Christmas week in Yorkshire

The Sportsmans Arms

Today we woke to a windy and rainy day on the Yorkshire Moors.  The day started with a cooked English breakfast, and getting the fire started.  After a good part of the morning relaxing, Anthony and Tom got cabin fever and decided to brave the elements and go for a walk.  With the rain comming in at 90 degrees, they were soon well and truly soaked - only to be rescued by Kellie and Bec who went out to get some supplies from the Supermarket!  They were grateful to be saved.

After the hikers got dried off, we all decided to scope out a warm English Pub for lunch.  We ended up at the The Sportsmas Arms in Wath, and had a lovely time meeting and chatting to some of the locals, before  we settled down to a leisurely lunch.  Most of the produce was from the local district, with Tim having a Grouse which was reared at a town called Ramsgill only 5 miles from the Pub!  Other fare included Trout, Scallops and Yorkshire steak!  Very tasty indeed.

The Pub was very cosy with the coal fireplace warming us, and we ended up leaving at about 4.30pm, so it was an excellent afternoon.

After a brief stop in Pateley Bridge for some supplies we made it back to the house for a game of scrabble or a fix of social media..... depending on your preference.

At York Minster...

Last night a few of us didn't get much sleep, on account of the gale force winds that were blowing outside ALL night without ceasing!  Some liked it, though!  At times, it felt like the roof of the house was going to lift off. This morning it was still still blowing and the rain was coming in at 90 degrees.

We made a decision to drive an hour and a half away to York - hoping that the weather was a bit better there - and see some of the sights of this historic town.  As it turns out our decision was a good one (thanks Anthony!), as the weather was dry... although still very windy.  As we aproached the city of York, the traffic was horrendous - presumably because all the locals were doing their last minute Christmas shopping.  In the end we decided to do a "Park-and-Ride" from Poppleton Bar on an electric bus into town.... much better than sitting in a car, and we were able to utilse the bus lane!

Having made our way into the old city of York we had a look at the Viking museum in the center of town - and everyone agreed that we were quite glad to be living in the 21st Centuary rather than Viking times. The display village was very life like with animated people talking throughout the tour as well as a pungeant smell of Viking times!! They had a pretty hard life! We were gagging to get out of the museum for fresh air!! During the Viking era, York was the capital city of the North of England, and was a very important and rich city... with a population of about 15,000 - the same as Berowra - which was rather large for those times.

From there we walked to the York Minster - a beautiful Cathedral near the city wall.  The intricacy of the stonework was quite breathtaking.  Much of it was badly corroded, and there was a concerted effort to repair some of the detailed stonework to its original glory - we could see the stone masons work area, although they were all of Christmas holidays. It costs GBP20,000 per day to maintain and repair the Minster!

We walked around some of the old city, and along about a kilomoeter of the old walls, which gave a very interesting perspective of the city.  Walking through the markets (where we got some supplies for Christmas dinner) we then walked through the old market street known as the Shambles - with the buildings built out over the footpaths in tudor styles.

We then drove home (back to the rain and wind - which, it seems, had not stopped at Edge Farm) to cook a roast Pork dinner and finish the evening in front of the fire.

One of the local residents of Whitby...

The weather was a little better this morning and we decided that the Powells and Henrys would do seperate things today, as Bec had to go to Manchester to pick up Max and catch up with one of her old friends from Berowra who was now living in England.  So the Powells took a day trip to Whitby - the home of Captain James Cook - on the recommendation of a few of Tim's work colleagues.

The GPS took us through the closest town - the quaint Lofthouse, with its narrow streets and grey stone houses, right on the street - and up onto the moors.  The wind up here was fierce, and we experienced it first hand when we got out of the car to take a (quick!) photo en route.  It was a really nice drive and a great way to see some of the nearby Yorkshire scenery on our way to the East Coast.

On our way we drove through the town of Great Ayton, which was the boyhood home of James Cook.  His family moved there from Middlesbrough when he was 8 years old so his father could work on a farm.  When James Cook had finished his tuition, he stayed untill he was 16 years old when he left to move to the village of Staithes near Whitby.

When we arrived at Whitby, it was about lunch time, so we headed down to Pier Road to the Magpie Cafe, because we had heard that they served "the best fish and chips in England".  A pretty big call we thought, but well worth checking out.  Needless to say, they were not your average fish and chips shop - they had a page and a half of different fish that you could choose from, and they would cook it anyway you liked... catering for every type of taste or dietary requirements.  It was very good - and filling!

James Cook only lasted 18 months at Staithes before he moved to Whitbey and joined the shipping firm of John & Henry Walker to serve his shipping apprenticeship before signing up for the merchant navy and working his way up to Captian.  After this he joined the Royal Navy, and fought in the "Seven Years War" which was basically a series of wars between the powers of the time who were all seeking dominion over the newly discovered, colonised and settled territories in the new worlds.  It was during his time in the Royal Navy that his skills as a navigator came to the attention of the Royal Society, who commissioned him to explore the unknown lands in the Pacific.

But, back to Whitby... The old town of Whitby is a classic old English town with cobble-stoned streets, and narrow alleyways with "yards" out the back.  We wandered around the town for some time - trying to walk off our fish and chips - and even took a walk up to the ruins of the Abby at the very top of the cliffs overlooking the town.  On our way up, we saw a VERY steep cobblestone street which was hard to see how anything could have gone up it.  Apparently it is called the "Donkey track", and Donkey-drawn carts were used to take supplies up to the Abby.  It is so steep, it would be difficult o WALK up it, let alone pull a cart up it!

On the way back to the car we came across a shop selling Christmas jumpers so we decided to buy a jumper for everyone for Christmas Day!!  We wondered down to the harbour for another look and noticed that the tide had changed from when we first arrived.  We were suprised to see that the tide had come in (it was not quite full high tide) and the boats had risen about 5 meters!  Have a look at the photos below to see the difference...

Which way do we go?

This morning we woke to some clear, sunny weather - so Anthony, Tom, Kellie, Tim and Tony decided to go for a walk on the moors.  Although it was sunny (MOST of the time), it was very windy and cold, so we rugged up and faced the elements.  We walked up onto the moors to some very picturesque, but bleak, scenery.  The landscape was windswept with heather and low bushes no higher than your knees.  After trekking across the moors, I now have a new-found respect for the black faced sheep that live in these parts.... they are hardy beasts to cope with these winds!

As we walked down to the bottom of the valley, towards the dam, the landscape became greener and the sheep more prevelent.  With the wind wipping across the water, we walked across the top of the dam wall.  It was a spectacular view up the valley, with the water roaring over the spill-way.

We then made our way up the other side of the valley and down to Middlesmoor - a little town a few miles from our cottage - where the walkers met up with the rest of the crew, including Max who had returned from Manchester, for lunch at the Crown... the only pub in Middlesmoor.  It was a very cosy pub with friendly locals, and great food - Venison sausages, lamb shanks, steak sandwiches and Yorkshire Pudding with Turkey.  Yum!

After this we decided to walk back to the cabin with our bellys full... not sure what we were thinking!  Needless to say, it was a lovely walk and a great way to see the local evnironment.  Walking along the river, was very senic.  Back to the cabin after about 20 kilometers walking, durring the day... not a bad workout.

A short rest and chance to refreash, and wash our dirty clothes, and we were off to Ripon Cathedral for Christmas Eve Carols. It was a beautiful traditional sound, in a magnificent setting where they had been worshipping for 1,300 years.

We then made our way home for Christmas nibbles and drinks as we wore our Christmas jumpers and got into the Christmas spirit, ready for tomorrow.

Snow on the nearby hills!

So there we were, cosy in the cottge waiting for Ian to arrive at his scheduled time of 11pm... When Jem received a text to say that Ian had punctured his tire and was being taken to Harrogate by a friendly local named Gwyen Jones, who had stopped to render assistance.  Luckily Gwyen was an ex-mechanic, so imediately he spotted the problem as Ian was starting to change one of the tires - "Oh, you have TWO flat tires, let me take you to Harrogate to somewhere warm while you wait for your friends".

So Tim and Jem got in the car (thank goodness we didn't have too much Christmas Cheer to drink...) and went to pick up Ian and his bags!

Eventually we arrived at the cottage, and 12.30am - grateful that Ian was with us.  We'll worry about the car later today.....

Oh, and as an added bonus - this morning we awoke to snow on the hearby hills!  A White Christmas after all

Group Christmas shot

After all the late night excitment last night, we awoke this morning to  dry day.... rare in these parts, as we have been finding out!  Kellie was up early to stuff the turkey and get it in the over to slow roast for the day.  Eventually everyone woke up and ventured downstairs however William was the first to notice that the hills off in the distance had a light dusting of snow on them.... so we did get a kinda White Christmas!  We decided that after breakfast we would make a quick dash up to the hills to see if we could try and catch the snow, before it had melted off the hills.

So while Jem and Ian stayed to watch the bird cook - and arrange for the flat tires on their car to be fixed - we set off.  Starting at the Scar Resevoir, we set off up the hills... in our race against time to try and catch the snow!  It was a bit of a fruitless exercise, as the sun beat us to most of the snow, but there was still pockets.  Enough for some us the "Frozen" fans among our party to build a small snowman while singing "do you want to build a snowman"... even if the snowman was only 3 cm tall!

After reaching the top and checking out the view, we made our way down to the shore of the resevoir and walked back to the cars to get home to check how the Turkey was going and to finish the Christmas meal preparations.  Kellie and Jeremy were the main providers of our georgeous meal, with a bit of help form a few others as required.

After the obligatory group photo - we shared our Christmas dinner!  Very tasty.  The afternoon was then spent sharpening our "charades" and "Trivial Persuit" skills before slowly one-by-one we slipped off to bed.

Snow at our Yorkshire cottage

Today was an early start for Tim, Jeremy and Ian (Anthony was already up as usual, doing his blog from the day before – he is an early morning writer!), as we had an hour and a half drive through the frigid Yorkshire countryside to drop Ian off at the bus station at Leeds so he could get back to London in time for his evening show.  He made it with 20 minutes until curtain call…. Cutting it pretty fine! 

The Henry's had gone to Manchester (Preston, actually) to have lunch with an old friend from Berowra.  So the Powell's and Jeremy (he certainly qualifies as a Powell, although not the Berowra kind!), decided to go to one of the local Pubs – The Sportsmans Arms – to have some lunch.  It was the same Pub we had visited earlier in the week but this time we were able to sit in the restaurant area.  The same great menu of local produce and game was available, just in a bit more comfortable setting.

After lunch we had a lazy afternoon of games, chatting and reading near the open fire.

When the Henry's arrived, we began the count down to the snow, as everyone’s iPhones had predicted snow would start around 5pm that evening.  Sure enough, right on queue, the snow started.  It was sleety at first, and then became light and fluffy after a couple of hours.  It even stayed on the ground, so that some of the more excitable in the cottage could make snowballs and write their name in the snow.

It was heavy enough for the owner of the cottage to call us as he was concerned that we would not be able to get out the next morning and would be snowed in!  He recommended that we drive the cars to the main road, about 1.5 kms away, and he would come over and “ferry” us from the cottage in his 4-wheel drive early the morning .  So Tim, Anthony and Max drove the cars to the road, and walked back to the cottage in the snow.  By the time we had arrived back, the snow was about an inch thick on the ground and roof.

Off to bed – for an early start tomorrow – crossing fingers we can get out!