get anything on the market square on Thursdays: from fruit and veg, fish and meat, bread and cheese to scarves and handbags, shoes and clothes, nighties and undies, birthday cards and mobile phone cases, pet beds and cleaning products, coffee and ice cream. 

We bought a few things, such as a loaf of sourdough bread and three kinds of Wensleydale cheese, and took our food shopping home to store it properly. We returned into town immediately and started browsing the shops before going to Oliver‘s Pantry for lunch.

Our favourite bookshop was next, and it won‘t surprise you to read that it was there that we spent more time than in any other shop - of course not leaving without buying. 

Back at the cottage, a rest was in order; I slept for at least half an hour. The sun was luring me out on the bench in front of the cottage, where my sister and I had coffee/tea.

View from the bench that afternoon

I then went to see Mary again, and we had a really good conversation.

Upon my return, my sister and I went for a very pleasant walk in the late afternoon/early evening sun, coming across a path we‘d not known existed.

It was my turn to prepare our meal this evening. The Wensleydale we‘d bought that morning along with the sourdough bread were its main ingredients, but there was also salad and slices of cantaloup, plus a glass of well chilled rosé - a very summerly meal. The last two episodes of Death Valley provided our entertainment.