Skip to main content

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!







Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Potes and environs

Potes is a bustling town that’s clearly ‘in the mountains’ but isn’t quite a mountain town. Well that was what we thought until we went for a walk. More on that later. First we got to know the site ( Camping La Viorna ) and the neighbours. After the squeeze of the first night near the pool, we were upgraded to a pitch at the end of the lowest terrace which had a superb view of the eastern massive of the Picos. So although this was still a squeeze pitch, somehow we felt good about it. The ‘squeeze’ happened later in the day. ☺️ Happily our immediate neighbours were quiet Dutchland people who like to eat their tea early and retire in good time. They always enjoy taking to us Brits, rather than those Germans and soon I was engaged because I was asked a question. “Why do you have a UK flag on your number plate, rather than a Welsh Scottish or English flag?”. Tricky! I explained that England isn’t a country like Wales or Scotland. They have their own  parliaments and make rules for them...

First views of the Picos

 Santillana del Mar comes as a surprise to those of us that haven’t done the prep and read about this place. Fancy having planning controls going back to the 16C. when you have such amazing stone buildings. This town is a tourist town certainly but it’s thoroughly deserved. Beautiful sturdy Cotswold stone coloured buildings are everywhere. The stone quoins, lintols and supports are impressive but there’s plenty of substantial hefty cross sections of wood too. We wander the streets, looking at the wares aimed at us tourists but encounter cascades of water from the roof tiles. It’s raining and there are no gutters! The bar is welcoming and we cleverly order dos cañas de cerveza  having learnt this glass size from a bartender in Tenerife. We are rewarded with a plate of crisps too and settle on the bar stools, wondering whether to eat here. Unfortunately we discuss this for too long and the tables fill and we are left on the bar stools until we decide to wander again. Inside...

Lago del Valle

Continuing the walking theme, the next day we drove up another of the five valleys that connect with Pola de Somiedo, to get to a suitable start point. This was just below the last hamlet, Outeiro which is at the end of the tarmac. The intention was to walk from there, up to the corrie / cwm of Lago del Valle. The snag of the day was that as we set off to drive the narrow steep road up the gorge from the campsite, we immediately caught up with a full size concrete lorry, This was making its way to that last village and el driver was  not in a mood to pull over. So we had time to look at the gorge-that-becomes-a-high-valley. It’s hard to describe these landscapes. They are severe, incredibly scenic, remote and completely unspoilt. They are also so near the ferry ports of the coast that only £800 separates them from more campervan travellers from Great Britain (& Northern Island). We started the walk and soon saw the concrete which had already been dropped for the pad of a build...