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Published: August 3rd 2022
BLACKSMITHS COTTAGE AT NABURN
A very well equipped beaut little home away from homeMonday 25th left Ulverston and decided to take the route through Yorkshire Dales National Park which was a beautiful run when it wasn't raining! More gorgeous towns along the way like Malham where Malham Cove is situated, a huge curved limestone formation formed by a waterfall carrying meltwater from glaciers at the end of the Ice Age more than 12000 years ago.....the history of stuff here is amazing! To get to it the boss took a short cut, along the tiniest little lanes that you could just scrape two cars through, adding to the problem with our big Renault van!!! Anyway after a couple of near misses we eventually got to Malham Cove, with typical Yorkshire Dales weather misting and foggy! From there through Harrogate which is another very picturesque town, I think it oozes money, all the magnificent homes and shops etc. Arrived at our destination around 2.30pm after leaving around 9.30am but we did have a few stops...usually its 2hr45min drive... Naburn a small village under the City of York and only about 4 miles south of York on the eastern side of the River Ouse, we are staying for 4 days at the Blacksmith Arms Hotel which have
a cute little Blacksmith's cottage on the block ... lots of homes and a pub in Naburn....Lots of canal boats and a big lock here plus a Marina just out the road a bit. I think the pub is just good for a few beers, worst meal we had on the trip..... they did take it off our bill though to their credit! Dogs in the hotel was not a good look either, you can imagine one right behind us at a table mucking up....someone WAS NOT impressed! Tuesday walked to the big Outlet's shopping Centre just outside York, as spent most of the day trying to deal with Stayz re our accommodation in Amsterdam, Wed and Thurs spent exploring the beautiful town of York, a walled city made by ancient Romans dating back to 13th century but really dates back to 71AD, after catching a bus to town, very hard to get parking in the city areas, so much easier to bus it! Wed we had booked lunch at Rustique a gorgeous french restaurant, we were not disappointed, the food, service and atmosphere was sensational, York has loads of history and is virtually a walled city, we walked what
MELHAM COVE
Huge natural limestone cliff which was once a spectacular prehistoric waterfall parts of the walls we could, it was fascinating! Visited Cliffords Tower, River Ouse Walks, York Art Gallery, York Minster, Railway Station and it wasn't hard to fill in two days walking around this ancient, lovely city. UPDATE: The Qantas card has turned up at Gino and Philipa's so will be able to collect Friday when we get there. Friday morning set off from Naburn to Nottingham past Sherwood Forest and onto West Bridgford a suburb of Nottingham where Gino and Phillipa live, just a short walk to Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, awaiting us was a warm welcome and a lovely lunch, then we set off to explore their local area, down past Trent Bridge Ground and along River Trent for a big walk looking at all the sites along the way, calling in on a few pubs along the way, the first was the Embankment, where Gino and Phillipa had their wedding reception, then a long walk around the River Trent to The Ferry Inn on the other side of River Trent, its building dating from 14th century, sat and relaxed out back with a beer and then headed back to get ready for dinner. Not to be our
YORKSHIRE DALES
Winding country roads dinner at Six at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, too many staff off with COVID so closed for the night, next choice was Cote, stunning French Restaurant which was fantastic, Phillipa and Gino are within walking distance of all these local restaurants. Home to bed for an early take off on Saturday, after a scrumptious English Breaky prepared by Gina, on the bus to Nottingham Central which is only a 10 minute bus ride, Phillipa had organised everything, including tickets to City of Caves (what a great tour that was) and the National Justice Museum, both were so interesting, there are over 800 caves under Nottingham of which we only saw a few but fascinating, Justice Museum had a lot about convicts coming to Australia and there was even a few re-enactments of court cases and hangings etc then onto the Piano and Pitcher for refreshments, what a site, an old church turned into a pub, so stunning and very popular with the locals! On leaving this venue we saw across the road Pizzamisu, which Phillipa's daughter Liz said we should go, we were not super hungry but seeing dinner wasn't until 9pm tonight we decided to go in and sample
one pizza between us, man was it good, one of the best we have tasted simple and so so tasty! Then onto Nottingham Castle area to the Robin Hood Statue. Great day had by all. Home for a short nap, drinks and off to La Storia for dinner, it was delish Italian! Fell into bed at 11.30pm after the most fabulous couple of days in Nottingham. Sunday a one and half hour drive to The Falcons Nest at Huntingdon, its a raptor rescue and rehab place for really all sorts of birds, averaging 3 a week here to be treated and let back into the wild but they do have permanent residents too, they have units onsite that they rent out and only a short drive from the beautiful quaint villages of St Ives and Huntindgon, The Kings of Belgium in Huntingdon for a delish Sunday Roast about 3.30pm and a couple of beers then spent the next day in St Ives such a cute village again on the Ouse River, very tiny streets, we ended up in amongst the local farmers market, totally not allowed, the boss came over to us, John said sorry we are lost, we are
YORKSHIRE DALES
As you would expect Australian, he just looked at us in disbelief and said "gord blimey" and helped us get out with our hazard lights on! Stressful! All part of our day. Dinner at the Oliver Cromwell Pub, great burger and beer for 10 quid, bargain. Oliver Cromwell once lived in St Ives and was an important MP for the area between 1628 and 1642. Tuesday morning headed back to London to drop off car near Heathrow. Left Huntingdon 6.40a.m. getting car back to Heathrow in good time, then bus to Heathrow to get train to Kings Cross (St Pancras Station) which is where we catch the Eurostar to Amsterdam Wednesday, our hotel directly opposite St Pancras Station, what lovely surprise a funky hotel, very modern, they did a great job renovating this building Megaro Hotel, accomodation as everyone knows is expensive in London and this we only paid $257AUD including breaky, great staff and breakfast was really lovely. It would be a place to think about staying as great value for money will include some pics here and were told when we arrived mini bar free as well. Our friend El who we are seeing 1st weekend in September happened to be up
BLACKSMITHS ARMS NABURN
Cold Carling after a day out in London for one night with Dylan as it was "bring your kid to work day", and we managed to catch up for an hour after work, an unexpected one but a joy, we miss them, on Tuesday night at the Feather and Ink Pub in Southbank, it only took us 40 minutes to walk down there from our hotel. Great catch up and waved goodbye til September for the Faversham Hop Fesitval. Up early Wed breakfast and were told to get to St Pancras Station 90 minutes before, it was a complete shamozzle, wall to wall people, queues miles long! Patience plus patience we finally got through ticketing, security and passport control before boarding our train. Anyway we are on the Eurostar bound for Amsterdam.
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Ernie & Roni
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Love reading your blog makes me feel I’m there too. You are doing sooo much and so glad you are enjoying such a massive trip. Must catch up on your return to hear more about it. Love it.