ENGLAND 2000
Day 4
Cotherstone, Durham, England
Sunday
May 7, 2000
The weather seems very nice - hazy, but the sun is breaking through. Looks to be a good day and we are anxious to see our friend Margaret. She came over to London at the same time we flew over, but she took a train up to York and has been there alone, touring that fair city, since last Thursday. She's hopping another train this morning from York to Thirsk (James Herriot's town) and we are going to drive down there to meet her for a 10:30 train.
We got up early, at around 6 am, had breakfast and a wonderful shower. Peter and Ann (our landlords here) left us some fresh hen eggs (there are hens and roosters, and sheep and a cat all living on the grounds here) and so I cooked those up for breakfast and had my obligatory cup of coffee to get me going.
I had a little glitch with my hairdryer, but Paul came to my rescue, fixed it, and we managed to get away by 8 am. We drove east along the A66 when disaster struck --- or I should say "WE" struck --- a poor little bunny rabbit! When one is driving down a main road in England, at about 50 or 60 mph, and a rabbit decides it's the perfect time to dash out in front of traffic to cross the road, there is not much one can do --- and it was my first experience hitting a bunny - I was NOT happy with Paul, and it almost ruined my whole day...I cried for a while, and it was not a happy journey into Thirsk. But these things happen, and it's one of the pitfalls of driving around England and one of the things to which one must become accustomed.
We arrived in Thirsk at the train depot at about 9:30 am, in plenty of time --- I always like to be a little early, and we were an hour early today! Right on schedule, the train from York came rushing into the station and we were re-united with our dear friend, Margaret. Margaret lives in Marblehead (our home town next to Salem), and there is something very nice about seeing a friend from home when you are in a foreign country. We had a nice big hug and helped her with her luggage to the car.
We drove into Thirsk and got out and shopped a bit...the book store was open and we all love books, so we spent a good hour in there, nattering away with the clerk who was thrilled to meet us "Americans" on a Sunday morning! We strolled around the corner and found the new James Herriot Museum, but rather than go thru it and waste this beautiful sunshine, we opted to just walk a bit.
Back in the car and we drove east to Sutton Bank - one of my favourite spots in the world. Here is a view from Sutton Bank overlooking the Hambleton Hills of Yorkshire! Spectacular! I got right to work taking a few pix of Margaret - posing in front of the view. She was looking to get a good picture of herself to possibly use for a Christmas Card this year so I was given the job of taking snaps of her every chance I got!
At the top of Sutton Bank, there is a coin-operated telescope for viewing the wonderful countryside - up close - and here's a shot of Margaret trying to balance herself atop the base of this contraption...it seems that you couldn't just look thru it - you had to climb up on its base and hold on for dear life!
After a nice visit at Sutton Bank, we got a few postcards and stamps at the little tourist center there, and hopped back into our car for a leisurely ride through the North York Moors...it was a sunny and quite warm day and we enjoyed this ride through the moors very much indeed. Margaret and I made up stories about what we could do with a house such as this lonely looking place if only we had the chance...
We drove into a beautiful village called Hutton Le Hole where we had lunch in a lovely and lively little pub and decided to visit the next-door Ryedale Folk Museum. Paul and I had been through here before, but Margaret seemed keen on seeing it so off we went for another tour. Of course, wouldn't you know it...I left my camera in the car and Paul had parked the car at the far end of the village...so the only picture I got was one Margaret took of Paul and myself posing outside one of the reconstructed antique thatched cottages in the Folk Museum.
After Hutton Le Hole, we drove out of town, up the Rosedale Chimney, a very steep route through the moors that is spectacular! Sorry I don't have pictures of this, but we were oooh-ing and aaaah-ing so much I forgot to shoot any!!!
We made our way back through a large town called Darlington, and over to Barnard Castle and on to Cotherstone and our cottage. We got about 8 new hen's eggs from Peter and Ann's "wash-room" building where they put the newly laid eggs each day, and we came home and made scrambled egg on toast for supper, accompanied by some lovely Wensleydale cheese we'd picked up at Barnard Castle. Margaret and I had a lovely Yorkshire tea after supper, watched a little telly, wrote out some postcards and then decided we'd go out for a little walk 'round the estate. We found a bench out in the back field and sat there til the sun went down...just chatting about everything under the sun. It was a lovely day!
Tomorrow promises to be a corker - we are going to drive to the east coast, to Skelton, to meet up with our cyber-friends, Don and Jean Burluraux, for a day out in the North York Moors with them! Should prove exciting!
Can't wait to meet them!
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