Yorkshire

Yorkshire was wet- stair-rod downpour about 70% of time- but a nice break. We were in a cottage in the middle of nowhere, on the edge of the North Yorkshire moors, offering an outdoor hot-tub and on-site goats Basil and Spangle. The wee wan spent a lot of time walking the goats (on leads) and feeding them chip-sized carrot pieces. Hopefully I shall add some photies later.

Although AA website cited about 3 hrs' drive to York, the actualite was 7 hrs there and 6 back, including a short lunch break. The Big Wan had not been formally trained in navigation duties before we set out, so there were long circular lost-excursions at Darlington on the way down and at Eyemouth on the way back. Big Wan had undergone formal navigation training for the return drive, but unfortunately Lothians page of the AA book-of-the-road is torn out.

A highlight of the trip was a picnic at the beck in Pickering. A nutty old lady was battering ducks with her walking stick as she strolled the banks, and engaged in conversation the older couple sitting on the bench nearest. She started with a diatribe on the ducks and their feckless breeding habits and headed rapidly onto her favourite subjects- the dangers of modern living, the uselessness of modern parenting and the criminality of the youth of today. All the time, she's casting meaningful sidelong glances at Big Wan, slumped on a bench in his menacing black clothing. According to her, Pickering (pop 8,500, 6 churches) is a hot-spot for crime, particularly pickpockets. She enjoined the couple to watch their bags and told tales of armed robberies at the charity shops of the town. She then escalated to recount the tale of the time that "the vandals broke into my house and hit me over the head with an empty pizza box!". By this time the couple were tiring of her 20 minute monologue, and stood up to move on. They walked off with her waving her walking-stick, shouting, "Remember! Don't ever go out after dark!".

It was a relief to visit Scarborough and Whitby, where we saw the only brown faces of our whole trip (inc. York). I had a haircut in Pickering from a lass who encouraged me to boast that I'd had a shag at the hairdressers. And we bought Lucky Ducks from the glassworks in Whitby, mine to replace the one from c. 1973.