Hotel Indigo offered a quick check in and we were in our stylish room in no time at all. We were both ready for dinner, so we just dropped our baggage off, powdered our noses, and went out in search of a restaurant. 

We wanted to find a good “Welcome to Newcastle, England” restaurant. Looking at the map, we saw our hotel was on the edge of Chinatown. All the nearest restaurants that Aunty Google showed us were there. But we thought we would scout the area for alternatives. I was hopeful when walked through an area called Blackfriars. It’s a restored friary dating from 1239. There is now an expensive restaurant there, complete with white linen tablecloths, so we kept walking, wandered passed the traditional Chinatown archway, before finally coming to terms with Chinese food for our first meal and made our way back to Happiness 2, where we celebrated our arrival with a dinner of Sichuan Vegetables and Beef. A tasty morsel of English culture in every bite! At least they offered British beer. Jolly good of them.

The town greeted us with overcast, drizzly weather. It didn’t stop us from exploring, but it wasn’t the ideal weather for walking around. Of course, one should expect this when visiting in April, so we pulled on rain coats. 

The points of interest in Newcastle lie within the city center and a nearby area called Quayside. There’s a bridge going over the river that reminds me of the Manhattan Bridge as seen from Brooklyn. It wasn’t the bridge itself, but the view between the buildings. As I was admiring it and taking photos, I could hear Simon and Garfunkel’s song in my head.

Charlie tipped us off to the castle. It’s small, really small. As in, plan for 5 minutes and go on. It was, indeed, an unimposing building. If we weren’t looking for it, we may have passed it by. 

During this portion of our trip, we were staying in a castle, actually THE castle, Durham Castle. It’s now part of the university. When school is out, tourists can book a room. How many times can one say they have stayed in a castle? We couldn’t pass it up. Upon entering our room, located in the castle’s keep (the round tower in the corner of the grounds,) reality hit us. As exciting as it sounded, these were dormitory rooms, not spacious hotel rooms. The bed was tiny. 

The time came for Charlie and Angelica to board their train back to York, so we visited Hadrian’s Wall and Housesteads Roman Fort. After an hour’s drive through slow country roads, we arrived at the visitor center, where we walked 10 minutes to the museum and fort. With tickets in hand, we stepped out the door and into a sleet shower! This came fast. Fortunately, it also left fast–a few minutes later the weather settled down again. We strolled amongst the walls–what remained of them, of the ancient Roman fortress and even ventured a jaunt on the wall itself (it’s allowed) where we came across a geocache. Once back at the fort, I pulled my drone out and shot some video from a bird’s-eye perspective. It was really nice, and I was excited to see it on my laptop back home! By the time we reached the fort’s entrance, we found the gate locked and received a stern warning from the museum worker that the place was closed. Thanking her for the timely information, we climbed over the fence and, after another drone flight, made our way back to the visitor center. As we began the walk, the sleet returned, this time stronger. 10 minutes later, we were glad to be in the car where we could warm up.

Once I had safely escorted Kathrin back to our chambers, I headed out to the river for some evening photos. It was a worthwhile trip. I could get some good shots of the cathedral above the river before the storm clouds moved over the area. I arrived back in the room safe and dry for our final night in the castle.

The next morning, we said goodbye to the castle porter, a friendly chap, and headed to Ribblehead. To our dismay, we were met with detours and construction for several miles. We didn’t get to the viaduct until 12:15, so we had lunch first, at the Station Inn, a lonely guest house with a pub, where Kathrin had her favorite country pie and I had fish and chips. When our plates arrived, we were surprised to see how generous they were. These were Texas sized portions. Neither of us could finish, so we packed it up for dinner later. With doggie bag in hand, we first went to Ingleton to secure accommodations for the night. We found a place on Booking.com over breakfast called Mason Freehouse with 2 free rooms, but by the time we got there, they were gone. The hostess recommended another place, called the Pines, a bed-and-breakfast, that was just a couple of minutes up the road. The amiable man there had a room just waiting for us, which we gladly took. 

With that load off our minds, we headed to White Scar Cave, the area’s other big attraction, to catch their last tour of the day. Our guide claimed it is the longest show cave in the country. Our tour must have been between shows. Still, it was interesting. We followed the river that runs through the cave to a waterfall, the first feature of the walk. We continued for about a mile sometimes squeezing past narrow passages, sometimes past curiously named stalagmites and stalactites–like the Witch’s Fingers or the Devil’s Tongue, until we came to the Battlefield Cavern, a massive expanse and the end of the publicly accessible portion of the cave, so we turned around leisurely made our way back to the entrance. 

Now it was time to visit the place I had been looking particularly forward to, Ribblehead Viaduct. A picturesque bridge crossing a valley in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. We leisurely made our way to an information board at the foot of one arch, read a bit about its history, then began collecting the information needed for the virtual geocache here, afterwards I took some photos and made another exciting drone flight, with great video footage, before packing up and heading back to the Pines. 

I have mixed emotions about this place, to be honest. At one point, I stopped to take some drone video of a waterfall. I approached the primary subject above treetop level, got a good view of the falls, then backed away. My safety alarm bell went off, and I stopped and rotated the drone 360º to ensure it was safe to fly backwards, then repositioned the camera for the shot. So far, so good. Once the drone was back on my side of the river, I saw another area that was begging for a flyby. I lowered the drone and pushed it forward to capture the next video segment. I stopped and check that the way was clear, then proceeded with the flight. Suddenly I watched in horror the sight of my drone flying into a tree branch in the shadows and falling. My first thought was it may have landed on the opposite riverbank, so I ran down, took my shoes off, and looked for a place to cross the river. While scuffling over some rocks, I lost my footing and tumbled onto my back. That’s when Kathrin panicked and pleaded with me to give up on my efforts. I had another look at the remote control and saw that the signal it lost the connection to the drone. There was no way to locate it. Most likely, it had fallen into the river and floated away. I looked again, unwilling to accept that I had lost the drone and all the video I had taken during this trip. In the end, I had to accept that I would not get it back, so I put my shoes on and we continued the hike. I told myself to remain positive and enjoy the rest of the hike. My camera and all the photos were safely in my backpack. Three and a half hours later, we were back in the car and ready for lunch. 

We stopped at Mason’s Freehouse, where we shared a steak and ale pie and a delicious soup before driving on to Bolton Abbey, home to an active church and the ruins of a 12^th century Augustinian Priory on the banks of the river Wharfe.

The area of the Abbey is beautiful, there are stepping stones to cross the river and get a marvelous view of the ruins. After admiring the view, we crossed back over and went into the church where we met Bob, a nice older man who gave us a tour of the church. He was very knowledgeable about the history and also knew quite a bit about American history. He made the stop here really worthwhile, adding that special touch to the visit here.

Our next stop was York, where we spent two days with Charlie and Angelica. They gave us a wonderful tour of their town. We strolled down The Shambles, a former butcher street dating back to medieval times. It was the inspiration for Diagonal Alley in the Harry Potter films. Today, magic shops, a York Ghost merchant, and various other wizardry outlets have replaced the butcher shops that originally lined this street. Next, we wandered over to Barley Hall, a picturesque medieval townhouse hiding in a narrow, ancient alley. It has become a tourist spot and depicts typical life in old York. We didn’t go in, but there is one room that has a large glass section in the wall for passersby to get a glimpse. Eventually, we made it to the Minster. Some may call it a cathedral. I don’t know what the difference is. Entrance is chargeable, so we decided not to go in. We’ve seen enough cathedrals; we didn’t need to pay to see this one. Continuing through town, we then made our way to the city walls, where we could have a pleasant stroll at rooftop level and admire a panoramic view of the Minster. It’s an imposing sight! 

We really enjoyed our time in York, catching up with C&A, hearing about their plans to move into their new home in Aberdeen, etc. 

We soon came to Robin Hood’s Bay. A small, quiet town with just a single road for vehicular traffic leading to the bay. This road was so steep that Kathrin didn’t want to go back up, instead opting to walk. We almost passed this place up because we couldn’t find parking in the solitary public parking area, but after I circled the lot a few times a space opened up. Now we were free to explore this place, and we were glad we did. The name evoked images of pirates and smugglers, the narrow street and stone buildings adding to it. Sure enough, we learned that in the 18^th century this place was a popular entry port for smugglers bringing in rum, brandy, tobacco, tea and silk from Holland and France in the dead of night. Gangs would then deliver the contraband via a network of connecting cottages, underground passageways, and secret tunnels. We also hunted down a geocache that lay on a lookout point that offered a delightful view of the village, really showing how it is built on the side of a cliff. 

Armed with this knowledge, we began our tour of the town. Mother Nature welcomed us to Whitby with a rainbow. It was a spectacular sight as we walked towards the downtown area. Half a block later, as I was taking a picture of a church, a gentleman approached me on his way somewhere and asked if I got a picture of the rainbow. Friendly folks here!

Whitby’s fish and chips are not the only thing it’s known for. There’s also an Abbey ruin sitting atop a cliff on the east side of the harbor with a commanding view of the town below. As well known as the abbey is for its history, it is equally famous for its portrayal in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula. 

Bram Stoker was vacationing in Whitby at the suggestion of a friend. The idea of Dracula was already in his head when he arrived. He spent time here enjoying the sights and doing some research on shipwrecks. The town inspired not only the name of his villain but also several scenes in the book. You can read the full story here.

We wandered around town, finding geocaches and looking at the Dracula references in various shopfront windows until finally, it was dinnertime. Will The Magpie Cafe live up to its reputation? I’m going to find out! They had plenty of offerings, including two choices of fish and chips—with cod or haddock. To my surprise, the price was the same for either choice. In the states, haddock is much more expensive. I took advantage of the discount and chose the haddock. It was tasty, with a light, crunchy batter. All things considered, very good fried fish. Kathrin’s tagliatelle was ok, but not great. I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise in a fish restaurant. 

As we left the cafe, I turned around for a picture of the building, and just then a couple walked by and the man said we should go in, 

“They have the best fish and chips in the entire country!” 

“So we have heard, and we just tried it. It is indeed very good.”

Did I mention how friendly the people of Whitby are?