Friday 19 September - York to London

A vintage tile map of the North Eastern Railway (1919?).  These tiles are now being produced again and sold to collectors.

There was plenty of time to get to the station to catch the train to London. It had come from Edinburgh, next stop London. A 40 year old diesel that provided an uncomfortable rough ride. It seems amazing that a diesel should be used when there are wires all the way. This is not environmentally friendly transport.

First class meal on East Coast Railway.  Fine dining it ain't.  Hate to think what economy can be like.

We had plenty of time to have lunch and a drink at the Parcels Yard in Kings Cross before taking the Underground to the Millennium Gloucester hotel close to Gloucester Road. My cell phone is picking up a strong enough signal through the window that we will not need to pay for wi-fi

Kynace Mews, close to the hotel, is an island of calm in a busy London

Thursday 18 September - York, Mansion House and Railway Museum

 

The Mansion House, the Lord Mayor's official residence, was open for guided tours.  The guide was excellent. He really knew a lot and was able to present it in an amusing fashion. Unfortunately no photography was allowed. The ground floor room was for the lower orders and not nearly so well appointed as the upper floor which was decorated for the senior people including royalty. In the past, as today, the powerful politicians were able to line their pockets and give favours to their friends. There were also some illustrations of dumb decisions made by city council.  A beautiful, graceful curved arch bridge was built across the river. Unfortunately the arch was too steep for coach horses to pull a coach over so all stage coaches had to stop, to allow the passengers to get out and push the coach over the hump.

Lunch was at Jamie Olivers.  We started with a vegetarian platter and pork scratchings while the main was Rabbit risotto and pan fried sea bass.

Posh Pork Scratchings

 Afterwards I went to the Railway Museum while Mary went home to pack. Not much has changed since I was at the museum a couple of weeks ago although I was pleased to see that the bell on King George V had been polished.

I had my picture taken in front of 2500 which I fired when at Shoeburyness

The bell looks much better now that it has been polished

Before polishing the copper band around the chimney/stack I always ensured the blower was off - and I hoped that a "friend" didn't reopen it and get soot, steam, smoke and hot water in my face.

The Rocket replica looks good from this side but it has been cut away on the other side.

Tomorrow we leave York for London.  Our stay in the Shambles has been a great success and has, if anything, exceeded our expectations.  We went to our two favourite pubs, the Blue Bell and the Olde Starre Inne.

At the Blue Bell I had a pint of Timothy Taylors Landlord, an all time favourite. While we were in there a short woman came in and nudged up to the bar.  She said she didn't know anything about beer and didn't drink it, pointed to one pump and asked for a taster.  She asked the fellow next to her what he thought and he said it was good.  She ordered a half and asked the barmaid how much she  was allowed to drink.  She then said she had difficulty in making friends, pointed out that she was only 4 foot 10 inches and was 33 but most people thought she was just a student. Two women at the end of the bar, regulars, looked at each other and rolled their eyes as it was obvious she was trying to pick up a man.

Things were quiet at the Olde Starre Inne where I had a Westerham Brewery Pale Ale.  I managed to score the last packet of scratchings.
  

 

Wednesday 17 September -York, Goddards Gardens

Breakfast today was at Bills where a lemon placed upon a table indicates that it is reserved.
Goddard's Gardens is a National Trust property near the racecourse. The house is the former home of the Terry family of chocolate fame.
The house looks severe from the outside but the rooms are very comfortable.

The garden is extensive and well maintained with views out on to the racecourse.

 

The garden was supervised by a guard sheep and a killer rabbit

The only chocolate now sold under the Terrys name is made in Poland.
We took a short cut across the racecourse and passed the old Terrys factory to the river.
Rowntree Gardens are a reminder of another York connection to chocolate. They are quite extensive but are overrun with geese.

Rowntree Park Dovecote

At Rowntree Park the Ice Cream vans have greater priority than invalid parking

On the river quay

Back at the Shambles I went for a glass of succor at the Blue Bell. This particular succor turned out to be Timothy Taylors Landlord.
A couple from Pontefract came in with a dog. The barmaid asked if they would like some water for the dog.
" Well he doesn't drink much water really, coffee, tea and beer but he rarely touches water."
And so the poor doggie had none.

The exterior of the Blue Bell is not pretentious. The can does dual duty.  It is hung out to indicate when the pub is open and it is for cigarette buts.  The window sill acts as a convenient shelf to place drinks.

The one bar has just two tables 

This is the Smoke Room, no smoking now, looking towards the back of the bar.

Tuesday 16 September - Bridlington

The original York station signal box has been turned into a coffee shop

We came to Bridlington by train changing at Seamer which has an island platform in the middle of nowhere. There was a flock of wagtails in the high hedges eating the large numbers of red berries. Some of them were performing acrobatic feats to get at the berries.

Station concourse

Bridlington station ticket window.

The station concourse

Bridlington station was quite a surprise. The booking hall area is covered in and contains a riot of flowers. The actual booking office is a well preserved old style one with metal separators topped by wooden shelves.

Bridlington has seen better days. It bills itself as an old time experience and possibly nothing has been altered in many years except prices. There are many vacant store fronts and most places could do with a good clean. A sign of the seaside resort is the number of large conveniently situated public conveniences.
Rags provided a good lunch, dressed Bridlington crab then steak pie/seafood plate.

The restaurant also provided a passable Wold Top Anglers Reward pale ale.

View of the harbour from close to the Rags restaurant.  The restaurant windows were in need of a good clean.

The sandpipers were very busy searching the weeds in the pots for food.

There was a fair bit of activity around the harbour with many seagulls, but also sandpipers and ducks. We had a soft ice cream and made our way through the amusement arcades and fairground rides towards the north beach. The sand is quite good but you have to go some way to get to the posher part with nice flower beds and a lack of stalls selling fast food. 

As at Whitby and Scarborough a pirate boat was giving rides

Anything to get people to part with their money

There seemed to be a lot of people with mobility chairs. Many women had coloured their hair occasionally at random. Is this a local fad or some charity stunt?
Click here to see all pictures taken at Bridlington
We caught the train back via Seamer but went through to Scarborough which is a more pleasant place to transfer. It was possible to see a little more than when we came in. The fog had turned into mist and the visibility had improved so that we could see all along the white chalk cliffs to the north.

Monday 15 September - Mary's Birthday

The view at The Star in the City overlooking the river Ouse and the museum gardens in York.

 

The Veuve Cliquot champagne.

Aaack, they ran out of New Zealand Sauvignon blanc! Nil desperandum, they had a lovely bottle of Sancerre.

Bread was served in a flat hat.

Seared sea scallops with Yorkshire pork cheek with cauliflower purée & Picallilli vinaigrette.

 

The mains. Risotto of local estate shot red legged partridge, braised chestnuts, wilted curly kale, Wensleydale cheese & truffle oil.

Duck with chip shop chips & wilted spinach.

 

A surprise birthday platter of mignardises.

Honeycomb ice cream & lemon thyme & honey ice cream. (Oops, started eating it before remembered to take picture).

Cheeseboard of local cheeses. (One piece already eaten).

Topped off with a decaf cappuccino.
Then we literally staggered home from this awesome meal

 

Monday 15 September - Shildon

Keep looking up.  Decoration on the Starbucks coffee shop in the Lendal

Today's forecast was for rain and, even though it is Mary's birthday, we agreed that I would go to the National Railway Musem at Shildon leaving her free to go shopping etc., at York.
I caught a train to Darlington where I changed to a two car pacer to Shildon. After Darlington we were on the route of the first public railway with steam haulage, the Stockton and Darlington of 1825. In spite of the long industrial heritage of the area we were soon in fields of sheep with coveys of partridges.
The museum is a little walk from the station with the collection building at one end of a short running line and some historic buildings at the other.
The collection building is purpose built and pleasant to walk through. However, it suffers from the problem of several long lines of locomotives and it is difficult to get back far enough to see them properly. Just after I walked in there was a public announcement to evacuate the building. None of the staff took any notice and it seems it was merely a test of the system  

This GWR pannier tank was in the workshop area.   I remember standing on the flat top of one of these taking water at Reading Low Level, holding down the chain to take water and getting completely soaked in the process

A fireless locomotive.

A Stockton and Darlington Railway passenger coach, patterned after a stagecoach.

Several historic locomotives were on display, the most interesting to me being the GWR 2-8-0 and a GWR 0-6-0 pannier tank, both of which types I have worked on. The exhibits are not all identified, many locomotives being identified merely by a large luggage label. I personally would not have included a few coal wagons or BR  rolling stock but that is a matter of preference.
The really interesting part of the display was at the other end of the line which has coal staithes, stables used by the horses on the original railway, an early goods shed, the first industrial building in Shildon, Timothy Hackworth's house and the Sans Pareil, Hackworth's entry for the Liverpool and Manchester Rainhill locomotive trials.

The Goods Shed

The Sans Pareil.

Early chauldron waggons

First industrial building in Shildon

Timothy Hackworth's house.

It is a peaceful area now. Waiting for the train to Darlington I could hear a parliament of rooks, a murder of crows, a magpie and some robins.

The rain was light at times

The tranquility of Shildon was shattered by the crashing and banging of a Pacer, the train everyone loves to hate, as it crashed and banged its way over the poor track to and from Darlington.

Click here to see my pictures from Shildon