2019 March – Yorkshire
A day and a half after returning from our trip to North Wales, we headed to Yorkshire for a week. We stayed in a cottage attached to the Pear Tree B&B in Pickering that we have used several times – it was excellent and would certainly recommend it. Arriving in Pickering at lunch time, we went straight to Thornton-Le-Dale and walked up the valley to Ellerburn and back. We have done this walk several times and enjoyed it as much as ever except that the tea rooms at Ellerburn weren’t open.
On Saturday we went to Richmond Castle and enjoyed the glorious view down to the River Swale. After walking around the town of Richmond we headed the few miles to Middleham Castle before returning to Pickering.
In Pickering we went on another of our favourite walks up the valley beside the North Yorkshire Railway Line and Pickering Beck. Unfortunately, there were no trains running to add to the magic!
Sunday saw us going on another of our usual walks, this time in Farndale and it was as beautiful as ever. 
We had started the walk early and managed to finish just as the crowds began to arrive to do the famous Farndale Daffodil Walk. They must have been disappointed as not a single daffodil was out beside the paths. As it was still only mid morning, and we were wanting to walk some more, we drove to Lastingham and walked up over the hills to Hutton-Le-Hole. The walk was quite hard – the climbs up and down were steep and quite slippery – but we managed! The return section of the walk was across flatter fields and roads. In Hutton-Le-Hole we did see daffodils!
On the following day we took the bus into York. The journey took nearly an hour and a half and we were able to enjoy good views of the countryside from the top deck of the bus. Once in York, our first stop was the Railway Museum where we spent a fascinating two hours. After that, we walked across the city to The Shambles. The street had changed from how Gerry remembered it forty years ago – the shops were a lot tackier and more touristy. Nevertheless, we had a good visit including a relaxing glass of wine in The Golden Fleece at the end of The Shambles. 
David and Bridget Lindley, our friends from Leeds, visited us at Pickering on the Tuesday. We drove to The Royal Oak Pub in the village of Gillamoor for a most pleasant lunch and were quite surprised when we emerged from the pub to find that the sun was shining! On a whim, we decided to drive to Whitby and enjoyed a very pleasant stroll over the swing bridge and around the eastern side of the old town before returning for tea and cake at our cottage.
The next day, we walked along the line of the old railway from Grosmont to Beck Hole and back to Grosmont. The walk was really pleasant and the rain held off until we had finished. We felt we had earned lunch so returned to Whitby and The Magpie where we enjoyed a lovely meal (as usual).
Our final day in Yorkshire was spent in full wet weather gear doing two walks. The first was a 4.5 mile circular walk from Nunnington Hall heading first to Caulkleys Bank. We then walked along the bank enjoying tremendous views of countryside below us despite the sharp cold wind and occasional squall of rain. From the Bank, we descended along Caulkleys Lane and returned to Nunnington along the banks of the River Rye. Having visited Nunnington Hall previously, we decided not to visit the house again as neither of us wanted to remove our wet weather gear and then put it back on for our next walk. We were, however, greeted by one of Nunnington’s peacocks’
Our final walk was around the village of Terrington. The walk was only 2.5 miles but the soggy ground and inclines made it feel a lot harder. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable walk to end our visit to Yorkshire.
