North Yorkshire and County Durham

Our entry into County Durham was from Whitby and the little north Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes.

Whitby is probably best known as being where Captain James Cook was apprenticed. There is a replica Endeavour in the harbour visible from the attic window where Cook would have slept. Having read more than one Cook biography it was interesting to see some of his personal effects, letters and voyage equipment. There are also some of the original botany drawings from his voyages.

Staithes is a picturesque, sleepy, little fishing and holiday destination; set deep in a ravine. The road in and out is one car wide and with a gradient of 25% it is best to park at the top and walk down. The stone buildings are a few stories high and closely set together across narrow cobbled roads.

County Durham is northern England in its iconic best: green, productive rolling hills, interspersed with thick hedges of hawthorn.

Durham is a vibrant university town with some great op-shops. It is also a city that has extensive parking around the city centre and almost no vehicles in the town. This adds to the vibrancy. It is best known for its cathedral and castle, both of which give Durham its World Heritage Listing.

The cathedral is different to other cathedrals: it has no frescos or painted ceilings, what it does have is highly ornate and patterned stonework.

Comments

How to take a Van-life gap year

How to take a Van-life gap year You don’t just wake up one day, book tickets, fly to Europe and pick up the first campervan you see. There is a lot of planning and organizing to make it happen. For us, it was a concept that we worked towards over two years and got serious about in the last 6-8 months. Van purchase In researching vans, we learned that we could buy one, but couldn't insure or register it without being either European residents (read: address, bank account and utility bills in the country we wished to buy the van in) or set up a company to own, insure and register the van. Now this is not straight-forward as one needs to be able to navigate the system from the other side of the world and in another language (as vans in the UK / Ireland were considerably more expensive than on the continent). There are a number of companies who provide services in this space. We chose EuroCampingCars, because they are based in France and deal in late model v

Highland Games

Arriving in Scotland we saw Highland Games advertised in almost every town that we visited. The problem for us was the events were either the week before or in 4 days time; never at a time convenient for us. Our luck changed on the Scottish Borders town of Peebles; all the stars aligned. Highland Games are when local communities get together and celebrate Scottish culture. All Highland games include: a pipe band competition, highland dancing, and traditional heavy events including caber tossing, hammer throwing, and the crowd favourite of haggis hurling. Pipe bands and dancing are open to all ages and cover a range of abilities Shot putt is the same as the Olympic event but competitors are free to use whatever technique works for them. Some use a standing throw, others use a run up or spinning preparation. Hammer throwing, unlike its Olympic equivalent the hammer has a wooden handle and the athlete does not spin in a circle before throwing it. The athlete us

Traditional Cider Production

How do you find out how cider is authentically made? One method is you go to Somerset visit a cider pub ie one that has a license to only sell cider. No beer or spirits here, thank you very much. Then you settle in for a few pints. Once the patrons have become accustomed to you and you can understand their west-country accents you ask them where and how to make this happen. We were at the Tuckers Grave Cider House when a cidery name was thrown out to us by a local. “Go and see Roger Wilkins he makes good cider and he makes it the old way” we were told with a toothless grin “but he lives in a back lane and you will ne’er find him”. Nothing like a challenge for Tanya (navigator). Other patrons said that the Wilkins Farmhouse Cidery was the most authentic in all of Somerset. The next day we phoned Roger and were given directions. Driving down tiny laneways with mirrors on both sides of the van hitting the overgrown hedgeways we found the farm. On the high side of the l

Mid-life gap year Tanya and Craig

Search This Blog