Late April 2016 – Yorkshire and Grandchildren visit

 

Fresh from a few days in glorious weather in North Wales we headed for Yorkshire. However, the weather was much colder, wetter, snowier and windier. Nevertheless, we had a great time.  Our first night was spent visiting friends in Thorner and the traditional curry evening at Rajas.  We had a great evening with Bridget and David but the next morning headed off to Richmond Castle (on the left) which we visited last September, Mount Grace Priory (on the right) which we last visited many years ago. The reconstructed monk’s cell and herb plot certainly gave a feeling of how the monks lived 600 years ago!

We then drove over  the Moors through snow and hail storms to Rievaulx Terrace where the weather cleared and there was no snow.

Braving the elements, we were able to take a stroll along the terrace and enjoy views of Rievaulx Abbey below.

During our walk we came across a brilliant wire statue of a horse.  The horse stood on the edge of the Terrace overlooking Rievaulx Abbey which was to be our next port of call.

After our busy day we arrived at Pear Tree Cottage which was our base for three nights.  This was our second stay at Pear Tree Cottage which is a lovely bed and breakfast place and one we would certainly recommend it to any like minded travellers. The evening meal was a return to Pickering’s Spice4U which is probably our favourite curry restaurant.  We were not disappointed.

The next day we set off for our trip on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to Whitby and our (by now traditional) lunch at the Magpie.

Both railway and food were excellent but it was a shame that a heavy sleety/rain shower chose to fall just as we were walking from the station to the restaurant.  Dried off and replenished we headed straight back to Pickering to visit the Beck Isle Museum.  The museum is an excellent way to learn about Pickering’s rich history as a rural market town and our visit was an excellent way to round off the day.

The following morning’s weather forecast was quite specific about rain later in the day so we set off early for our walk through Farndale (we did the walk last autumn and thoroughly enjoyed it).  The walk is also known as the Daffodil walk and is obviously very popular as there was a temporary car park in a field rather than the small tarmac one we used  before.  Of course the daffodils are largely over by the end of April so there weren’t too many walkers, indeed we only met one group and they were going the opposite way to us.  We finished our walk and were just taking our boots off when the rain started. Undaunted we set off to explore the coast north of Whitby.  We got as far as the delightful town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea.   The photo, taken from the lovely pier, shows the funicular railway and the wonderful Victorian buildings on top of the cliff.  The promenade, pier, beach huts and funicular railway were all in beautiful condition and rather impressive as was the sandy beach. We had a lovely walk along the sea front and got back to the car just before it started to rain.

We returned to Pickering and another visit to Spice4U for supper. Annie has observed that curries do not help Gerry’s blood sugar levels nor do they help either of our waistlines!

Once again we had a lovely visit to Yorkshire and look forward to a return perhaps later in the year!

We got home to Fairford in time to go shopping and prepare for a visit by grandchildren Bethany, Callum and Elsie who arrived on Saturday morning and left on Sunday afternoon.  We had a lovely time together and they seemed to enjoy themselves!