Another Travelblog from the archives.
At the beginning of September I agreed to take Amanda to Whitby for a few days. Now, knowing what she can be like, I decided to plan our trip down to the minutest detail, with something to do for each day. I woke up on the Tuesday morning to rain. Well, there’s a surprise, us going to Whitby of course. I was supposed to pick Amanda up at Doncaster station at 9am! It was hard dragging myself out at that time so, obviously, I was late! At the station we had to rearrange the boot of the car to get her luggage in. Its incredible how much one can get in to a Mazda MX5 when pushed. We finally left the station and headed off up the A1. We hadn’t gone far before we decided to call in at some services, since neither of us had had any breakfast. It was one of those awful Moto ones which necessitated the usual round the Moto Maze run to find the car park. It was still raining heavily and looked like it was going to carry on for the rest of the day. Over a surprisingly good Full English I showed her our itinerary.
I had decided that on the way up we’d stop off at Castle Howard. Mainly since I hadn’t been since 1984 and I fancied going again. The rain had let up but it was still low and moody so we headed straight for the house where we had a nice mooch around. There were some interesting matching bedside commodes in one of the bedrooms. The guide lady tried to tell us they wouldn’t have been like that really but I like the idea of “his and hers potties”!! The rest of the house was much as I remembered with one stately room after another and the inevitable “serious” tourist wanting the complete history of every item in every room! Now, we love history and wandering round stately houses, but really? Buy the guidebook and read it in your own time for goodness sake! Since the weather had brightened up a little more we took a stroll around the gardens getting lost on the woodland paths, ending up back at the house when we thought we were heading for one of the follies. We eventually found the folly where Manda had a sit down whilst I took some photographs. Back at the house we headed for the tearoom for afternoon tea. A nice pot of good Yorkshire tea. We treated ourselves from the sweet menu, I had the upside down cheesecake, the only way cheesecake should be served in my opinion! Manda had some kind of pudding if I remember correctly. As we were returning to the car we spotted the farm shop, where we bought some very nice fresh veg and meat for that evenings dinner.
From there we headed off to the caravan getting there about six o’clock. Although the rain had stopped there was now a howling gale, and we had to get the awning up!! Personally I don’t think we did too badly. We had managed to slide it onto the caravan and put the main pole in place when the wind got under it. It looked like Amanda was trying to fly a giant kite while I just stood there laughing. We eventually got the awning up and pegged out, only to find it was wonky and too far away from the caravan. So we unpegged it all and moved it about a bit…..several times! Once we had the awning sorted we set to making dinner. Well, Amanda did. She made us some really nice chicken in lemon and ginger sauce, which was very tasty. After dinner, since neither of us had packed any alcohol we went to the pub. And yes we walked. It was bloody windy and we hadn’t got a torch but it was fun coming back after a pint of cider. I slept fitfully that night due to the strong winds buffeting the caravan and Amanda snoring. She was fine, she had her earplugs in!
The following day we awoke around nine o’clock. Although it was still windy we now had glorious sunshine. we decided to take advantage of the good weather go for a trip on the steam train. If we wanted to do one of the walks I had worked out, we needed to be on the 11 o’clock train in order to fit it in before the last train home. So we were up, dressed and out by ten o’clock. We rode the steam train to Grosmont where we played at being “Normans” and went train spotting in the engine sheds. We had to loiter for a while as we were too early for lunch in the station cafe. It was well worth the wait. Triple sausage, two fried eggs and chips, yum yum! Mind you, we did take four of the sausages home for breakfast the next day! After eating our fill we set off on our walk. With the sun, bright and warm, dappling through the trees, the gentle trickle and splash of the stream and the sound of the steam trains in the valley below, it felt like we’d gone back 50 years. And being mid week, there were very few people about either. Oh, and what a surprise! A pub en route as well. It was a tiny little place, not much more than a cottage parlour, with tables arranged around a blazing fire. As we walked in, all conversation stopped until we’d ordered our beverages from the hole in the wall, which opened into a tiny shop. A pint of real ale for Amanda and a mucky cider for me. We spent a little more time in there than we should, listening to some older local blokes being very politically incorrect! Which meant we then had to get a wriggle on so we could get to Malyan Spout waterfall, which was well worth the scramble. It was quite ethereal and I half expected to fall over Peaseblossom and Mustardseed teasing Puck, or Bottom snoozing away the hours! By now we were pushing it for time so another scramble, a steep climb and a brisk walk through Goathland; with no time for window-shopping; had Manda moaning that I’d got her rushing for trains EVEN ON HOLIDAY!!!!!
The next day we decided to do our motoring tour around the moors. Since the sun was shining and the wind was minimal we put the top down on the car, Thelma and Louise eat your hearts out, The Subtlety Sisters are on the loose! The first leg of the trip took us out past Grosmont, where we debated whether to have egg and chips for lunch again, and down to Egton Bridge where we parked up to look at the church. And very pretty it was too. Shame I’d forgotten to take my camera along! After a brief stop at the loos – well Amanda has only got a very small bladder after all – we set off on the second leg. This took us through some very pretty towns and villages and out to Danby, where we stopped and decided that, since it had turned out so nice again, we would do the walk I’d downloaded. Another trip to the loos before setting off. It was a really nice walk until about 3/4 of the way round when the heavens opened. Even with wet weather gear we were drenched! But a bit of rain doesn’t deter us though and on we plodded over the now muddy farmland. We did meet one couple sheltering under a tree with their umbrellas up. They were dressed in smart casual clothes with not an item of walking gear on them which led us to surmise that they were having a lovers tryst and the two of us suddenly tramping round the corner had put them off a bit. We carried on until we had put a bit of distance between them and us and found ourselves a convenient tree to shelter under whilst we ate our soggy sandwiches. Back at the visitor centre we decided to warm up in the teashop before continuing on our journey. Leg three took us to Rosedale Abbey where we got talked at by a woman arranging flowers in the church. The final leg took us through Pickering, where we didn’t stop, much to Amandas disgruntlement. I did point out that since it was now past five o’clock there wouldn’t be much to see.
So we carried on to the Dalby Forest Drive, where she had yet another toilet stop. Then on through Harwood Dale which was a pleasant drive until near Harwood Dale. By now, fed only on soggy sandwiches, we were beginning to feel a little peckish.The idea of a pub tea sounded good to us both. As we hurtled down a short incline in the middle of nowhere we spotted a little, quaint looking pub on the bend in the road but by the time we saw it we’d gone past. Amanda thought it might be a nice place to stop and made such a fuss about me driving past I turned round and headed back. Good job cos when we saw the back view even she had second thoughts. The upstairs windows were opaque with grime and the “net” curtains were just grey/black strips of rags hanging down and I think I got a brief glimpse of someone watching us. Then we spotted the owner stood at the back door. Have you ever watched The Goonies? So we turned back round and headed for home. We got our punishment though cos just as we were driving along a nice straight forestry road a tractor and trailer heading the other way sprayed us with cow-shit! We think he did it on purpose cos he’d seen us with the top down!! As it hit the bonnet of the car I shut my eyes and ducked down below the top of the steering wheel as the wet manure sailed over the top of the car and landed with a splatter on the road behind us. How I stayed on the road is a miracle. We called in at the the next pub on our route intending to eat there but only stayed for a drink cos the menu looked a bit boring and it was expensive. And I don’t think we fit in with their clientele either, the Country Casual types who enjoy mass produced chain pub food masquerade as Cordon Bleu So we rushed back to the caravan where we got ready and headed of to The Fylingdales Inn where we had an excellent meal.
Our final day and the only thing left to do was the murder hunt around Whitby. I had downloaded it to see what it was like and basically it was like playing Cluedo round Whitby. In the event we had a really good day. We saw bits of the town we had never seen before and noticed things that we generally walk past without a second glance. We started off at the information centre where we got the first couple of clues fairly quickly. The third clue was a bit harder and as we went on we began to see how it’s creator had been thinking. It should have taken about an hour and a half but we ended up taking a good five hours! Mind you we did stop for fish and chips at The cafe on the bridge – obligatory – and a pint in a pub, again, obligatory. And we never did solve one of the clues (which was subsequently pointed out by Bozzie and Shawna on another trip).
On the way back to the caravan, Amanda decided she wanted to do a last, late afternoon walk along the cliffs above Robin Hoods Bay. As it was nice I agreed that it would be a pleasant end to the day. I parked the car at Boggle Hole and we walked along the cliff tops towards Ravenscar. Like the pair of bimbos that we are, we went just a tad farther than we should have, you know, to see what’s around the next bend. So coming back we had to drop down onto the beach to finish the walk in the dusk, which suited Amanda. Just as we were climbing the lane back to the car we were treated to the sight of several bats whirling around us before heading off into the night. What a cool finish to a few days round Whitby. By the time we returned to the caravan it was too late to get the awning down as we had planned so we finished off our four day old rat n stew, had a drink and talked into the night!!
The next day we got packed up early and had a lovely drive home. The sun was out and it was warm so we had the top down all the way. We had had a really good time with plenty of fresh air, exercise, good food and above all, heaps of fun.
This story is included in my book “The Subtlety Sisters – A Collection Of Memories”