Around Flamborough Head

Moving along the coast towards Bridlington, we found a tiny CL near Bempton. It wasn’t the first choice but it might as well have been. It is next to the railway station and is a 1.5 mile walk by road to the RSPB place at Bempton cliffs, so it is a very good base.

Here they say the Puffins are arriving from west Africa but all we could see were Kittiwakes and Gannets, already establishing their nests on cliff perches.

Gannets are the seabirds that are normally only seen at a distance, well out to sea and usually diving into the water from a good height and apparently at speeds up to 60mph.

Now they are circling in front of the cliff faces and occasionally dropping onto their spot. Hundreds of them, nicely avoiding the greater quantity of Kittiwakes. They are a beautiful bird, effortlessly soaring with their large wingspan.

I’m afraid that my iPhone camera is no match for the long lenses on show at the RSPB lookouts.

It was an almost freezing night but thankfully dry at last. The D2 heater was on all evening and the bright sky and cold woke us at 6:30 and we were on plan for an early start and a long walk to Bridlington.

In a stiff breeze from somewhere near Iceland we walked back to the coast path and turned east towards Flamborough Head. It’s quite a trek but at least the wind was almost behind us.

These cliffs are spectacular.

Turning towards Bridlington, we headed into the wind but instead of dropping as we expected, it got stronger and the next few miles were head down and push on.

Bridlington was a little busy but there was no queue at the favourite chip shop and we had a very late lunch.

Then onwards to the station for a 9 minute ride back on the 16:04 to Bempton. 

Shakedown t’Yorkshire

The York Clubsite is very handy for the city and after all our complaints about Clubsite prices, I think this one is worth it for that convenience. We paid £0 because the Club has a ‘one night free’ offer at the moment.

The Minster entrance fee is £18 each but is valid for 12 months. What a stupendous place.

The House of Trembling Madness does lovely beer and fantastic beef goulash. The wall above our head was adorned with various animal heads.

Then we went to Filey for some sea air. It was certainly bracing.

We had to brave a dip (in the weather) but still managed a long walk, some beer and fish and chips (inside).

This was a tin behind the chip shop counter. I had to ask what was in the tin. Apparently it’s the Saturday lottery box!

This is a lovely construction, known locally as ‘Finlay’ and was donated to Filey by a long time visitor from Scarborough. It’s a fisherman and is actually titled, ‘High tide in short wellies’, making “a powerful statement about the decline in the fishing industry”.

It’s a hollow construction, comprising hundreds of small steel panels that have been seam welded.

There’s a beautiful war memorial garden in the centre of the town. Not a weed in sight.

Filey Brigg is much more dramatic than I imagined

but the wind was too strong to venture on to it after we already walked 8 miles in the wind and rain!

These are the cliffs just to the north.

We stayed at the Filey Brigg Country Park caravan site. The weather has of course been so wet that no one is able to stand on the grass but luckily there’s several pitches with hard standing.

Walking is tricky too with extremely muddy paths and still standing water. This is a field standing alongside, not blocking it but still it’s higher than the track!

A couple of jobs before the next trip

I seemed to spend all of January, February and a lot of March, in the garage. Following the last trip, I did say that I’d sort a couple of issues. One was excessive engine oil ‘consumption’ and the other a drivetrain clunk.

I was perhaps not quite expecting to almost-but-not-quite-strip the engine but that’s what happened.

Very fortunately I have the old CRV with the side-hung rear door. This happily swallowed the block and I took it to Sheffield Engine Services for a cylinder bore hone.

Once back home it was fitted with new piston rings to all cylinders and plenty of care and attention.

Quite a few oil leaks were addressed and I hope that I can run-in the rings and get good ring fit to the bores. Only time will tell.

Then it was onto the clunk. I believe that this is from the rear axle. Unfortunately by prying yet again on the suspension mounts, I discovered that the brackets on the axle tube were crusty. This needed a purchase from YRM of lovely new ones and also a suitable welder to stick them on. They are quite critical items.

Axle tie- bar brackets:

Anti-roll bar brackets:

I found Swift Welding at Harpur Hill and Dan did a careful job of positioning the replacements and welding them in place.

What about the crown wheel, pinion and diff centre though? Well there was a lot of wear between the cross pin and the side gears. I opted to replace the Salisbury centre with a new Ashcroft ATB. That meant learning how to setup a Salisbury final drive.

After much work, including sourcing some precision parts from a local machinist, it was done. It was then a race to get things back together in time for the self-imposed deadline of a night away in York.