Tuesday 10th June Helmsley
– Stockton – Towns by the beach
Lex writes: The weather today was OK but tomorrow promises
to be better. So, we decided to leave our Scarborough visit until tomorrow.
Instead, after much indecision, our first stop was Helmsley. Of course, the
town features a ruined castle dating back to the Normans. The carpark cost a
reasonable £3.30, and we used our English Heritage cards to get into the castle
for free. Also, we got (free) audio guides from the visitor’s centre to use
while we walked around the place. The defensive bank was huge, followed by a
huge defensive ditch, then another bank and ditch. The owners sure didn’t want
to be attacked.
The gatehouse was still partly intact, but the chapel and
great hall have long since been demolished. No surprises for guessing that
Cromwell’s troops did much of the damage after eventually starving out the
Royalists. They even blew up one wall of the East tower, using much gunpowder.
The good news is that the defeated troops surrendered and were allowed to leave
unharmed.
The west range of the place was still just about undamaged. It housed the duke and his family in Tudor days gone by. Today it has a little furniture, and some quite good displays. Several cannonballs have been retrieved from around the place and were kept in an upstairs room in this range. There were a few ceramic jugs etc, and some weapons. Some of the original decorations and wall panelling also survive. Overall, it was quite interesting.
As soon as we finished the tour of the castle we headed for “Number 12” for lunch. The jacket potato with Coronation Chicken filling looked good, so I ordered two of them, and two teas. The potatoes were enormous. At first, I was glad because we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. However, after I had finished mine and left the café, I found walking uncomfortable.
We drove to and through Thirsk, and then turned north
towards Stockton-on-Tees. At the Tees barrier, we stopped for a walk. It was
quite a simple barrier, but next to it was a white-water sports training
facility. It had no water in it! The whole course had been built by the local
council in 1995. Today it looks unloved and unused – what a waste. The barrage
and bridge, however, are very impressive.
Robyn takes up the story: From there, we drove the few miles into Middlesbrough for a look. To be honest, we didn’t see anything very interesting in the parts of the city centre we drove through. Maybe it has hidden depths that we didn’t get to discover? Driving out, we could see that it’s very industrial, and has a huge port area, being at the mouth of the Tees River. We decided to check out the beach, and headed for Redcar, which was not exactly seaside heaven! There was a large sunken park next to the beach, containing a large pool area – still empty (am wondering if it’s sunken to block the wind, or the view of the many wind turbines, or both.) However, as we drove along to the next towns, Marske-by-the-Sea and Saltburn-by-the-Sea, there was real evidence that the Victorians had been there, and definite ‘I do love to be beside the seaside’ vibes! Saltburn especially had lovely looking beaches and a most impressive cliff facing it.
We continued southwards along the A roads and swung back into the beach roads from Sandsend to approach Whitby. The view was glorious as we drove towards it – the sky was blue, the sea was sparkling and Whitby definitely looked its best. We popped into the Sainsbury’s there to get a few things, filled up with diesel, then we were home by 5. As we’ve been annoyed by the lack of what Australians consider a muesli bar in England, I decided to make some in our well-appointed kitchen, so that’s what I did.
Since then, we’ve had tea (Cumberland sausages and mash
tonight) and Lex has gone for a walk. It’s 8 o’clock and the sun is still
shining merrily outside! Tomorrow, as Lex said, we are off for a day in
Scarborough.
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