Dalby Forest: 1

One of the best days in Yorkshire was when Cathy took me on a favourite walk of hers in Dalby Forest, to the Bridestones, you can see a map and description here.

We climbed up through the woods

and were both in awe of the colours, especially the larches

Which are particularly gorgeous this year

I can just imagine one of Kate Davies’ designs knitted in the colours above

My hair used to be the colour of that bracken! Seems like another life entirely.

We arrived at the top where the Bridestones are.

Now this stone is referred to as the Pepperpot, but to me she was an old lady, maybe the wise old matchmaker calling Coooo-eeeeeeeee, down the valley

this is her view

A little further along there is an Elf’s tunnel, I had to squat right down low to get this picture, a 3 year old could just about walk through it, and elves of course.

now down into the valley

where we could hear a squawking bird

With a wonderful free App on my phone ‘Chirp’ I could identify it as a Jay, then we saw the Jay flitting through the trees, sounding very perturbed about something – like this

looking back

and nearly back to the car now

Oh what a fabulous walk.

Click on any photo to see it full screen.

The day was not over    ………

off we went to see Rachel Whiteread’s Nissen Hut …………

 

 

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Whitby

I know I said we would be off to Dalby Forest in this post – but I was getting ahead of myself – my thoughts and memories of my trip are still in a glorious jumble!

So instead we are off to Whitby! On our first jaunt, Cathy took me across the moors to this fascinating place. We parked near the harbour – rich in photographic opportunities

and headed for the restaurant famous for it’s fish and chips: The Magpie Cafe 

What a location! Standing on those steps one looks straight across the harbour to St Mary’s Church

see the mouthwatering menu

We found the perfect spot to sit – what a view …. just had to take another photo

And here’s the food shot – just for you Sheila!

I went for the top one on the menu, Cathy enjoyed the house speciality.

Yum YuMmmmmmmm!

Now for a walk along the Pier to use up a few of those calories, passing by a Dracula Emporium on the way – there is a very Gothic air to Whitby. You can find out more about the Dracula connection here. I’m rather glad I missed Halloween!

The day was overcast adding to the Gothic atmosphere, from the pier we looked along the coast

and back towards the church and castle

and then for a brief dramatic moment – ta dah! The sun lit up the church!

The church was our next destination, so we headed back into town, across the bridge passing lots of intriguing little alleyways and shops

 

and up the 199 steps

From the top we could see where we had been on the Pier

St Mary’s is the most extraordinary church I have ever been inside. I was so overcome by its vast size, and extravagant style that I didn’t take many photos, I was agog. It was filled with Box Pews – hundreds of them, no open pews, and they filled not only the huge floorspace but they went on up into the rafters

Apparently it can seat over 2,000 people! I wonder when that last happened.

Intriguing and bizarre

See more from Google images here.

If you want to read more about it the Whitby Museum website is a good place to start. A most extraordinary place.

We did not have time to look at the nearby Abbey on that occasion – the days at this time of year are so short!

We made a quick visit to Robin Hoods Bay, where there is a very weird, and I would say ugly, sculpture to celebrate the Millenium. Neither of us could make any sense of. It was so bizarre that I could not get a photo of it that made any sense either. You can  read about it here and see more images here.

We drove back with the low light giving a glow to the magnificent autumn colours. What a fabulous day, we had such a good time, chatting happily away all day long. I’m so very grateful to Cathy for taking me to these weird and wonderful places.

Thank you Cathy!

 

 

Bloggers on the loose in Yorkshire

Oh I had such a wonderful time in Yorkshire!

What a beautiful county! And Autumn was showing it off to perfection. 

The very best bit, of course, was meeting up with Nanacathy!

We even tried a selfie!

 

This was taken with Whitby castle in the background.

 

When I got home, I took a while to ‘land’, recover from all that driving and order my thoughts. My mind was in such a happy spin from everything I did, saw, experienced and photographed, it was hard to put things down in any coherent order. And to be truthful I didn’t really want to – I wanted to stay in that blur of delight for as long as I could!

I do want to share it all with you though – oh yes – so much, and I have been having mini conversations with you all about it.

Where to start – eek! Here I get all excited again and thoughts jump up and down and jostle for attention.  Calm………

Firstly I’ll tell you my itinerary:

I left on Thursday, 1st November and drove to Nuffield Place, where I made a brief stop for lunch and to take photos of ‘Patina’ – here I fell for a guy called W. Morris (of Morris Minor car fame – NOT William Morris of Arts and Crafts fame) and his wife, Elizabeth. Now I am in shock – I was searching for a link so that we could all learn a bit more of this philanthropic pair only to discover that he was in fact a paedophile. I am endlessly saddened by discovering such things. I nearly did not mention this but out of respect for Ann Vaughan, and the Me Too Movement, I felt it only right. (I will amend my previous post about Nuffield Place) Perhaps he made such generous donations to assuage his guilt – many people benefitted hugely from his financial generosity, but many suffered untold pain.

~

Then onwards to Coventry and a most fabulous 3 days Mixed Media Collage Workshop tutored by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Nathalie Kalbach – so much to tell you about that, it will have a future post of its own.

On Monday 5th November, I drove to North Yorkshire where my home for the week was the cute, quaint and cosy Whistle Stop Cottage, which I can highly recommend.

On Tuesday morning Cathy came round for a cuppa! Oh joy!!!! We got on so well as I knew we would, it felt like we had been meeting up for a chat over the kitchen table for years! We had such fun planning our week, Cathy was keen to show me her gorgeous county and had taken into account the things I had mentioned I would like to do and see.

1.The Moors    2. The coast   3. The WW1 Hearts Exhibition  4. Go for a walk  5. Rachel Whitereads’s Nissen Hut.

On Wednesday I met Mr E who has a delightfully wry sense of humour and after a cuppa and a chat, Cathy and I left for Whitby via the most popular bus journey in the UK

It was a bit breezy up there

But the moors were looking spectacular in their autumn garb, and under the clouds they were moody and magnificent. I loved the feeling of looking across that vast expanse – we don’t get views like that in Dorset.

But just like Dorset, around a corner a new atmosphere is created by a river cutting through, creating beautiful valleys. What a drive it is.

Onwards to Whitby and a delicious lunch – more in a future post.

Thursday was spent pootling about in my cosy cottage doing collage – aaaah! joy!

On Friday Cathy picked me up and off we went for a wonderful walk in Dalby Forest and to see the Concrete Nissen Hut (more about both later)

Saturday was a sunny day of wandering around Pickering and more collage

On Sunday, Armistice Day Cathy, Mr E and I all went to the WW1 Hearts Exhibition, in Scarborough, which was very moving and somewhat overwhelming.

Monday was spent finishing off some collages, packing and popping round to say a fond farewell to Cathy and Mr E.

I had such a wonderful time and Cathy was so very generous with her time and Tour Guide expertise – I’m looking forward to telling you more about it all in future posts.

On Tuesday I set off on an epic 5 hour drive across country to stay with a friend in Gloucestershire and then home on Wednesday.

I had such a fabulous time away and returned in a happy glow – I’m looking forward to filling out the details some more in future posts.

Silent Sunday