Driving from Dalton-in-Furness to Pickering
Up at seven o’clock to get ready to leave. The swans were out on the pond to say farewell and a friendly duck joined them. No sign of the peacocks though. Joan returned last night so we did get to meet her. She thinks I have a California accent! I’m not sure there is such a thing, but it made her happy. We got everything packed and the house straightened. Jim opened the gate for us and we were off. Fortunately the GPS worked because my phone refused to load the map. I finally checked my phone settings and there was a 2 GB limit set. I turned it off and maps loaded immediately.
On the M6 near Killington Reservoir
Driving from Dalton-in-Furness to Pickering
Market Square in Thirsk
It’s a beautiful drive through the edges of the Lake District and then the North York Moors. We decided to stop in Thirsk for lunch at The Three Tuns where we’d spent our first night. It was not to be. Horrendous traffic into Thirsk on a market day and then we paid 3 GBP for three hours parking, walked to the pub to discover they had no water so the kitchen was closed. Next we discovered the entire town was without water and all the restaurants were either closed or serving cold sandwiches on paper plates. We walked back to parking and gave our parking ticket to a couple who had just arrived. Back in the car we fought our way out of town and started looking for lunch elsewhere.
*****
Whitestonecliffe Inn
About five miles down the road we spotted a pretty inn as we drove into Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe so we stopped at Whitestonecliffe Inn and it was a find. We sat in the bar at a round copper-topped table by the window in nice soft chairs with a roaring fire in the fireplace. We both got a seafood platter served on a plank with fried shrimp, baby shrimp salad, Cajun salmon and white bait with warm homemade bread. Terrific. Click here for the Whitestonecliffe Inn web site
Whitestonecliffe Inn
Whitestonecliffe Inn
Saltersgate, our Hungate Cottage for the week
We drove on to Pickering and arrived an hour early at the cottage we had rented. They welcomed us and let us into our huge, beautiful four-bedroom cottage with a private garden. We’ve met two other couples staying here and they are repeat customers. Walked up to a recommended restaurant and it wasn’t open so I telephoned from in front of the restaurant and made reservations for six PM. We walked around exploring and then stopped in Coop for groceries and walked home to unpack and relax for a while. Click here for the Hungate Cottages web site
Walked up to Willowgate Bistro for dinner and were very glad we’d made a reservation. It was lovely. We both got the maple-glazed duck breast with Dauphinoise potatoes and it was incredibly tender. Ed got the cheesecake and I got the fondant au chocolat for dessert . . . fabulous! With the bill they brought two small chocolates they’d made. Very dark chocolate to just melt in your mouth. Wonderful dinner in a lovely setting. (Willowgate Bistro, 46 Willowgate, Pickering YO18 7BE; tel: +44 1751 476300) Click here for the Willowgate BIstro web site
This featured blog entry was written by Beausoleil from the blog Beausoleil in England.
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