13th April Full steam ahead


First he did, then he didn't. Today he decided he did. So instead of just going to Goethland station in the middle of nowhere on the North Yorkshire moors to stand and watch a steam train go past, we went to Goethland station in the middle of nowhere on the North Yorkshire moors to get on a steam train for the short trip to Whitby.

As featured on the TV program, the North Yorkshire Moor Railway is one of innumeable heritage railway lines up and down the land, this one running from Pickering to the fish and chip capital of the north east coast, Whitby. And whilst there were options for those able to splash th cash and enjoy the entire trip in a restored Pullman carriage whilst devouring a three course meal, we went for the cheap option in a carriage that had seen better days. 

The route itself wasn't particularly spectacular and we seemed to spend almost as much time stopped at the two stations on route as we did actually moving but as TOM explained the spectacle of such railways is not neccessarily being on the steam train so much as standing for hours waiting to see a steam train go past.

As for Whitby, where several years ago we were blown along the seashore on route to seeing Mary Poppins, it was busy with the usual assortment of tat seekers and people willing to pay upto £18 for cod and chips; we baulked at the Wetherspoons prices being more than a pound dearer for ham, egg and chips than they were back in Scarborough.

But we managed to dodge the showers, avoided buying any s^$%e and even came back with two free plastic storage boxes, but that's a tale for another day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

6th May Olbia

Image
  A chance to stretch our legs today with our first port of call; Olbia, Sardinia. And it was a quick stretch too due to it being only a five hour stay. Up bright and early, so early in fact that the hot food at the buffet wasn't even ready to be served. Still it gave us a chance to watch the ship glide into port past a host of oyster/mussel beds, before performing a 180 degree turn to reverse into it's berth. A couple of short bus rides later and we were in downtown Olbia. But there an hour or so before anything appeared to open, the disadvantage of being early birds and something we don't seem to learn! Not that Olbia had a great deal to see or maybe if we had done the slightest bit of planning beforehand there might have benn but we didn't. It was pleasant enough but that's about it. It was pleasant enough but nothing special, indeed we were back on the ship after just a couple of hours ashore and then managed to sleep away most of th...
Read more

7th May Naples

Image
 I'm sure I've heard the phrase 'see Naples and die' suggesting that it is perhaps not the nicest location in the Mediterranean but if it's good enough for Diego Maradona fir a few years then it's good enough for me for 10 hours. Although the millions of tax free pounds he was paid might have eased his stay. By the time we got up, washed, dressed and up to The Kitchens, the rest of the ship were already there. Compared to the Marie Celeste of yesterday it was absolutely packed, presumably with people having breakfast before heading out on 8am excursions, our excursion was simply going to be the city of Naples itself as possible trips to Vesuvius, Pompei or the Amalfi coast would have been too much / tired.  So on a day when the weather initially seemed uncertain, we jumped aboard route A for the Hop on Hop off bus and headed out into the mayhem that is the Napoli traffic where it was every van, car and scooter for the selves. I think it's bes...
Read more