Category: North Yorkshire

On our travels it has been unusual for me to do the same walk twice, but a combination of stormy weather and catching up on some work has meant that today we repeat the walk of last Sunday.
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In my humble opinion there is no better walk than climbing Ingleborough from Clapham. It is a walk that I have done many times, but not in the last few years. Recently my annual ascent has been via Horton in Ribblesdale. So after my tour of the Three Peaks Brewery I drive to Clapham and park in the Yorkshire Dales National Park car park. There are spaces on the road in the village, but since my last visit, signs have been erected requesting visitors use the car park.
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You may recall that when visiting The Talbot Arms on our arrival in Settle last weekend I got into conversation with some locals and was invited to visit the Three Peaks Brewery on Saturday morning. I did not need asking twice!
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Of the three Yorkshire Peaks, the one that I have walked the most is Ingleborough. I have not kept a record but I must have been up there close to twenty times, whereas, Penyghent I have scaled almost a dozen times and Whernside half a dozen.
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There is always something special about walking in the Dales and I could never tire of any walk that provides a view of Ribblehead Viaduct. As regular followers will know Lynnie and I have walked in this area for years, but we continually find new footpaths and areas to explore for the first time.
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The rain over the last couple of days has made the water level in the River Ribble rise significantly. I take the boys out for their early morning walk and as we cross Penny Bridge it looks like the Ribble has risen almost eight feet since we arrived a few days ago. When here in June it was very dry and when we walked up to Hull Pot there was hardly any water in Hull Pot Beck and as it approached Hull Pot it was dry. In the hope of seeing water flowing into the Pot we plan to walk there today.
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One of my favourite walks from Settle is the route up and around Attermire Scar. Lynnie is keen to do stuff around the Unicorn and to wander into Settle so I head off on my own with the boys.

After walking to Settle market square we leave the town via Constitution Hill and follow the road until it reaches the wide footpath that continues steeply upwards between two dry stone walls. Through the gate at the top of the track and then we are soon veering right to continue even more steeply uphill. As I climb I stop to admire the views back behind me. To my left is Settle and Giggleswick and to my right in the far distance is Ingleborough and below in the foreground Langcliffe High Mill.
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After a week in Taunton we are back on the road. Much of our stuff is still in the Unicorn so it did not take too long to prepare for the off. It is a slightly odd feeling after a couple of weeks out of the caravan to be setting off again, but it was always our intention to tour into October and we would have done so had it not been for our enforced early return from North Wales.
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We awake to an early shower of rain, not what is needed on a moving day. But it soon clears and the wind and sun dry the awning out quickly. We have enjoyed our week in Lealholm staying on Wild Slack Farm. Martin runs a cracking site, the views are stunning and we have been lucky to have seen some outstanding sunsets. There is the added bonus of the Board Inn nearby.

After a short drive, part of which is through Middlesbrough, not the most attractive of places but littered with interesting old buildings, we arrive in Durham. We are staying beside the River Wear at the Rowing Club, a small site but ideally located for walking into Durham.

We are only staying a few days so decide not to pitch the awning and are soon ready to take a wander along the riverbank to Shincliffe, an attractive village on the edge of the City. From there we walk up into Durham to get our bearings.

In the evening we meet up with our friends Alan and Anne. Alan is a local and after our meal at the Rose Tree in Shincliffe we take a short walk and he points out the incline of the old railway and the engine house at the bottom of the village.

Alan and Anne provide us with ideas of places to visit when we reach Berwick-on-Tweed later in the week. This will be unknown territory for us so a bit of local knowledge is always useful.

30th June 2014

© Two Dogs and an Awning (2014)

Today we are going to Scarborough. We visited this seaside resort in the early 1980’s. We had not been together long and it was on one of our first trips away, we have not been back since. So this is a bit of a nostalgic return.

We park up under the Castle in St Mary’s church car park. This is a pay and display car park in what looks to have been a graveyard. There are headstones around the walls and the top section still has memorials standing. We pay our dues, but unlike Helmsley there is no sign of a vigilant parking attendant, perhaps this is policed by the great parking attendant in the sky who probably uses gulls to issue fixed penalty notices. (Newcomers to the blog will have to read a couple of earlier postings to follow this line.)

We walk around under the Castle walls, it is difficult to see how this Castle was taken, but during the English Civil War it changed hands between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians seven times.

From our vantage point we get a fantastic view of the resort of Scarborough. It is said that back in 1626 Elizabeth Farrow discovered a stream of acidic water running from one of the cliffs and this gave birth to Scarborough Spa. The resort grew in popularity and in 1845 was connected to York by the railway. This resulted in an influx of visitors. Our view is over the harbour and towards the impressive Grand Hotel standing prominently above the beach.

At the time of its completion in 1867 the Grand Hotel was one of the largest hotels in the world and had four towers representing the four seasons, twelve floors representing the months, fifty-two chimneys representing the weeks, and originally three hundred and sixty five bedrooms representing the days. From a distance it still looks an impressive building.

We wander down to the harbour, a lovely spot spoilt by the children’s amusement park located by the entrance. There is still an active fishing industry here, but much of the harbour has been developed into a marina, obviously seeking a larger catch. An information board tells how in the late 1800’s the artist Frederick Booty captured the harbour in his paintings. Of course in those days he would have not had to tolerate Kylie attacking his eardrums whilst he worked. Interestingly Booty was also the author of the first postage stamp catalogue.

The original lighthouse on the harbour was destroyed by a German bombardment in 1914 and rebuilt in 1931.

From the harbour we walk along South Bay esplanade. This is the type of walk that Dexter and Crosby dream about. Along the way there are all sorts of tasty morsels that have been dropped, including chips, batter and ice cream, they could happily just wander up and down here all day.

There are some interesting sights. Often when you see a TV drama or comedy sketch it appears that some characters are portrayed in an exaggerated way, a walk along Scarborough esplanade and you realise that reality is far more outrageous than fiction. Four ladies of mature years wearing pink tutus were a typical example.

During our many years together there have been a number of incidents that have caused Lynnie to collapse in hysterics, most of which I will not share with you to protect my reputation, however, one of the first was on Scarborough South Bay. It was beautiful sunny day and being a romantic I suggested that we should relax in deckchairs on the beach.

Putting up a deck chair is a simple task, all the bits are attached and you just need to get them in the right place. Unfortunately in my youthful eagerness to impress my new girlfriend I rushed the job and ended up in a right tangle. Obviously not easily forgotten, for the last thirty years every sighting of a deckchair on a beach gets Lynnie chuckling.

There are donkeys on the beach. In fact there are probably more donkeys on the beach than people. A ride up and down a very short stretch of sand costs a couple of quid, I assume that some pay this but I wonder why. Seeing the donkey rides reminds me of another favourite joke about a lad having a day out with his grandfather. Unfortunately, not a joke to be shared on this blog, “nay lad nay”.

South Cliff Lift, opened in 1873, is said to have been the first funicular railway in the United Kingdom, this and the Central Tramway are the only two remaining operational in Scarborough from the five original lifts.

We climb through the gardens to the top of the cliff. Lynnie is looking for the part of the gardens where we strolled one autumn evening along an attractively lit pathway. I tell her that it is not on this bit of beach, but she insists we keep looking. We cross the bridge between the parks and come out by the entrance to the Grand Hotel. A quick step inside the hotel and amongst the posters for bingo and dances you can see the signs of past glory.

A blue plaque outside says that Anne Bronte lived in a house on the spot of the Grand and died there in 1849. When we return to the car park we find that Anne Bronte’s grave is in this very churchyard.

Driving out of Scarborough we spot a park with lights hanging from the trees, could this be the romantic spot that Lynnie remembers? Indeed it is. We have just missed the band playing on the bandstand in the lake, they are loading up to return to shore. We wander through Peasholm Park and reminisce.

Peasholm Park is a lovely spot. An oriental themed park that opened in 1912. In 1911 Scarborough Corporation purchased some land from the Duchy of Lancaster to create a public park. The land was called Tuckers Field and the borough engineer, Harry W Smith, had the idea of creating a Japanese Style garden. The effect is stunning and it is an oasis of tranquility.

For the last eighty years three times a week during the summer there is a naval battle on the lake lasting half an hour. This and the bandstand explain all the seating on the lakeside banks. We will have to return to Scarborough to spend more time here, I don’t think I can afford to wait another thirty years.

Time to return to the Unicorn and think about packing up, we are on the move again tomorrow.

29th June 2014

© Two Dogs and an Awning (2014)