ENGLAND 2000
Day 2
Yorkshire Dales, England
Thursday
May 4, 2000
Yes, the birds. They are our alarm clock now. They begin at the first crack of dawn, which in this corner of the world, happens around 3:30 am! For a light sleeper, that will be the time to wake up - for a deep sleeper, you may get a bit long in the sack until the cacophony gets so loud you just can't stay there any longer!
I managed to stay abed til a whopping 8 am on our first full day in England. It took me a good hour to wash up, and it was then I discovered I'd forgotten to pack my hair conditioner. This may not seem a big thing to most, but I cannot go out into the world without my hair conditioner! However, this was to be a day when I would have to!
We had a lovely breakfast, Paul eating his usual humongous lot of food, and I having my usual coffee and, as an extra added attraction, a piece of toast and orange marmalade!
Sheila asked us what we had planned, I said "nothing at all on our schedule for today - we are all yours!" and so she asked us if we'd like her to drive the three of us over to the east coast to Scarborough! Oh yes, and for Paul this was a real treat - it's not been many days in England when Paul has been able to just sit and enjoy the scenery, owing to the fact that he does ALL the driving!
Off we went in Sheila's spiffy little car, for the 2 hour ride to Scarborough, the town where she grew up. The weather began as overcast, as so many English days do, but as so often is the case, the sun peeked its head through the clouds just enough to give us a lovely day out!
Before getting into Scarborough proper, we turned off onto a road that took us to a little park called The Mere - this gem of a place is no longer being used, however, it looks wonderful. There were swans and ducks swimming in the water there, but all the buildings were boarded up. I guess the tourists prefer going in to downtown Scarborough these days and this little oasis has just closed down. It's a shame, too. I'd love to buy the place, fix it all up, and open it up again!
We drove up the hill toward one of Sheila's favourite spots of all - Oliver's Mount. From here, even though the weather was not exactly being kind to us, we could look down onto Scarborough Town and it was magnificent to be back again...and another view of Scarborough from Oliver's Mount, and we were off to the Town in the car!
We arrived in Scarborough, found a central car park and headed for the shopping district of this wonderful sea-side town. I needed hair conditioner, remember, and so that task was quickly taken care of. I also had forgotten to bring with me today extra rolls of film, so I needed to find a camera store and did find a real bargain there -- 4 rolls of 36-exposure film for £3 - wow! This must be my lucky day!
We stopped into a very charming and up-scale gift shop - window shopping was not enough for us - and I ended up with my first "gifty" purchase of the trip - a set of coasters with the "All Creatures Great and Small" theme on them. I tend to buy these commemmorative coaster sets each time we travel to England...I do use them too so they are not only an ornamental item in our home.
We passed along the shops and came to a very mystical and lovely smelling "new age" shop, and Sheila and I dragged Paul into it for a short look-round ... I found a packet of wonderful lavendar incense sticks and decided I'd buy them and keep them in my luggage to make all the clothes smell like lavendar - one of my favourite aromas!
Strolling along the High Street and we came to the most wonderful benches - there were 13 of them all lined up in front of the Town Hall, and each had a little brass plaque attached which told for whom each bench was dedicated...it was so lovely. We went into the gardens in front of the Town Hall where there was a lovely large statue of Queen Victoria - we asked Sheila to take our picture in front of this Queen Victoria Statue. What a view off in the distance - the North Sea!
By this time we were getting hungry, so Sheila led us to her very favourite Fish & Chips shop, called "Small Fry" near the center of town and though this shop was tiny, with only about 3 or 4 tables inside, the fish & chips was the best we had EVER eaten! The freshest cod, and best chips, and a pot of Yorkshire Tea to top it all off!
Hmmmmmmm.......good!
Now THIS is England!
Back to the car and a nice drive round Scarborough with a very informative tour guide - our Sheila! She knows every nook and cranny of this ancient town and it was the best visit we've ever had here...seeing it through her eyes was much nicer than the two of us just roaming around and not knowing the history of what we were seeing.
Sheila took us to one of the loveliest spots in Scarborough, called Peasholm Park. There's a body of water there, and it's all the rage to gather here in the nice weather to hear a concert, and to take a Swan Boat ride...there are swans and ducks in the water and an oriental feel to the decor here. Sheila managed to snap Paul and Bex in front of the little Swan Boat shed...it was a coolish day, but we were in our element!
We finally came around to the "foreshore" as Sheila calls the sea-front boardwalk of Scarborough, and parked the car along the street. Paul noticed some local fishermen lingering by the harbour, so off he went to chat with them for a spell. This gave Sheila and me the chance to shop-hop along the "foreshore"...it was now a very nice and coolish day, the sun coming in and out sporadically. We found some touristy shops and bought post-cards galore, and finally meandered down to the best little ice cream parlour you have ever seen - it was called "The Harbour Bar", and it was where Sheila had worked as a young girl - it was designed as an American ice cream parlour and it was, today, just the same as it had appeared back when Sheila worked there!
We decided to partake in an ice cream cone apiece, and even bought a little dish of it for Paul if he should happen to catch up with us...and wouldn't you know it, being the ice cream lover that he is -- as soon as we'd paid for the treats, Paul appeared behind us and we all three found a bench - facing the harbour - upon which to slurp down our delightful sweets!
A group of local pigeons came by and helped us clean up our cones...by this point, the weather had turned decidedly cool, and after eating all that cold ice cream, we headed back to the car. Sheila wanted us to see another of her favourite neighborhoods, and so we drove there, had a lovely visit and a cuppa tea on Victoria Street, and around 5:30 we were ready to head back to the Dales to her home.
We drove a different route home, which took us through all the villages and towns that Paul and I loved and with which we were quite familiar...through Helmsley, Sutton Bank, Thirsk, Ripon and then on home to Sheila's. It was so good to see these towns again...it had been 3 years since we were last here and they were just the same...some things NEVER change!
We came home to a lovely "cold curry chicken" supper, a large salad platter and pudding of gooseberry tart with custard (Birds!). As Paul was averse to custard, he declined, after very much nagging from the two mother hens. The tart was the best we've ever had...and we decided that we'd had just about the best day out possible!
After a long lingering supper around the kitchen table, we stretched our legs out in the back garden, getting re-acquainted with the menagerie of pets who share this lovely home, and had tea on the patio with Sheila and John.
Tomorrow we have been invited to drive into Harrogate with Sheila and visit the Valley Gardens...let's just hope the weather is kind to us!
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