Travelling from York to Warkworth

Wednesday 25 July

We woke really early this morning, partly to get the shower first. We discovered quite late that two other guests were staying and there was just one shower and toilet in the bathroom upstairs (where we slept) and a bath and hand basin downstairs. This all made ablutions very interesting, when you think about it for a minute or two.

Gillian our host was still at work when we left (she does night shift) so we farewelled and thanked her husband (he was never named).

We decided to aim for a place named Castle Howard. I knew the gates wouldn’t open before 10, but I thought that maybe we would get a view from the road. Driving down a small country lane is interesting and this lane was no exception. It was narrow, and had tall hedgerows running beside it. As we came over hills we could see wonderful vistas including fields of wheat, barley and poppies. It was quite beautiful but nothing had prepared us for a huge monument with golden crown on top. On further investigation I found that this monument was restored in 2002 based on an original woodcut. Even in England it looked weirdly out of place and rather lonely.  A little further on was a wall with an entrance and exit we able to drive through. The wall was in very good condition and we took a number of photos for posterity. As expected, the gates to the Castle were closed, but because we had found these other two rather surprising erections, we were not disappointed.

We drove on through Hovingham, Helmsley, Kirbymorside, Pickering, Thornton-le-Dale, Snaiton, East Ayton, Seamer and on to Scarborough. I name all these places to recall which route we went. We might do it again one day.  We  stopped in Helmsley for a coffee, but nothing much happens there on a Wednesday morning before 9am. We were soon back in the car and heading for Scarborough. We took the route to towards the castle at the top of the hill, and parked beside Ann Bronte’s grave, then walked around the outside of the castle walls to take photos. We decided against paying to look through the castle ruins, and instead took a drive on to Whitby.

Whitby is a town worth visiting. Despite its movements towards being a popular tourist destination, it was reasonably priced and enjoyable to just walk around. We took a bus tour for 4 pounds each, which took us up to another set of castle ruins.  We were able to take some quick snaps, without paying another entrance fee, and headed back into the town centre for some fish and chips.  We sat next to 78 year old man who had visited New Zealand 6 times, He was very happy to tell us some of his life story including losing his beloved German Shepherd dog in February, and also swore by Whitby’s fish and chips. “You can’t come to Whitby without trying them.” I accept that but can’t quite picture what a haddock looks like, and my mouth still waters when I recall that fresh herring we tasted back in Delft market.

Our 3 pound parking ticket was about to expire, so we set our satellite navigator so it would take us towards Newbiggin-by-the Sea without driving through a toll tunnel. This section of our drive was longer than we thought it might be, and I think that because we didn’t sleep that well last night, driving was starting to tire us. We were please we’d had a look though. We had originally booked a caravan here, but the booking had fallen through. 

Newbiggin-by the sea is a seaside English town (as you might expect)  with a promenade which appears to reach the entire length of the bay. The bay itself looks tidal but standing on a jetty, somewhere in the centre of the bay, is a couple standing on a large cylindrical jetty. Well, you think it’s a real couple just taking in the sea air, until you realise they must be at least three metres high. It’s just one of those quirky things you see wherever you go and the English seaside appears to specialise in this.

We got a bit confused as to where exactly our hotel was and drove to Alnwick, only to find we were actually staying in Warkworth. There is a High Street in every town, after all.  It really didn’t matter, as distances are very small between towns. We had a meal in, and met a couple of sisters who were on a walking tour of this area. They made some suggestions of places we might like to walk to or visit. They also had a cute schnauzer they were walking with named Lucy. S thinks this might be our type of pup one day. It’s great that people here are able to bring their dogs into the bars- the bar last night got quite busy with people and their canine buddies. It was quite intriguing watching both humans and their pets interacting with one another.