Yorkshire, The Return

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Sept 11 - 23, 2010

I had forgotten how close everything is in the UK, unlike the States and even NZ. You don't have to drive too far to get to some point of interest. A couple of trips of note are Kilburn and Whitby.

Kilburn is another pretty, stone housed, village. A white horse, etched into the chalk cliffs above, overlooks the village. A school teacher and his class did this as a project in the 1870's.

Whitby is a old Yorkshire fishing port and famous for being the place that Captain Cook served his apprenticeship. It is also dominated by the ruins of an old abbey that bring back memories of the Dracula novel. I think, it is the most picturesque town on the Yorkshire coast. Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, was an irish man and educated at Trinity College in Dublin (a little factoid that I picked up on my Dublin bus-trip). This must be my 5th trip to Whitby in the past 10 years. If my travels take me to UK and Yorkshire, I always make time to visit Whitby. And no visit is complete without having lunch at one of the many renowned fish and chip cafe's that are dotted along the harbor-side.

On the Whitby visit, we made a slight detour to Goathland village (the location of Heartbeat for Brit TV lovers) to see if Heather, a friend from Russell,was in residence. No luck, she had gone to France for the week. Lucky Girl!!!!

I had pre-booked a course to learn about landscape photography and my Nikon camera. I've always been a snapper, point and shoot, and if I get a nice photo then it is a bonus. This is a 2 day course in Malham village, on the Yorkshire Moors and it is evident that I don't even know as much as I think I do. My fellow student, Trevor from Cardiff, is a photography buff and member of the local photographic society. The teacher, Dorcas Eatch, is also very knowledgeable and has had many photo's published in magazines. I of course, am renowned for staying in program mode and just snapping away.

The first morning we are up at 4.30am to go up on the moor and study a much photographed tree. It is windy, cold, dark and I'm soon whining about having to leave my warm bed. We set-up our tripods on the edge of a limestone pavement that has deep fissures leading to the infamous tree. It's time to switch into manual mode and press the shutter button. My shots are under exposed, but I may be able to save a few of them with Adobe Photoshop. At 8.00 am it's time to go back to the B&B for a well deserved breakfast and discuss our efforts.

I learn several techniques from the course and by the time we finish have managed a presentable shot of a waterfall. Even Trev, manages a "not bad...." I'm pleased that I attended and really did learn quite a lot. I shake hands with Trev, and thank Dorcas for her efforts and patience. Time to return to Wetherby.

I farewell my sister, Ann and her family and say an emotional goodbye to my Mom on Sunday, August 20. It's time to make my way to Somerset to catch-up with good friends that I have known since my days in the data processing department at BOAC (Now British Airways). Luckily, my friend Alan, has also kept in touch with another couple that I haven't seen in a long while. Old friendships fit like a well worn shoe and we are soon reminiscing about "old times" and "old friends". I even get a couple of email addresses for people that I haven't seen in 35 years.

I then drive to Bedfordshire and the reunion cycle starts again. My time in London from 1970-75 gave me a group of close friends that I will always treasure and hopefully, will see for many years to come. As one song-writer put it "Thank-you for being my friend" .

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Photos

The White Horse
I don't know what the stone is in the foreground. And I'm certainly not on that Pacific Island that uses stone money.

Norman Church
One of those many Norman Churches that seem to be in every village. Not quite the cathedrals of Ken Follets "The Pillars of the Earth", but still pretty impressive....

Whitby
Harbor-side

More Whitby
The town is split by a river. One 1/2 has most of the the shops and restaurants and on the other-side is Whitby Abbey.

Whitby, Looking Towards Church and Abbey Ruins
You might just be able to make out the abbey ruins on the hill. This features heavily in the Dracula novel.

Captain Cook
A statue of Captain Cook looks over the town and harbor.

The Infamous Tree
It's cold on the Yorkshire Moors at 5.15 in the morning. No wonder there is only one tree.

It's Getting Lighter
Action Shot!!!!! But you can just make out the fissures in the limestone pavement. I need a better tripod and also some more filters.

Waterfall Study
Trying tho get the right effect with flowing water.

Photo Course
I think that this was the best of the waterfall shots

Old Friends
Even though we have known each other almost 40 years. It is pointed out that there is still a twenty year-old inside, trying to get out.

Comments

[Caroline]

Nice waterfall, honey! Looking forward to your finally getting home.

[dave M]

The Moors
Alan? Perrior or Potts?

[Flora]

Great Shots
You have some lovely shots there Kevin, well done. A very interesting narative too. The stone wheel at the top could be a millstone maybe. The hole is not in the middle, but it looks as though some of the edge has broken away.

[Bev]

Yorkeshire the return
Maybe small and confined, but what a lot of history! Makes you realise that New Zealand is still only a baby at 150 years old - European history I mean. We've been experiencing "british weather" lately, would you like to call some back please?!