Moving in day

When I tell anyone that I live near Appleby, they inevitably say - Appleby with the Horse Fair?

Yes, Appleby has a Horse Fair every year and has done since medieval times, or so we are told. Around 10,000 Gypsies and travellers take part in the six day event and around another 30,000 visitors arrive over the period. It is the largest event of its kind in Europe. It takes place at the beginning of June and this year starts today and lasts until next Tuesday.

We have lived with the Fair for a long time. Often we are away, but if we are here, we just put up with the extra traffic, people and horses, roads closed etc. Rarely do we actually go anywhere near Appleby, our normal access is closed anyway. Avoidance is the usual strategy.

This year though I thought I would share a little of the event on blip. So hopefully every day until Tuesday I will post a picture and write a little bit about different aspects of the Fair. It is easy for locals to get quite negative about it, for various reasons, and there are many ways of looking at it. I will endeavour to be neutral and just relay the facts. I'm not sure that any image or any words can really be value free, but I will try.

Today then is the official start of the Fair. It's the day when all the Travellers are allowed onto the Fair fields with their caravans, vans, trucks etc. Until today, they have been hovering around the edges. Some of you will have seen the vehicles in laybys around Cumbria and Yorkshire and further afield.

Today they move in.

So the picture I have posted is a familiar sight on the local lanes and on the A66. A little annoying to other road users, but actually I found that the grass-cutting that is taking place today caused me far more of a problem when I was out. This picture was taken as I set off this morning along our country lanes to get to Penrith. Unfortunately the car windscreen was not ultra clean and hence there is mistiness, but I think you get the idea.