April 2015 – Yorkshire
We enjoyed four nights in Yorkshire last week. We spent the first night, Sunday, with friends David and Bridget Lindley. Their son Chris (Annie’s Godson) and his baby son, Henry, were at the house when we arrived. Henry is nearly one year old and a really happy child. He seemed to smile all the time and take an interest in everything going on. There was not a murmur or tear during our visit nor subsequently at Raja’s curry house where we enjoyed a lovely meal having been joined by Chris’s wife Lindsey.
The next morning we set off to visit Kirkham Priory. The riverside ruins of the priory are set in the beautiful Derwent valley between York and Malton. Unfortunately, the priory was closed but we were able to look through the magnificent entrance. Undaunted, we set off for Lastingham where we visited the Norman church and its magnificent crypt before having a cup of coffee in adjacent pub. Suitably fortified, we set then out on a lovely circular walk to the lovely village of Hutton Le Hole. The walk was just over 4 miles and included some steep ascents and descents but we thoroughly enjoyed it – the good weather also helped.
We then drove to Pickering and the Eden House Bed and Breakfast. Eden house was absolutely perfect, the room was recently refurbished and the public rooms were immaculate. The next morning, fortified by an excellent breakfast, we set out for Whitby on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. En route to Whitby we came across the iconic blue LNER A4 Class locomotive Sir Nigel Gresley number 60007. By the time I had got my camera out we had nearly passed it!
Arriving at Whitby we strolled along the front to The Magpie restaurant. We ate there last autumn and, once again, we were not disappointed. The food, wine, and service were brilliant. Despite a big lunch we set off to visit Whitby Abbey climbing the 199 steps on the way. Gerry was fascinated that there was a little disc on every 10th step giving the number of the step in Roman Numerals – to see CXCIX 0n the last step was much more interesting than seeing 199.
Our final day in Yorkshire was again blessed by good walking weather and we enjoyed a walk from Goatland (Heartbeat country for TV fans). Part of the walk took us along one and a half miles of bridleway over the moor. Unfortunately, the bridleway lacked any definition and we had to follow the general direction over the moor until we hit a defined path that was on our map. Cutting our losses we simply followed that path emerging exactly where we wanted to be.
We arrived home on Thursday afternoon refreshed and then on Friday set off for lunch with Jess, Jon and Oscar in Bristol.
A great week.
