Holidays - Week 7

Paddling in Austwick Beck

So, after Steph and John telling us that they had filled loads of ice cream tubs with blackberries over the weekend we thought we would go for rummage along our favourite blackberry lanes.  So, we headed over to Austwick and had a look...bad pickings...so bad we literally only found 8!  We ate them!  We found ourselves up by washdubs, so we had a break there, whilst Tom went for a paddle.  We then decided to explore some lanes that we hadn't yet been up and very much enjoyed them.  Crummack Dale is very unspoilt - it has one farm in it and that is it.  You can get to places where you look around and you could easily not know what year were are in - with no sign of anything modern, no electricity lines etc - just old shepherd barns dotted around the fields.  I like places like that.  Still no blackberries though.  Anyway, it was a lovely walk, and we discovered other walks radiating out from the bottom of the valley which we will explore!

Tuesday - our last treat of the holidays...a Bibby's trip to Whitby.  Bibby's are up and operating again, but at 50% reduced capacity - so there is an empty row between each customer.  You wonder if they manage to make money on them as a result - but I guess to break even whilst paying your staff is better than not running trips at all and laying off staff.  We wanted to support them and decided to go on their trip to Whitby - although it is in the same county as Ingleton, it is miles away and not an easy drive, much better to get someone to do it for you and to sit back and enjoy the views.  It was an early start, think the coach left Ingleton at 7.30.  It picked up at Austwick, Settle and Skipton.  It was a beautiful day, bright sunshine all the way which was a good sign.  We were almost the youngest on the coach, there was a mum and a 5/6 year old daughter and us, everyone else was 70 plus!  Not sure why families don't use them more - it was £22 a ticket.  If we were to do it ourselves, we probably would have had to stay overnight which would have cost more than £66 and we would have had to drive, pay fuel, eat out etc etc, so really it is a bargain.

We stopped at Thirsk on the way over, it was a break for tea and a bun, but we really didn't want to sit down having been cooped up in the coach for a couple of hours, so we just looked around.  A nice looking town, this is the town where James Herriot worked as a vet.  I would say only about half of the shops were open - Covid has had its effect!  We found a bakers, bought a pastry each and ate it in a park with some ducks and a river.  Then back to the coach for the rest of the journey. 

We arrived in Whitby around 11am.  We had decided this time that we would explore the seaside part of town, especially as it was so sunny, and hot.  The town was packed, very little space to social distance.  We looked around a couple of souvineer shops, Tom got himself a new spade, looked at the boat trips available and then decided to head for fish and chips.  Matt had got a recommendation from Malcolm as for the best chippies in town - the restaurants were fully booked, but the take aways had queues that were moving.  After telling Matt what we wanted, Tom and I went for a quick explore to find where to eat it. 

We found the beach and there was plenty of space on it - perfect.  We returned just in time for Matt to put his order in and then we headed to the beach.  We settled ourselves in.  Fish and chips were very good. 

Tom then got to work digging holes and then he decided to try the sea out.  I went with him.  I bravely put my toes in - OMG, my foot immediately started to ache it was soooooo cold!  Tom...well top went right in...to his neck!  Yes he is mad! I couldn't quite believe it!  Oh hum, whatever makes you happy?!!!!!  We played on the beach for a while, until we realised that the beach was beginning to disappear, the tide was coming in, and coming in quickly.  We decided it was best to leave before we all got wet.  

We thought it would be fun to go on a boat ride, so chose the most tacky, pirate looking one and had 20 minutes quickly going up and down the coast.  Just a bit of fun.  Then into the amusements to lose £1 of 2ps each - didn't take long!  We then found a good looking ice cream stand (selling Cornish ice cream?!) and got one each before walking up the Khyber Pass to the cliffs overlooking the sea (there was no beach at all by now), with the whalebone, a statue of Captain Cook (he was from a village nearby).  We then ambled back through the town, stopped in the co-op to get some snacks and drinks for the way home (Bibby's had given us the back seat, Matt had his bottle opener) and got to the coach exactly at the time we were told to return (we were the last back - but we weren't late).  We then had a very pleasant ride home.  Didn't get back until about 8pm, it was a long day, but we had a good fun, traditional beach day in England in the sun.  In fact we all got a bit of a tan!  Can't ask for more than that!

Wednesday was the last day for the boys (Tom, Luca and Ethan) to meet up to play cricket, so they did, think they were at it for about 2.5 / 3 hours!

Thursday was our wedding anniversary - 16 years - and for once we weren't on a plane or jet lagged, so we decided to head into Lancaster and find somewhere nice to have lunch.  We decided on The Sun Inn, where we have always had good nosh in the past.  We weren't disappointed, Tom had sausages and mash, Matt a chicken burger, me a veggie curry.  It was all very nice, but it was the first place we had been to where staff weren't wearing any form of face covering which un-nerved me, felt exposed.  Anyway we enjoyed ourselves despite that.