Friday 12 September - Easingwold, Thirsk

Some of the buildings in the Shambles are set at odd angles to each other and horizontal.  They are all joined together so there is no danger of collapse.

York has no bus station but the bus routes and times through the town are carefully coordinated so that a small number of bus stops are conveniently situated to allow convenience and transfers. The Reliance #30 route bus leaves for Easingwold at Petersgate in a time slot for an 0930 departure. Arrival and departure were right on schedule, quite an achievement in this traffic.
I asked the driver if we could have stop off privileges on a day return but he recommended a day pass which allows hop on and hop off. I said "So we could get off at Alne".
He gave a look of horror.
" Yes, but why would you want to do that? I wouldn't recommend it".
Passing through Alne we could see what he meant. It has a church but there didn't even appear to be a pub. The harvest is in and the farmers have been busy and the air is filled with the sweet perfume of manure.
The bus filled up as we approached Easingwold and there must have been ten people getting off to swell the visitors to the small weekly market.

Buses from York and to York meet at the Easingwold Market

Our first port of call was a tea room for lattes. The place was full but there was very little turnover as every group was engaged in animated conversation. This seems to be the main occupation here - renewing acquaintances and chatting. Buying supplies seemed secondary. We sat on a bench later on waiting for the bus when a nurse in uniform cycled past and stopped when she saw another nurse. They chatted in the middle of the road for at least 20 minutes. I hope there were no emergencies to be dealt with.

Easingwold Market

There was a cheese monger who had a good selection of French cheeses as well as local ones, some unpasteurized. The librarian directed us to the Easingwold Station. We stopped in at the church yard and were amused to see a sheep grazing in the churchyard. It didn't like having its picture taken and hid among the gravestones and peered out at us.

All Saints Easingwold

The 1892 station is an enormous building for the railway company which only ever had 2 1/2 miles of track. The contractor was Death & Co. who went bankrupt before it was finished. It is now turned into residences having been a pub after closure of the railway.

Easingwold Railway Station

We took the bus on to Thirsk which is a little like Beverley, a cobbled parking lot with interesting buildings placed around the outside. We had lunch at the Golden Fleece with Black Sheep bitter and then took a walk around. There is a large church and a pleasant walk along by the river which had a lot of ducks.

Thirsk has a lot of pubs, restaurants and cafes in the centre.

We caught a double decker bus back to Easingwold (we were the only passengers) and changed there for the #40 bus which has a different route back via the large Nestle plant.

Waiting for the bus at the Easingwold Market

Click here to see all pictures taken at Easingwold and Thirsk.
At the Blue Bell there was immense activity around one of the two tables in the bar. It had been repaired around 1960 with a Formica like material and the securing tacks had come out. New tacks were secured and hammered in using a half-full pint glass. Discussion then changed to how much money we made in 1960, the price of beer at that time and the differing prices you paid for beer depending on which bar you used. "I wouldn't pay a penny a pint just for a carpet on the floor."

I tried an intriguing Brass Castle bitter which was billed as ginger and marmelade. It was a pretty good bitter beer.