We said goodbye to Leith & Scotland last Wednesday
& travelled to Robin Hood’s Bay near Whitby, where we were booked to stay
in a B&B for two nights. On the way we stopped at Morpeth and had our first
cream teas with jasmine pearl tea – yum!
Next stop was Whitby, which was fascinating. It was full of
visitors as it was half-term holiday. The most popular spot, with people
queuing, was The Magpie Café, which
has a reputation for best fish & chips in England. As well as fish &
chips, it has a menu of 9 gins, lots of wines & lots of other options. We
must come back & sample the wares sometime.
Robin Hood’s Bay is like a smuggling village & we drove
from our B&B to the car-park before descending umpteen cobbled stairs in
search of dinner. The places recommended by Trip Advisor were closed, so we
went to the appropriately named, Smugglers,
where we enjoyed drinks & eats & finished with the best sundaes ever.
Our B&B had a great bed, plenty of lights &
mirrors, but very parsimonious hosts, who seemed to begrudge our use of
anything other than the bare minimum, and offered one of the most basic
breakfasts ever. We’re not sure they like having guests!
On our way to Torksey Lock, Lincolnshire, to visit Jeff
& Kev, we stopped at a wonderful farm store, The Whole Hogg, where the staff excelled themselves finding
suitable lunch offerings. We were sent on our way with carefully packed steak
& ale pie, vegetarian quiche just out of the oven, & Yorkshire curd, a
local delicacy for afters. We had already found a bottle of Mateus rosé to
accompany this feast.
Our visit was wonderful – Jeff & Kev had made extra
efforts which we really appreciated & we were able to sit up at the table
& share many stories & memories together.
Jeff with Karen
& Kev
Karen &
Wes with Kev
We were very sorry to leave, but had a long drive back to
Robin Hood’s Bay, where we could only fit in a drink with some fruit cake!
The next morning we were headed to Liverpool, where we
could check in after 4pm. So our first stop was Macclesfield, where we found
the Church of St Michael, full of Wes’s more noble relatives – Sir John Savage
4th through to 9th. There are effigies of all of them
& even a special chapel. Wes was very chuffed.
We celebrated with another cream tea at the delightful
Cherry Blossom café.
When we arrived at our AirBNB accommodation in Liverpool,
we were very disappointed. It was furnished with cheap items & reject stuff
from the grand house – one of the worst places we have ever experienced. We
were pleased to escape to a lovely Thai restaurant, ChaBa ChaBa for a yummy
meal.
The next
morning we were up early to watch Winx break all sorts of records to win her 4th
Cox Plate & become the undisputed champion of Australia if not the world. We
had booked a Beatles walking tour, so caught a bus into the city (about 25
minutes) and found the meeting point before heading into a café on the Pier for
breakfast.
Amazingly these
statues are only a few years old – Liverpool was very slow to claim the
Beatles!
Our walk included a visit to the Museum, which was
featuring John & Yoko; The Cavern; Brian Epstein’s place of work; lots of
history of Liverpool, and an explanation of what it was like when the Beatles
met & formed their group.
Afterwards we had booked tickets to see an Alan Bennett
play The Habit of Art, starring David
Yelland. This is a play about the friendship between Benjamin Brittain & W
H Auden as shown through the eyes of a writer watching the rehearsal of his
play. All the actors were excellent & we were so pleased we saw it.
Overnight was the end of Daylight Saving in the UK, but we
were totally unaware of this & it was only when I was speaking to my
sister, Leanne, on Skype, that she pointed out it was 6pm her time, not 5pm as
I thought. Of all the places to get an extra hour, The Coachhouse in Liverpool would not have been in our top 100
choices!
Yesterday, we drove to Wales via Lyme Hall, an old stately
home, which was renovated extensively by another of Wes’s forebears, Thomas
Legh, who was a gentleman commoner, explorer & generous head of the
household. This was a wonderful experience & as we are National Trust members
in Australia, we gained free entry.
Wes in front of the
orangery – I think we could be getting one of these in our backyard in
Daylesford any day soon!
We then drove to Conwy, which has a famous castle, but they
were celebrating a weekend of food & wine & we couldn’t get within
cooee of the place. Instead we kept going until we reached our current
accommodation at Y Felinheli, where
we are much more comfortable & have been able to wash & dry our
clothes.
Last night we headed to La
Marina, a popular local restaurant & bar, which serves wonderful drinks
& small sharing dishes. The food was lovely, but I really enjoyed my Ophir
Oriental Spiced gin served with peppercorns.
Today we drove to the nearby island of Anglesey and did a
delightful tour of it. We headed to Holyhead & found an unforgettable café
called Holly Molly, which was full
of characters – both staff & patrons & did our best to get through an
omelette & a toasted cheese & bacon sandwich Wes said the hot chocolate
was the best of our trip so far.
We spent a couple of hours at Beaumaris Castle, which is an
UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is an unfinished castle ordered by Edward I in
1295. It is amazing that so much of it is still standing & that visitors
are able to walk the parapets, the internal stairs, visit the Chapel & inspect
the toilets & bedrooms.
Our last stop was to photograph the longest word in the
world (I assume) at the James Pringle shopping centre. The centre itself was a
real disappointment, but the word is great – not enough room for it today!
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