During the early 2021 lockdown I decided to organise myself a "proper" tour of Yorkshire. By this I mean that I would stay in different locations closer to where I wanted to take photographs rather than stay in one location and do more driving. I therefore booked one night stays at The Travelodge in Harrogate, the Travelodge at Scotch Corner and a Premier Inn on the outskirts of Hull. Given that not many people were booking hotels at this time the total cost was £109 for three nights, a bargain!
Day 1 was to start at Malham and I set off reasonably early. Keeping my eyes open for a motorway services with a Greggs I pulled into Knutsford Services. There was quite a queue at the Greggs counter but, rather than being sensible and going elsewhere, I decided that if I was going to queue my purchases should make the wait worthwhile so I ordered 2 sausage baps together with coffee and some rolls and cakes for lunch. This was a mistake, whilst one sausage bap may not be quite enough two is too much, but then it's not right to waste good food so I ate it anyway!
Arriving at Malham the National Park car park was almost full but I secured a place and paid for a days parking. Setting off along a route which I now know quite well I was pleased that the sun was out, on my previous visit it had been wet. I took a few images of the stream beside the path which eventually leads to Janet's Foss where I stopped and took several images. I then set off for Gordale Scar, took some images and returned past the tea van where I decided that the queue was too long for me to join. I set off up the hill and carefully picked my way over the top of Malham Cove and down the long flight of steps on the other side, taking images as I went. Returning to the car park I was glad that I had purchased my lunch at Greggs!
I didn't have a firm plan for the rest of the day but decided to proceed to Harrogate via Grassington where a lot of the Channel 5 version of All Creatures Great and Small is filmed, I'm not sure if the locals are pleased about this or not, unless of course they rely on the tourist trade for a living, because it was very busy and more "touristy" than I remembered. I had a quick stroll around but didn't come across anything worth photographing.
Returning to the car the pull of the Winter Gardens in Harrogate (a Weatherspoon's pub) was getting stronger so I made my way to the Ginnel car park which is next to both the Travelodge and the Winter Gardens and paid up until 10:00am the next day. Using one of my CAMRA (Campaign For Real Ale) discount vouchers I procured a pint of Doom Bar for £1.49; it was such good value that I ordered a second! After checking into the Travelodge I made my way to Catch, my favourite fish restaurant which was formerly Gravelley's, for haddock and chips and a pint of something obscure the name of which now escapes me.
Dat 2 was planned as a "waterfall day" but first I headed back to the Winter Gardens for a Full English but not, please note, the large version! Checking out of the Travelodge I set of for West Burton and the Cauldron Force. I took several images but there wasn't a lot of water coming over the falls, a scenario which would repeat itself numerous times during the day. I then moved on to Aysgarth where there was hardly any water coming over the Upper Falls so I decided not to venture further down the river and set off for Swaledale. On the way I made a small detour to Hardraw. Whereas the entrance to Hardraw Force used to be through the Green Dragon Inn there is now a proper Visitor Centre at the rear of the pub with some limited parking. I made my way to the falls but again there certainly wasn't a torrent coming over the top! From here I made my way to Keld via the Buttertubs Pass and parked up in the farm yard. I made my way down to East Gill Force (pictured above) and took some nice images of the main falls and some of the smaller falls down stream. There did appear to be more water here. Retracing my steps I moved on to Wain Wath Falls where again there was a dearth of water although I still took some images. By now I was getting thirsty and being only 3 miles from the Tan Hill Inn there was only one thing to do, so I drove there, parked up and had a pint!
I then set off for Richmond where I planned to take some pictures of the falls on the River Swale although I first had to get some provisions including a couple of pies from the Proper Pie Shop; they are delicious! There was a reasonable amount of water coming over the falls but it was not as colourful as on my previous visit presumably owing to there being less peat in the water. I took several images and walked back up the steep hill to the Market Place where the car was parked and set off for Scotch Corner. I've stopped in this Travelodge several times before but its fair to say that its getting a bit run down, but for £35 I couldn't complain especially as the receptionist told me that it was fully booked and the current rate was £130 per night! Dinner consisted of my pies and a few other bits and pieces in my room.
Day 3 was to be a visit to the east coast but first I headed to the on-site Greggs for the obligatory sausage bap and coffee, I also procured some provisions for lunch. I then set off for Staithes, quite a drive but nothing like as far as it is from Harrogate which is my usual "base". I parked up and the weather was looking good but I hadn't planned on the tide being out! Given this minor set-back I decided to give the steep slog up to my usual vantage point a miss and walked down to the harbour and out onto the beach where I got a couple of nice images of some boats. From here I set off for Whitby and parked up in the large car park by the side of the river. I decided to climb the famous 199 steps from the town to the Abbey ruins and, once at the top, thought that even I wasn't tight enough to miss out on going into the Abbey Grounds for the sake of something like £11. I was glad I went in as I got some lovely images of the Abbey with its reflection in the adjacent small pond before having a quick walk around the Visitor Centre. I walked back down the steps to the town, collected my lunch from Greggs and back to the car. My plan was to go to Robin Hood's Bay but I had to abort this visit as the car park was full. I was now in need of some fuel (for the car, not me!) and so on searching the sat nav I set off for Sainsbury's in Scarborough, stopping to eat my sandwiches on the way. With the fuel tank full I set off for Flamborough Head, little did I realise that I had filled up just in time as the fuel shortage was about to bite!
Arriving at Flamborough Head I parked up and set off along the coast path. This was probably the best part of the trip as I suddenly spotted numerous seals basking on rocks just off the shore. Using the longest lens setting on my Panasonic compact camera I got some half decent images and I spent quite a while watching them. I also got a couple of nice images of the coastline and the lighthouse. It was now time to head for my final stopover on the outskirts of Hull but on the way I made a short detour to North Landing where I got a couple of nice images of boats. It was then off to Hull and the Premier Inn where I paid for the meal deal entitling me to dinner (including a pint) and breakfast in the adjoining Beefeater.
After a nice Premier Inn Full English I set off for my final destination on this tour, the Humber Bridge. On paying my toll I crossed over and could see down to my left where I thought I needed to get to, luckily there were also brown tourist signs directing me to a free car park at the viewpoint. Here I bumped into a fellow photographer who directed me to an even better viewpoint a couple of hundred yards away. I took several reasonable images and set off for home, arriving early in the afternoon. All in all an excellent few days of photography. Images from the tour can be found in the Yorkshire Gallery.