Goathland 30/10/12

We woke today to beautiful blue skies and sunshine - how long would it last, we were hoping longer than yesterday! When we arrived at the park last night it was getting dark so this morning we were able to see the lovely view from where the van was parked. The town of Whitby and the sea were just on the horizon and it was so nice to see!

We drove back into Whitby and parked our van and then enjoyed another walk through the streets that we had seen yesterday - except this morning we took our time as we didn't have to hide from the rain. The tide was out this morning and the lower part of the swing bridge was clearly visible, along with lots of boats  perched on the mud waiting for the water to return!

We had morning tea of a Latte and Coffee/Walnut cake in a tea shop above a jewellery store on the corner of a street that was coming to life. From where Michael sat he had a view out the window of a man who was loading the days supplies down into the cellar through a man hole - a sight not commonly seen at home.

We strolled back to the Co-operative Store and queued up in readiness for today's 'Heartbeat' day. We were joining a Vintage 'Heartbeat' Tour traveling in a beautifully restored 1958 Bedford SB3 Duple Vega Charabanc to the lovely moorland village of 'Aidensfield', the centre of Yorkshire TV's Heartbeat Country. The village is actually Goathland, which is just nine miles from Whitby and is the village featured in many of the scenes shot in the fictitious Aidensfield. When the bus arrived in Goathland we had an hour and a half free to explore all the familiar sites of this village which are well visited from Heartbeat fans from countries all over the world.

We started with 'Aidensfield Garage and Scripps Funeral Parlor. The garage under its present owner for over 35 years featured heavily in the 18 years of filming. The garage continues to use its workshop specialising in the restoration of Classic Motorbikes. The original Police Ford Anglic used in the show is stored at the garage and probably receives more attention from tourists than any other business in the area.

Next stop further down the road was 'Aidensfield Station' being Goathland Station and this is known as the 'celebrity' station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Not only was the station regularly used in Heartbeat, it also featured as Hogsmeade Station in one of the Harry Potter films.

The 'Aidensfield Arms' was our next stop. The interior bars and exterior were both regularly used in filming and there were many people enjoying a meal and/or a pint here. 

The 'Aidensfield Store and Post Office' were widely featured in the series. During filming the shop windows were dressed with 1960's products which were removed and replaced with a more modern selection of goods once the cameras stopped rolling. Today the stores are filled with gifts and souvenirs and the cafes/tea rooms do a roaring business from the tourists.

Other places visited were the 'Aidensfield Church', 'Aidensfield Police house', The doctors Surgery, Aidensfield Village Hall, all places that led double lives as they were used for filming and living by the people who owned them.

Given that filming of the series finished almost 2 years ago, public interest in this village certainly has not slowed down at all. The village obviously does quite well from the tourist trade. Being a huge Heartbeat fan, today was quite surreal seeing all the places where it had been filmed, clearly not everyone's cup of tea, however I thoroughly enjoyed the day. We rejoined the vintage bus again and headed back to Whitby where the tour finished. 

We ducked into the co-operative store to buy some supplies for dinner then back on the road for our journey back to York for the night. We returned to Naburn Lock for the night and after dinner of an egg, cheese and ham toasted sandwich we settled down for an early night. Tomorrow we are doing something that will be more Michael's scene, a visit to the York Air Museum which he is looking forward to. 

Whitby 29/10/12

We were in no real hurry today so after a leisurely breakfast we headed off from York and traveled further North to our next destination, arriving in Pickering at about 9.30. Pickering is an historic market town and the official gateway to the North York Moors National Park. We found a car park with heaps of open space in which to par the van then headed off to explore. The weather was lovely this morning, the sun even shone for a while which was a pleasant change.

Being Monday it was Market Day which was in full swing when we arrived. The Market stalls were lined along the full length of the street with lots of people, prams, dogs etc all enjoying the moment of sunshine. We wondered along and found a small alleyway where there was a flea market located, so in we went to see what wonders we could find! We did find a couple of treasures to add to our collection of souvenirs from our holiday.

Back out to the main street and towards the top, we found a cafe where the a table and chair outside in the sun was the perfect location for a Latte.

From here we wandered up behind the cafe and found a lovely church which is located at the eastern end of Market Place and dominates views of Pickering from all directions. 

We headed back down Market Place, past the market stalls and came across The North Yorkshire Moors Railway Station which is the longest steam railway in the UK. The railway and its rolling stock have been used in many movies and TV series - the most famous 'Harry Potter' and 'Heartbeat'. A steam train arrived into the station as we were there, which many of the people waiting there would have boarded and headed off to Goathland or Whitby!

We both thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Pickering today and we had our taxi driver to thank for the suggestion to stop here on our way through to Whitby!

By the time we got back into the Van it had clouded over and was looking like a very different day than it had an hour earlier.

We headed off on our journey to Whitby, which was the northern most destination of our UK road trip. The weather was very ordinary as we traveled through the North Yorkshire Moors to get to the seaside village and once we had parked the van, the rain had started!

 

It made wanting to get out and explore very difficult, but given that we are here, out we got and off we went. We headed over the swing bridge and made for a shop where we brought fish and chips for lunch and tried to shelter from the rain as we ate. This was followed  by a milkshake to wash it down then onto wander through the small streets  with a very similar feel to those in York.

As we walked, we came across 199 stairs which took us up to the Whitby Abbey and Church of St. Mary - the virgin, so up we went! It was worth the climb in the rain as the view of Whitby was simply amazing. Given that it was so wet, we decided not to go into the museum but had a quick look around the perimeter,  then headed back down into the village.

We went back over the swing bridge and then walked along to the Pier as the rain had finally stopped. Being a huge Heartbeat fan it was interesting to see this area in real life having seen it many times in the series.

On our way back towards the van, we stopped to see the bridge open and through came the Whitby Endeavor along the harbor. It was quite interesting to see the swing bridge in action, rather than just seeing photos of how it worked.

 It was getting on for 4pm by this time, so we made our way to the 'York House Caravan Park' where we booked in for tonight. Luckily we arrived when we did as the owners of the park were about to head home for the night. We were shown to our spot, hooked power up and quickly got the heating on as it was really cold, and yes, the rain had started up again. While we were in Pickering today we had brought a small quiche and cake which we had for dinner tonight, then settled in for an early night!