AUGUST HOLIDAY - PART 7

It was a long drive from Stirling down to Pickering and a mixture of Motorway and A Roads. We stopped at the border town of Jedburgh, which neither of us had ever heard of, but we found an historic Abbey which was well worth inspection. Another reminder of the destruction caused by the Reformation. But the substantial remains do provide a real question of just how did they build these enormous structures back in the middle ages?

We detoured from the direct route to Pickering heading over to the East coast and stopped at a seaside village called Staithes. Here we had to park at the top of the cliffs and walk down a very steep path to the old village. It was here that Captain Cook worked as a lad. The original house was demolished during a violent storm, but has been reconstructed. While the beach leaves a bit to be desired, there were a mob of people "sunbathing and swimming"!!

The drive across to Pickering took us across the Yorkshire Moors, mile after mile of beautiful rolling country. And Pickering iteslf was a most delightful little town. The Guest House where we had booked in for two nights was a three storey restored 18th century house superbly furnished and we were more than pleased to find we had made a good choice after the Stirling B and B!. Wandered down to the Black Swan Pub and had an excellent meal at a reasonable price, and then an early night after the long day.

Next morning we went to the train station and bought return tickets on the steam train to Whitby. The steam trains have been fully restored and relive a byegoone age. One of the engines was the "Sir Nigel Gresley" a sister engine to "Mallard" which holds the steam train speed record of 125 mph! The train journey to Grosmont took just over an hour, and the stopover in Grosmont was fascinating because it is a typical steam railway junction with a lot of restored and semi restored steam engines in the railway workshops. We then took the light diesel rail service into Whitby itself. As it was Auust Bank holiday Whitby was jam packed with people. We were intrigued by the queues of people lining up outside several of the Fish and Chip shops - queues that stretched for a 100 yards or more!

We visied the Captain Cook memorial in a 17th century house that was owned by the Quaker shipowner John Walker who employed Cook as an apprentice. The exhibition covered all of Cooks exploits and also had a special feature comparing Cook and Captain Bligh which left no doubt that poor old Bligh had been sorely maligned by Hollywood!

Lunch in a Pub with lovely harbour views, a walk through the old town and then back on the train to Pickering. On the leg from Grosmont to Pickering we shared a carriage with a fellow and his son who were obviously train buffs and learnt some interesting facts about the steam trains.

The last day saw us heading off to Thirsk a small market town which is the setting of the James Herriot novels and has a truly wonderful museum dedicated to these famous novels. The house is the actual veterinary practice of Jim Wright who wrote the books. The original Austin 7 used in the TV show is on display and a mock up of the Television studio and equipment used in production of the series. Very interesting.

And so we came back Langdon Hills and home.

For some reason my Blogger won't let me download photos today, so I will try later to do a page of pictures of some of the things mentioned in this Blog.