Pickering to Whitby by steam train

It was so misty when we got up yesterday (Monday) that we could not even see across the green but by the time we had driven to Pickering seven miles away it had turned into a beautiful sunny day.

In Pickering we walked through the market along the main street and then visited the Beck Isle Museum of Rural Life. This museum has a most interesting and eclectic collection of items from everyday life during the last two hundred years. I loved the 1930s pharmacy and grocers, the display of women's outfits from the 1930s to 1960s and the toy collection. Ian was fascinated by an old printer's works and by the photography of Sydney Smith of local scenes and characters in 1920s.

The Grocer's

At midday we caught the North Yorkshire Moors steam train to the seaside town of Whitby where we had fish and chips for lunch before climbing 199 steps up to the ruins of Whitby Abbey on the headland above the town. As we walked around the site, we enjoyed an audio tour which brought the story of the monastery and its decline to life.

Whitby harbour with the bark Endeavour

Whitby Abbey ruins

Our last stop in Whitby was the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. This was in the house where James Cook lived as an apprentice seaman from 1746 to 1749 and it contained lots of interesting artefacts and displays about his life and achievements, including original correspondence.

We caught the 5.30pm steam train back to Pickering where we did a quick change of clothes in the car and drove to the Star Inn in Harome for dinner. This is the only Michelin star restaurant in Yorkshire and we were not disappointed. The meal was delicious and the service was friendly and helpful. Ian had a chicken and bacon pie with mustard-seeded mash and I had turbot served with braised oxtail and cockles. Our desserts were apple and rhubarb crumble with damson icecream for Ian and a dark chocolate knickerbocker glory (icecream parfait) with honeycomb for me.

My main course - delicious!

The drive back to Coneysthorpe was more exciting than we would have liked though. Driving on narrow unfamiliar roads in the dark is not much fun but when the GPS navigation takes you to the wrong location and insists that you are in the right place it adds a whole new dimension. When I finally convinced it that we wanted to be somewhere else, it led us up a narrow track until Ian decided it was too rough to keep going and did an amazing job of turning the car without hitting anything or getting us bogged. We were quite relieved to get back to Coneysthorpe eventually and creep up the stairs without waking our hosts!