The Moors of Yorkshire were purple with heather as we drove across them towards York, Castle Howard is about as large as all of Howard and with the Brideshead Revisited connection decided to visit. A guide said the building is a big black hole that just sucks up money. A million pound for the roof, half a million to fix the goldfish pond. It was all a little over the top but I really did enjoy the walled garden with areas for veges, roses and other ornamental plants. We wandered the streets of York around The Shambles, the Medieval part of the old town, and tagged onto a walking Tour, remaining a respectable non-paying distance. The cocking of my good ear towards the guide, drew suspicious looks, so wandered into York Minister just before closing then wandered around it to admire its grandeur. A young stonemason was working in a shed at the side shaping stone for its restoration. We’ll hit the motorway tomorrow and get some miles behind us to spend a few days around the south west. Time is running out!
Whitby
We booked into a B&B overlooking the water in Whitby. Overnight, Sharon became a little queasy and woke up weary. The bed was bad and we had to share a bathroom and the cat I was swinging kept hitting the walls, so we booked into a better one two doors down. The town is lovely with red houses on the walled harbour and up the narrow streets and alleys on the hills. The church with its eerie graveyard on the cliff top and the ruined abbey behind, topping off the setting. Bram Stoker apparently wrote Dracula while staying In a B & B here. I wrote a few postcards in The Ship Inn.
A very relaxing day spent roaming, sitting, reading, writing, drawing. After dinner we walked to the top of the hill to the abbey and graveyard and although we may have disturbed some spirits while taking some night photos, the youngsters running around the headstones spooking each other, probably did a better job.
Stepping back in time
Yorkshire
Leaving Cumbria, we drove across the Yorkshire Dales in the morning sunshine and afternoon rain to Hawes. Because it rained for most of the night, the hills were running with water in the morning and it was quite a picture, rolling hills of green, stone walls, stone barns, stone houses, sheep and heather. We came across a steam train pulling wooden carriages across a viaduct and we felt we must have stepped out of the Tardus. Hawes has a Herriot Hotel to remind us of All Creatures Great and Small but we ate In the little Crown Hotel as the fireplace was going. Driving across the Dales, we entered a town called Commondale and had to wait for two sheep crossing the road in front of the pub. They must have been heading to the baa.