Awoke to 8 AM alarm, showered, dressed, and headed downstairs to our proper English breakfast at our B&B. Poached eggs, ham, sausage, OJ, grapefruit, homemade toast, tomatoes, and several other items that we didn't even touched. Delicious. Our memories of English cuisine, based on our last visit to England in 1979, have instantly dissolved.
This is the front view of our B&B.
This is the view of the back yard of our B&B, taken from our room.
We chatted for a while with our hosts, John and Anita, a delightful couple, before heading out to Thirsk, a small town of about 5000 where author James Herriot lived and practiced as a vet. The counryside surrounding Thirsk is exactly what you see on the BBC series, however, the town, has obviusly changed a lot since Herriot's day.
Thirsk is beautiful, hower, filled lots with high end shops, pubs, galleries, and gorgeous buildings. We bought a few souvenirs, visited a 14th century church, bought a SIM card for my iPhone, and had a late morning coffee before departing.
James Herriot's home in Thirsk.
We then heading north to Suttonbank National Park and then to the small town of Kilburn where a gigantic profile of a horse in white limestone is carved into the hills.
From Killburn we stopped for lunch at the Carpenter's Arms, a stereotypical British country pub in nearby Felixkirk. We each had a 1/2 pint of the local bitter from Black Sheep Brewery, served warm of course. Joni had a goat cheese tart with watercress on top, and I had a steak sandwich with mushrooms, and onions. Both were fabulous. We capped off the meal with two different types of puddings: one was stick toffee (a classic pudding) and the other was an arctic roll...more like ice cream than pudding, but wonderful just the same.
We then continued our northeastern journey to the town of Whitby, an old seaport on the North Sea. Whitby is where Dracula came a shore many centuries ago. The scenery in scenery in Whitby is spectacular. The town is divided in half by the Eck River, and the ruins of an abbey look down on the port from the east. We hiked all over the Abbey, and up and down 199 steps to an old church...just for the views. Overlooking the harbor entrance from the west is a statue of Captain James Cook, the explorer, who grew up in this area. Near his statue is a huge arch formed by the jawbones of a whale. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, we arrived in the town after 6 pm and all the shops were closed. So no purchasing of jet jewelry, and no long waits for others to get out of the sight lines of your photos.
Around 7:30 PM, we headed to Trenchers restaurant, which was reputed to serve the best fish and chips in Whitby...we weren't disappointed. On a blackboard in the restaurant they even announce which boat and fisherman delivered today's catch. I don't think we've ever had better fried cod during our 35 years on Cape Cod.
We retraced most our route back to Knaresborough, crossing the beautiful North Moors National Park,
and arriving back at our B&B just before 10 PM...it was still light out since we're so far north. A great day by all measures! We could go home tomorrow and we'd be satisfied.
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