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Having twice had our train trip to Scarborough cancelled and having missed the train to Whitby a couple of days ago we decided to try again. Damned persistent these train enthusiasts! Well… we ran into a major traffic jam and missed it again. So we DROVE to Whitby over the North Yorkshire Moors - beautiful. |
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Whitby is a delightful sea-side town on the East coast with an ancient abbey.To the left of the abbey is the Parish Church to which, it is rumoured, Dracula fled. |
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It is also the home town of the explorer Captain Cook with whale jawbones and a statue to commemorate him. |
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We happened across a festival with dancing |
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And then wandered up to the abbey. |
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Next stop was a few miles South at Scarborough |
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With its castle |
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And a rather large gentleman on the promenade |
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The next day our friend Joyce from Colorado arrived. After picking her up at the airport we found some more well-dressings on the way home. |
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They were noting the hundredth anniversary of the start of World War I which was an extremely traumatic event in Britain with millions killed. |
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We drove to Bridlington, a little further South than Scarborough and visited the harbour |
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The Yorkshire Belle sails along the coast for hour-long trips to visit Flamborough Head |
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Next day we drove back into Yorkshire and found a rather photogenic sheep. There were millions of them. |
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We visited the Bront parsonage. You remember that the three Bronte sisters wrote a lot of books such as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights at a very tender age |
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They are all burined in the local church where their father was minister |
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Just down the hill is Bolton Abbey, one of our favourites. |
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The nave of the Abbey was not completely destroyed when Henry VIII went on a rampage in the 1850s to erase Catholicism and create the Church of England. All because the Pope excommunicated him for beheading his wives. |
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It is still in use for church services. |
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Coincidentally, the Duke of Devonshire who owns the village of Beeley where we are staying and also Chatsworth House, owns the Abbey and grounds and uses the manot there as a country retreat. |
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To round out the day we visited Fountains Abbey and Studley Water Gardens. The abbey is one of the largest in the world |
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Some of the detail (it is 1100 years old!) is quite startling |
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This is almost reminiscent of San Jose in San Antonio |
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Huge |
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…On to the Water Gardens which are a set of formal ponds. I'm not sure what these two guys are doing |
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Next day… on to Nottingham. I went to University there and I know how upset the City got when students kept stealing the arrow from this statue of Robin Hood |
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A visit to "the Trip" is essential. Note the date. |
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After the City came the forest which is an interesting mixture of Kids' stuff (little bows and arrows, green hats etc.) and beautiful woodland walks. |
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The happy ending where King John pardons Robin. |
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The walk is decorated with all types of sculpture |
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For a change of pace we went to Buxton, a spa town 20 miles away and saw a live presentation of Pirates of Penzance |
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No trip is complete without a quick visit to York.. |
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.. Walking along the walls.. |
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..And visiting York Minster, the Number 2 Church in England |
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A significant hike was up Kinderscout. This is a plateau about 4miles by 3 miles over 2000 feet high. It is partly barren and partly heather on many feet of peat with groughs which are water-worn gullies in the peat that are up to 12 feet deep, steep sided and very twisted. Ideal for getting lost particularly when the plateau is shrouded in fog. We chose to go up Grindsbrook which is an ill-kept path that ends scrambling up a waterfall. |
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Joyce was relieved to get to the top |
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Severe but pretty |
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With wonderful views. |
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Our nearest town is Chesterfield. The cathedral spire was built of wood that was too green. It warped but it didn't fall so now the town is very proud of it. |
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From Chesterfield we had to suffer a twenty minute ride over the moors to get home. Such a pain. |
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More moors. For the uninitiated, a moor is a stretch of ground that is high up and too cold, windy and wet to grow anything but heather and rough grass most of the year. These are only 1800 to 2000 feet in height, but remember that the lattitude is about that of Juneau, Alaska. |
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The views are aweful and the patchwork created by the hundreds of stone walls set them off nicely |
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Our final day - Chatsworth House had a "Country Fair". The first thing we saw was this flag. The soldiers had no idea what it was - just that it came from Fort Hood. Maybe that's where Robin Hood came from??? |
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There were old cars |
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A jousting tournament |
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A small amusement park |
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Hawkers (The bird kind as well as the other kind) |
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A marching Band |
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A motor cycle demo by the Signal Corp |
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And an appearance by the Duke of Devonshire himself |