This was a brief caravan holiday based just south of Scarborough running from Monday to Friday.
Our outward journey encompassed a lunch in Lincoln to provide a stopping point as we headed north.
On the Tuesday we visited Castle Howard which was used for the television version of Brideshead Revisited (amongst others) and it is a magnificent property which we wandered around and then around some of the extensive grounds. The chapel is superb and a reminder of the Catholic history of much of the aristocracy despite the best efforts of Henry VIII.
Lunch on Tuesday was at the Star Inn Harome which has a justified reputation. Over subsequent years to our visit these Howardian Hills have become somewhat of a foodie destination and we have since been back a couple of times. I suspect that the area contains enough people willing to travel to sustain them. The area is attractive and has first class suppliers justifying the number of decent restaurants in a small area.
In the afternoon on the return journey we went to see Rievaulx Abbey but did not go around it as we had done a fair bit of walking in the morning and had consumed a large lunch.
Wednesday is the railway highlight – a trip by steam train from Pickering (where the parking meters almost defeated me) to Whitby using the North Yorks Moors Railway which has had extensive television coverage in recent years. It passes through some very beautiful countryside although this is my first visit here in a long time. I certainly visited in 1975 but not sure if I have been since then.
In Whitby we walk up to the Abbey – it is a long way – and having returned to sea level we then go the Magpie Café for fish and chips. We return to Pickering on the train and then onwards to the caravan.
The weather on Thursday is not so great and a visit to Flamborough Head in effectively fairly thick mist means that nothing can be seen at all. However we go to Robin Hood’s Bay and walk down and through the village, due to the weather any pictures are less than enthralling. Later we go on to Scarborough and travel on the North Bay Railway to Scalby Mills and back – a first trip on this line.
In the evening we dine at Laterna restaurant in Scarborough – as I recall it is a long term resident in the Good Food Guide of blessed memory. So we dine well and I am careful to be able to drive back to the caravan safely.
It feels like a long drive home and no particular stops along the way.