Photography Blog
Photography Blog
FIVE (OR SIX?) DAYS IN YORKSHIRE
15/08/2025
Day One. 10th August, the day following on from Fairport's 2025 Cropredy Convention, and we set out for five days in Yorkshire; one in York, two in Whitby and finally two at Thirsk. Whilst not strictly a photographic holiday I did manage to pack my 100mm-400mm zoom in anticipation of seeing some grouse on the North York Moors.
There was an inauspicious start to the trip when the Greggs at Donnington Services had somehow managed to run out of bacon so it was one sausage bap and one sausage and omelette bap. It was then on to the Novotel in York where we parked up and walked into the city following the (non-scenic) riverside walk (more on this later). Not much photography was undertaken but we managed to spend some time in the Golden Fleece (again) and finished up at Tabanco by Ambiente (again) for tapas. Returning to the Novotel and enjoying a drink on the patio the pursuit along the river bank to photograph a pleasure boat revealed the "real" riverside walk into the city which appeared to be much more picturesque than the route that we had taken!
Day Two. After a pleasant Novotel breakfast we set off for Whitby by way of Rosedale in the North York Moors. Despite it now being The Glorious 12th -1 day there were no grouse to be seen; perhaps they had sensibly gone into hiding! At this point it may be worth noting that I had made a minor (or possibly major) logistical error when booking this trip; it was both during the school holidays and Whitby is not only a popular seaside resort but we were arriving on the last day of the annual Regatta. At least I had taken care of one potential problem by booking a parking space at the Royal Hotel having found on a previous visit that the car park is inadequate if the hotel is busy, but that spaces could be reserved. On arriving at the hotel we located our space... already filled by another car, so we parked in another reserved space and got the receptionist to swap reserved notices so that it now appeared that we were in the correct space! A walk into town revealed that the place was indeed rammed and in addition there was a fun fair in full flow. Unperturbed we headed slightly out of town and found The Endeavour pub overlooking the harbour where we consumed a couple of drinks and a sharing platter. Nothing much else doing although I did get a half-decent image of the Captain Cook statue being dwarfed by the fun fair. Given that it was a hot day, we were on the top floor of the hotel and there was no air-conditioning or fan, it was a rather sticky night!.
Day Three. A quick peek out of the window revealed that the fun fair had completely disappeared; dismantled and departed overnight. A decent Royal Hotel breakfast was followed by a walk along the beach to Sandsend and a coffee in Tides Beach Shop before returning to Whitby. Although it doesn't look too far it is actually close to a 6 mile round trip. The sky appeared to be very hazy and there was a slight smell of smoke; it turned out to be the first signs of a fire on the moors (which would go on to burn / smoulder for almost a month!). Returning to the Endeavour for a couple of quick ones we thought that it would be rude not to take up their kind offer of allowing you to eat your fish and chips in the bar (they can't offer hot food but are happy to provide cutlery and condiments) so I was despatched to Mr. Chips (about 30 yards along the road) to collect 2 portions of fish and 1 each of chips, mushy peas and curry sauce; good but not as good as Van 66 in Cropredy! A few sunset images but not much else to report on Day Three.
Day Four. Mrs. M rises early and looks out of the window to be greeted by a glorious sunrise which she snapped on her phone through the window. She subsequently posted it on the Welcome To Whitby Facebook page where it was viewed a mere 228 times (a fact of which she keeps reminding me). Another decent breakfast and we check out but not before Mrs. M completes a quite scathing feedback form ("the shower wouldn't be out of place in a 1970's backpackers hostel”). To be fair the (new, I believe) owners are spending a fortune renovating the hotel but there is a lot still to be done (especially to satisfy Mrs. M). Eager to for at least a little bit of photography we call in at Robins Hood Bay en route for Falling Foss, a waterfall on the edge of the moors. Unfortunately the tide is in so our walk down the steep road to the slipway does not allow us onto the beach so it's a couple of images and a crawl back up the hill; Mrs. M is not over impressed. After a short drive we parked up at the Falling Foss car park - pay by phone - not a lot of use when there is no signal (although I did manage to "cough up" later in the day). I took a few images of Falling Foss without venturing to the foot of the falls, although by now the smoke was getting worse and the cafe owners told us that they had been forced to close their house windows despite the heat. A coffee and carrot cake and we set off for our final stop; Thirsk, but had to take a circuitous route as roads were starting to be closed because of the fire on the moors. Arriving in Thirsk Market Place Mrs. M is despatched to the hotel reception to establish how to get to the car park and a couple of minutes later we turn into the (wrong) car park but soon get our bearings and are parked up behind The Golden Fleece Hotel. First impressions are good but we are again in a room on the top floor but at least a fan has been left on in an attempt to cool the room down. When in Thirsk it would be rude not to visit The World of James Herriott which is based in the building where his veterinary practice was based and at £8.50 each not bad value for money. My first visit here would have been in the 1980's before the visitor attraction opened and it was a case of "poking about" to see where the famous vet worked. Crossing the road we popped into the Cross Keys Inn, a proper "drinkers pub" for a quick one before skirting round the town and back to the bar at the The Golden Fleece and then onto the Three Tuns, a Weatherspoon's hotel where a round, unsurprisingly, cost about 50% of that in the Golden Fleece. Back to the hotel for dinner and a reasonably early night.
Day 5. Unusually I had booked into the hotel on a "room only" basis giving us a few options for breakfast; £16.50 each in the hotel, about half of that in the Weatherspoon's or even less in Greggs which was about 2 doors along from the hotel - so Greggs it was for a couple of baps. Whilst in Thirsk Mrs. M wanted to see if we could find the farm which features in the TV programme The Yorkshire Vet: At Home With The Greens but as it turned out we didn't need to as the lady herself, Jean Green, wandered into the Greggs as we were about to leave. After a short conversation with Mrs. M she asked, in a broad Yorkshire accent, "Do you want a photo?" so I took a couple of images of Mrs. M and Mrs.Green but declined her offer of a photo of myself with her. We crossed the road and ate our breakfast on a bench in the market place; a reasonable start to the day. Without a proper plan the only thing to do was head for Swaledale so we set off for Reeth and then took the road over the moors towards Barnard Castle. There are very few grouse in evidence and although I take a few images none were worth keeping. We turn onto the A66 towards Kirkby Steven and then take the back road over the moors towards Keld. Arriving at the left turn for Ravenhead, home of the Yorkshire Shepherdess and her family. Mrs. M, who is in the drivers seat, stops to allow a black 4x4 to turn into the road up to the farm; it looks suspiciously like Reuben Owen who lives at the farm and also has his own TV show - 2 celebrities in one day, Mrs. M is a bit happier! We drive on with a few photo stops (including a mandatory one at the famous "barns view") and then pull into the Punch Bowl at Low Row (where we have previously stayed) for lunch. Returning to the hotel we enjoy a couple of drinks in the courtyard in the company of a motor-homer from Scunthorpe. Supper is a sandwhich from the near-by Co-Op.
Day 6. Another Greggs breakfast and we hit the road, stopping for a coffee at Greggs at Donnington before arriving home (albeit with 2 BMW instructed diversions due to heavy traffic). An enjoyable trip but not as good as the previous visit. I'll have to book another, avoiding peak season next time! There are a few images in the Yorkshire Gallery.
There was an inauspicious start to the trip when the Greggs at Donnington Services had somehow managed to run out of bacon so it was one sausage bap and one sausage and omelette bap. It was then on to the Novotel in York where we parked up and walked into the city following the (non-scenic) riverside walk (more on this later). Not much photography was undertaken but we managed to spend some time in the Golden Fleece (again) and finished up at Tabanco by Ambiente (again) for tapas. Returning to the Novotel and enjoying a drink on the patio the pursuit along the river bank to photograph a pleasure boat revealed the "real" riverside walk into the city which appeared to be much more picturesque than the route that we had taken!
Day Two. After a pleasant Novotel breakfast we set off for Whitby by way of Rosedale in the North York Moors. Despite it now being The Glorious 12th -1 day there were no grouse to be seen; perhaps they had sensibly gone into hiding! At this point it may be worth noting that I had made a minor (or possibly major) logistical error when booking this trip; it was both during the school holidays and Whitby is not only a popular seaside resort but we were arriving on the last day of the annual Regatta. At least I had taken care of one potential problem by booking a parking space at the Royal Hotel having found on a previous visit that the car park is inadequate if the hotel is busy, but that spaces could be reserved. On arriving at the hotel we located our space... already filled by another car, so we parked in another reserved space and got the receptionist to swap reserved notices so that it now appeared that we were in the correct space! A walk into town revealed that the place was indeed rammed and in addition there was a fun fair in full flow. Unperturbed we headed slightly out of town and found The Endeavour pub overlooking the harbour where we consumed a couple of drinks and a sharing platter. Nothing much else doing although I did get a half-decent image of the Captain Cook statue being dwarfed by the fun fair. Given that it was a hot day, we were on the top floor of the hotel and there was no air-conditioning or fan, it was a rather sticky night!.
Day Three. A quick peek out of the window revealed that the fun fair had completely disappeared; dismantled and departed overnight. A decent Royal Hotel breakfast was followed by a walk along the beach to Sandsend and a coffee in Tides Beach Shop before returning to Whitby. Although it doesn't look too far it is actually close to a 6 mile round trip. The sky appeared to be very hazy and there was a slight smell of smoke; it turned out to be the first signs of a fire on the moors (which would go on to burn / smoulder for almost a month!). Returning to the Endeavour for a couple of quick ones we thought that it would be rude not to take up their kind offer of allowing you to eat your fish and chips in the bar (they can't offer hot food but are happy to provide cutlery and condiments) so I was despatched to Mr. Chips (about 30 yards along the road) to collect 2 portions of fish and 1 each of chips, mushy peas and curry sauce; good but not as good as Van 66 in Cropredy! A few sunset images but not much else to report on Day Three.
Day Four. Mrs. M rises early and looks out of the window to be greeted by a glorious sunrise which she snapped on her phone through the window. She subsequently posted it on the Welcome To Whitby Facebook page where it was viewed a mere 228 times (a fact of which she keeps reminding me). Another decent breakfast and we check out but not before Mrs. M completes a quite scathing feedback form ("the shower wouldn't be out of place in a 1970's backpackers hostel”). To be fair the (new, I believe) owners are spending a fortune renovating the hotel but there is a lot still to be done (especially to satisfy Mrs. M). Eager to for at least a little bit of photography we call in at Robins Hood Bay en route for Falling Foss, a waterfall on the edge of the moors. Unfortunately the tide is in so our walk down the steep road to the slipway does not allow us onto the beach so it's a couple of images and a crawl back up the hill; Mrs. M is not over impressed. After a short drive we parked up at the Falling Foss car park - pay by phone - not a lot of use when there is no signal (although I did manage to "cough up" later in the day). I took a few images of Falling Foss without venturing to the foot of the falls, although by now the smoke was getting worse and the cafe owners told us that they had been forced to close their house windows despite the heat. A coffee and carrot cake and we set off for our final stop; Thirsk, but had to take a circuitous route as roads were starting to be closed because of the fire on the moors. Arriving in Thirsk Market Place Mrs. M is despatched to the hotel reception to establish how to get to the car park and a couple of minutes later we turn into the (wrong) car park but soon get our bearings and are parked up behind The Golden Fleece Hotel. First impressions are good but we are again in a room on the top floor but at least a fan has been left on in an attempt to cool the room down. When in Thirsk it would be rude not to visit The World of James Herriott which is based in the building where his veterinary practice was based and at £8.50 each not bad value for money. My first visit here would have been in the 1980's before the visitor attraction opened and it was a case of "poking about" to see where the famous vet worked. Crossing the road we popped into the Cross Keys Inn, a proper "drinkers pub" for a quick one before skirting round the town and back to the bar at the The Golden Fleece and then onto the Three Tuns, a Weatherspoon's hotel where a round, unsurprisingly, cost about 50% of that in the Golden Fleece. Back to the hotel for dinner and a reasonably early night.
Day 5. Unusually I had booked into the hotel on a "room only" basis giving us a few options for breakfast; £16.50 each in the hotel, about half of that in the Weatherspoon's or even less in Greggs which was about 2 doors along from the hotel - so Greggs it was for a couple of baps. Whilst in Thirsk Mrs. M wanted to see if we could find the farm which features in the TV programme The Yorkshire Vet: At Home With The Greens but as it turned out we didn't need to as the lady herself, Jean Green, wandered into the Greggs as we were about to leave. After a short conversation with Mrs. M she asked, in a broad Yorkshire accent, "Do you want a photo?" so I took a couple of images of Mrs. M and Mrs.Green but declined her offer of a photo of myself with her. We crossed the road and ate our breakfast on a bench in the market place; a reasonable start to the day. Without a proper plan the only thing to do was head for Swaledale so we set off for Reeth and then took the road over the moors towards Barnard Castle. There are very few grouse in evidence and although I take a few images none were worth keeping. We turn onto the A66 towards Kirkby Steven and then take the back road over the moors towards Keld. Arriving at the left turn for Ravenhead, home of the Yorkshire Shepherdess and her family. Mrs. M, who is in the drivers seat, stops to allow a black 4x4 to turn into the road up to the farm; it looks suspiciously like Reuben Owen who lives at the farm and also has his own TV show - 2 celebrities in one day, Mrs. M is a bit happier! We drive on with a few photo stops (including a mandatory one at the famous "barns view") and then pull into the Punch Bowl at Low Row (where we have previously stayed) for lunch. Returning to the hotel we enjoy a couple of drinks in the courtyard in the company of a motor-homer from Scunthorpe. Supper is a sandwhich from the near-by Co-Op.
Day 6. Another Greggs breakfast and we hit the road, stopping for a coffee at Greggs at Donnington before arriving home (albeit with 2 BMW instructed diversions due to heavy traffic). An enjoyable trip but not as good as the previous visit. I'll have to book another, avoiding peak season next time! There are a few images in the Yorkshire Gallery.
