Blogs from North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 6

Asenby,, Thirsk. We are so very fortunate to have great friends around the world including Tony and Jacqui. They picked us up in Glasgow and drove us to their beautiful home and are guests for the next few days. Arriving in Asenby we unloaded and went to the local pub, Angels, for a pint and a wine. A little walk both ways was an excellent way to stretch the legs after an afternoon drive. We travelled through beautiful country side with their stone fences, sheep and Holstein cattle decorating the green rolling hills with scattered beautiful older stone homes scattered throughout. A fine mist graced the drive opening up later to some sun for our walk. We were treated to excellent salmon from Iceland smoked in Scotland with beautiful trimmings and wine. Cheers!!... read more

We’re in Horton in Ribblesdale. Not exactly the centre of the known universe but a lovely spot, by that I mean the pubs good and our BnB is good. Here I can stand up at least which is something I could not say last night. I’m typing off line and will simply dump when I can. Very comfy here but that may reflect the 3 pints I’ve had. Our BnB mum came and collected us from the pub after we’d eaten pretty well and had a good start with a couple of ciders. Again the ciders are very generic and really only so so but we all make sacrifices. But after showering and making ourselves sort of human we treated ourselves to a cheese platter and a beer. Very nice way to see in the evening ... read more

Back on the coach we bid a fond adieu to Scotland and cross over into England at Northumberland. There was an amazing view of the North Sea as we crossed back into England. The sun was shining and the warmth of the day was upon us. Quite the welcome back. We are heading today to York, our last stop before returning to London. Our first stop the town of Alnwick. It means town on the clear river. We examined the outside of the castle from the 11th century. It is an outstanding example of a Norman castle. It was updated by Queen Victoria and the outside was used in the movie as a back drop in Harry Potter and in the TV show, Downton Abbey. A quick photo stop, and on to the center of town ... read more

Another travel tool: searching for “self-catering” cottages (similar to VRBO) led me to this delightful little rental in the charming village of Pateley Bridge. It has an award winning High Street, full of shops and tea rooms, and is nestled in a river valley with cut-velvet green draped over the surrounding hills. Of all of the places I’ve rambled on this trip, Wales and Yorkshire are standouts! Determined not to drive any more (I don’t get to see the scenery when I’m white-knuckling around every turn), I’m now either in transit or on foot. That’s all well and good, but in this burg, there‘s only one regular bus in and out, and it makes just seven trips per day, to/from Harrogate (which is 14 miles away, but because there are FIFTY-EIGHT potential stops, the trip takes ... read more

Oh, my, the things that we have SEEN! I’m going to have to be diligent about posting, just to keep up with the flow of photos. Our first night on the road was in York, where we managed to score a garret room (no lift) at a pretty, central hotel, in the midst of York’s Air Balloon Fest (a surprise to us). Unfortunately, the event made the traffic “bedlam” - it took an HOUR to travel 800 feet! I parked on “double yellow lines” overnight, so had to rise before dawn to move the car to a legal spot - but I was going out anyway, to watch the balloon launch. Upon our arrival, we took a twilight stroll into the old city and explored The Shambles (preserved medieval streets). We were astonished at the size ... read more