Northern England Road Trip: Yorkshire Dales, the Lake District and County Durham

Tracy and Doug take you through the Northern England leg of their recent trip: a route across County Durham, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District that blends driving, trains and small group tours. The idea is simple. Copy what worked, skip the stress, and let the small practical tips make the big scenery easier to enjoy.

In this episode:

• Picking up a hire car at Edinburgh Airport quickly via the tram, and why full cover takes the excess worry away
• Beamish Living Museum of the North: pit village life, period shops, the trams and a family history connection
• Planning Haworth around the steep cobbled hill, the right shoes, the car parks and Brontë Parsonage opening days
• A Yorkshire Dales loop taking in Ribblehead Viaduct, Dent station, Hawes and Wensleydale Creamery
• Finding "Darrowby" in Grassington for the All Creatures Great and Small filming locations
• Adding Malham Cove and Bolton Abbey, with a note on parking costs and access
• Switching from car to trains, including the Settle to Carlisle line and a York base right by the station
• Using Mountain Goat small group tours for the Dales and the Ten Lakes Spectacular to skip the driving and parking pressure
• Practical reminders: automatics, driving on the left, passing place etiquette and carrying coins for the loos

Got a question after listening, or planning a trip to the north yourself? Send us a SpeakPipe message, and please share the podcast with anyone planning a UK trip. If you've enjoyed the show, a review on your favourite podcast app really helps. Happy UK Travel Planning!

📝 Show Notes - Episode 208

Still planning your UK or Ireland trip?

Rabbie's small-group tours are a brilliant way to see more without the hassle of driving or planning everything yourself. With departures from cities such as Edinburgh, London and Dublin, it's easy to add a multi-day adventure to your itinerary. 

Have a look at their tours and any current offers on their website - Rabbies.com

Transcript

Northern England Trip Report Setup

SPEAKER_02 0:00

A living museum, a steam railway, the Yorkshire Dales of all creatures great and small, and a day tour in the lakes. This is the Northern England part of our recent trip with all the tips we've picked up along the way.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK travel planning website, Tracy Collins. Each week, Tracy shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation. Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Hi everybody and welcome to this week's edition of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Again, I have Doug with me.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Hello there.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

As Doug and I at the moment are touring the UK, it's a great time for us to uh jump on the podcast together and um share our experiences.

SPEAKER_04 1:00

Yeah, and what an experience we've had.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Yeah, we've absolutely having a fantastic time, and um, we know a lot of you love trip reports, so I guess this is our trip report. It is, that's right. Um, with our tips as well from our recent um exploration of northern England. Um so this bit was done mostly by car, so I think this will be very useful for those of you who are thinking about um driving. If you're not thinking about driving, however, we are going to be sharing some fantastic tours that we took, which will take sort of takes takes away from the driving aspect, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_04 1:29

Uh that's true. And just for anybody who knows me, I did manage to get some trains in on the way as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

You did, and actually we're going to be talking about the Scotland part of the trip, which we did actually before Northern England later this month. Um it's just that we wanted to talk all about Yorkshire, the Lake District, and a little bit what we did in County Durham. Um because it's very fresh in our memory. Because we're literally just we've just arrived back down south after after the trip yesterday. So we wanted to kind of talk about it and share it with you. Um so I said this bit is I'm gonna talk about the northern part of England, which is where I'm from, so it's always a joy to talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Um so I guess where the Scotland trip will end is where we were in Edinburgh and went to pick up the hire

Hiring A Car In Edinburgh

SPEAKER_02 2:13

car. So did you want to just talk a little bit about picking up the hire car, Doug?

SPEAKER_04 2:16

I will do. Um we arrived back into Edinburgh Waverley Station and we actually stepped across and we caught the tram to the airport, which is one of my YouTube videos. Everyone who wants to look at how to catch the Edinburgh tram. So it's very easy. We caught caught the car? No, we don't catch the car, we hide the car from Edinburgh Airport, which is so straightforward because he's straight out of there, and then we were going to drive down towards Northumberland.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

I do just want to kind of mention about picking up the car because I did see a question, I don't know if it was in our Facebook group. I hope it was on our Facebook group, but I I have a feeling it wasn't. Someone was asking about how far it is from when you arrive at the tram to actually go and pick up your car at Edinburgh Airport. It's literally two minutes.

SPEAKER_04 2:58

Yeah, you you come out of the tram stop because it's the end of the the tram line, you turn left and you just follow a little covered walkway. Um takes what two minutes is that and you walk straight. I call it the hub, they don't call it the hub, it's just I call it because it's like a roundish type building, and you've got all the different car hire firms around a central hub area. So it's just my phraseology. Um, but yeah, yeah, literally two minutes and the cars are all parked at the back. And unlike some airports, you pretty quickly out and about and onto your roads away, whichever direction you're heading.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Yep, and uh so what one thing that we always do is when we pick up a hire car, we always make sure that we are completely covered so that there is we don't like having any excess. So, you know, if you have a little clunk or a little scrape and you've got to pay £2,000 or whatever it is, we do we get rid of all of that. So that's why I was saying it's like we want to pay that so that we don't have to worry if anything happens, which actually did happen on this trip. So um we didn't have to worry about it. So we always do that. Um, and one thing you wanted to do on the drive down was to stop off at the England-Scotland sign, didn't you?

SPEAKER_04 4:00

That's right, yes. The um driven it past it how many times, and obviously been on the train between um England and Scotland many times. And last year I hired a car from Edmund. I drove all the way down to the Midlands and I passed uh like uh a central area where there's flags and England-Scotland border signs, so I thought I'm gonna stop off there this time. And we did.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

So we did, so we've got some last pictures, so I'll put those in the show notes. Um, right, so I will I'm gonna be up front here. Northumberland is the county that I was born in, is where I come from. Um on this trip we didn't spend much time in Northumberland actually exploring Northumberland. We have done previously, so we've got to be. Oh, yes, but that's when we left Northumberland heading down. So that was a couple of days later. So I will bring that up. But um, yeah, so we did do that, but not at this particular part, it was a couple of days later. So I actually will say that this trip, um, we didn't spend a lot of time exploring Northumberland because we've done it previously. Yep. Um, so we will kind of point you towards any Northumberland resources if you're interested. But actually, we'll be up front and I wanted to go and spend a bit of time with my sister. So what we did, so it was lovely. But what we did do is we did a day trip.

Beamish Living Museum Highlights

SPEAKER_02 5:12

We were invited out by um Visit County Doram to visit Beamish Museum, um, which is we we did that on the Sunday with my sister. We drove down, it was about 45 minutes from where my sister lives in on the Northumberland.

SPEAKER_04 5:23

It's a nice drive, yeah, pleasant drive.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

And uh we went to Beamish, which is basically an open-air museum. Um, and it's somewhere that I visited as a child. I remember going when I was about eight or nine, maybe, yeah, to visit, and I remember the schoolroom is what always had such a huge impression on me. Um so I was very excited to see.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

I've been before, and that was 30 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Yeah, so we we both have been previously, but but with quite a bit of uh time between. And I know we have had um people ask us about Beamish. So Beamish is officially called the Living Museum of the North, and it really is a living museum.

SPEAKER_03 6:00

It is cool.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

Um so you go around and there are it's like it really is like stepping back in time, and they have basically um a pit village set up, which I really love because I come from a coal mine family. Um, so it's really good to go and see the the pit village, and that's set up, I think, is that also around about 1913, I think they are set up.

SPEAKER_03 6:20

I think it's something like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Yeah, so you've got the 1900s pit village and then you've got a 1900s town. So um you've got the pit village and the town, and then the town, there's lots of different shops. Oh we went there's houses and there's shops. My sister has a thing about going to the dentist, so we went and had a look at the we checked out the dentist, which is really good. There's a sweet shop, and my goodness, the queue. There's printers, there's printers. Well, I was gonna say the queue for the sweet shop, don't well that's right, yeah. Um so there's a queue for the sweet shop because everybody wanted to go and buy some sweets. Um so I bought some sherbet lemons.

SPEAKER_04 6:51

You did, I bought some black corn and licorice.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

You did. Um, and everybody that's that that serves in the shops and around the town and the pit village are dressed in period costume and they play the role as if they were living at that time, so you can ask them questions about what it was like to live at that time, and they will continue they will act in their role as somebody from that period of costume.

SPEAKER_04 7:12

I think the travel office was really good because about people uh taking the was it 40 days to travel to Australia and asking if you've got any skills that can be used if you move to the colonies, and there's all things like that. The the guy was so engaging because there's volunteers and employers there, employees there, and but you're right, they just played the role fantastically well.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

Brilliant, brilliant.

SPEAKER_04 7:34

The P Village was good, especially the the the married couple there. She was doing some baking and he was sitting, you know, his rocking chair, yeah, yeah, in front of the fire.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

Yeah, yeah, it was really good. And um, I think what what makes it is the fact that you've got everybody in period dress and and you can ask them the questions and you really feel like you are stepping back in time. Um as well, there's there's also recently open as a 1950s um street, which actually made my mum feel old. She said when when I was telling her about it, because she hasn't been at Beamish for a long time, and she's like, Oh my goodness, she says, I feel because she was born in the 1940s. Yeah, she said, Well, that makes me feel old that there's a 1950s village, but it like like there was a cinema and a toy shop and a um a hairdresser.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

It was like uh visiting our grandparents for us, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Yeah, yeah, we really was. I just loved that kind of stepping back and being reminded, and also in each of these, so in the in each of the different uh parts of village show, you've got the pit village, you've got the the the uh 1913 town, and you've got the 1950s town, they have um houses. So they've actually removed houses from that period from different parts of the north and then rebuilt them at Beamish. So you actually get a feel of what the house was actually.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

Yeah, it's authentic because you've got trams and buses and um run in between up and down hills. You can walk in a lovely day when we were there and you can walk between them, and it's just so or you can get the tram, or you can get the bus and the buses trams and buses.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

So it is just fantastic. So um a huge shout out to Beamish for the invite. It was fantastic to go and and have a look round. And um, I just get so nostalgic when I go there. I'd highly recommend if you are planning to drive up um to the to the north that you go into Beamish. Really highly recommend it. It's a fantastic day out, really great day out as well if you've got children.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

It is, it's a nice driver.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Yeah, and if you want to know what it's like, if your family originates from the north of England, um, which obviously mine do because that's where I come from, but I know a lot of you live in Australia or living in Canada or America or around the world, your ancestors may have come from this part of the world. It's a great way to get in touch with how your ancestors, how your you know, relatives um in the 1800s and uh and 1900s actually lived.

SPEAKER_04 9:42

That's right. Um so I'd highly recognize it. It gives you a connection with your ancestors.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

It does. I just think it's absolutely amazing, and I always feel that when I go there. It really is, especially because you know my my grandparents are no longer alive, and it just brings so many memories of well potentially.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

There was a guy we're torn to actually knew your father. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

So it it was it was a really lovely day. After Beamish, we actually decided to go and have because this is a Sunday, we have to go and have a Sunday roast.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

We did indeed, yeah, we did, and that was lovely.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Yeah, so we had a carvery. Now we are gonna do an episode about afternoon teas and Sunday roasts. We we have got that on our agenda to talk about because I know it can for some times it can be a bit confusing about afternoon teas, about the etiquette, about traps of afternoon teas, again for Sunday roasts. So we're gonna we will be talking about Sunday roast, but we had a really lovely um Sunday roast carvery. Um again, I'll put some pictures in the show notes of that.

Haworth Tips For Hills And Parking

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Um, but basically the next day was the Monday, and we drove down from my sister's at Northumberland to Yorkshire. Well, Doug did the drive in, I have to say. I did all the drive. Fairly easy drive, was it Doug? I remember it was.

SPEAKER_04 10:42

Yeah, I very straightforward. I've done it how many times before, so yeah, it's it's not difficult.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Now, this is my first visit to Haworth. I'd wanted to go and say now Howarth is famous because uh two reasons you're gonna talk about the train.

SPEAKER_04 10:52

You have missed the Angel of the North out again.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Oh, sorry, yes, I will because you mentioned it before. Right, so we did stop off at the Angel of the North, which is um symbolic Gourmley, Anthony Gourmley, a massive, great, big, huge angel, which um stands at Gateshead. Um and we stopped off and had some photos there.

SPEAKER_04 11:09

Sorry, but it symbolises the north, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Yeah, it is, it's lovely, and I always feel like I'm going home when I go past it. Um, but let's skip back to Haworth. So we went to Haworth and which is famous, yeah, in Yorkshire. Famous for a few reasons. Doug will talk about the train connection, but I'm gonna talk about the fact that it is where you'll find the Bronte parsonage.

SPEAKER_04 11:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

Um so that's the reason I wanted to go there. But train connection.

SPEAKER_04 11:32

Train connection. I went um was it last year? It wasn't two years ago. I think it's two years ago. Uh in the middle of the summer. So the original film, The Railway Children, was filmed on the um Heritage Railway there. It's called the Keithly and Worth Valley Railway. So it runs from Keithly, uh, which is a train station, it has a mainline train station you can catch very quickly from Leeds, and it runs all the way across towards Howarth, other stations as well. But Howarth is the well-known station at the bottom of the hill, and you walk up through the gardens and the most beautiful little village street, and that's where the Bronte's parsonage is at the top.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

At the top, which actually is what I'm gonna kind of I guess I'm gonna talk a little bit about some of the tips that things that need if you are planning to go to Howarth, and I'd highly recommend it. There are a couple of things to know. One is that we had I had booked accommodation at the bottom near the train station, which was a shop to Doug. Yeah, Doug didn't realise I'd done that, but I had. Um, I did talk about it with a pet. We're right next to the station. Well, we're right next to the train station, which meant that it was a what a bit of a walk up the hill. And now that is a steep hill. It is, it is a steep hill up to the Bron Brontley Parsonage. Now we did we walked it a couple of times. What is lovely about it is that there's some lovely, lovely independent little shops on the way up. So I spent a lot of time in the shops shopping.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

You can break the journey up because it's quite there is a steep uh road up, uh, but you can break it up if you head into the central park area, you can sort of go sideways a bit and then more of a gradual.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

Yeah, it's a bit of a gradual walk up, but we need to be really thoughtful about what shoes you're wearing because um it's cobbled. Cobbled on it. Um so you need to be thinking about wearing something that's really comfortable. Now, in terms of like you can take it slowly, so do take it slowly. If you um if you think it's going to be a bit of a struggle walking up this this hill, because I say it is cobbled, there is options, there's car parks at the top.

SPEAKER_04 13:19

There is a car park at the top, uh, which is about £1.50 an hour or £3.90 for the day, I think.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

Yes, it's £3.90 for the whole day, but it gets full.

SPEAKER_04 13:28

It does because when it's right next to the uh the parsonage, and obviously when the parsonage is parsonage is open, uh that car park fills up quickly.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

It does, though there is another car park because we parked there when we went to the um the old white lion pub, which we went to a couple of times for food. Um there was another car park a little bit further back, but maybe like three minutes walk.

SPEAKER_04 14:16

Yeah, it may be uh a little bit less known than the parsonage car park, I guess. Uh but it was yeah, it was just a large car park, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yeah, decent-sized car park. Um so that would be your option if walking up the hill isn't gonna be something that you can manage to do. Um now I would say as well, um, because I messed up on this, um, is you need to check the parsonage open days before you build your day around it because I plan to go on a Tuesday, and we were actually in there's a lovely field um above the parsonage um and the graveyard, um, and we were sitting enjoying the sunshine, and uh one of the uh lovely ladies who works at the parsonage came to say that we're just gonna close the field. And we said, Oh, we're gonna come tomorrow and have a look around. She said, No, it's not open on a Tuesday. So be aware that the parsonage is open Wednesday to Monday and it's closed on Tuesday, um, which is what we we found out. Luckily, we found out that night, so I swapped that itinerary that we'd um planned around.

SPEAKER_04 15:16

That's the beauty of having a little bit of flexibility in your itinerary.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Yeah, that's it. I'd to be honest, it was it was pretty flexible what we're doing. Um, and actually, when we did go to the parsonage to buy the ticket, it wasn't a problem getting in. Um you just get your ticket. We I had to queue up for maybe ten minutes before I could get in because they they've they they do have they only let a certain number of people in at a time.

SPEAKER_04 15:38

Um not very big, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 15:39

No, no, it isn't it looks bigger from the outside. I was a bit astonished actually. Um so uh well I'll talk a little bit more about that visit to the parsonage in a second, but basically that was the reason we went because I wanted to go and spend some time in Haworth, but it's also was a really good base from which to explore the Orchard Hills.

SPEAKER_04 15:55

It was, that's why the reasons chose it sort of ticks multiple boxes in one go.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Yeah, um also one thing to consider is if you are getting accommodation is to consider where you're gonna park. We were lucky in that while there was on-street parking beside where we stayed, and I will put a link. Actually, the the place we stayed at was lovely.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

That's fine.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Um is that you know, luckily there was always parking. We didn't have a problem getting parking, but I would I can imagine it could potentially be an issue. Um, but we we didn't have a problem, and it that was free on on-road parking.

SPEAKER_04 16:25

It was right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Um but yeah, do consider that if you're booking you know where you're gonna book your accommodation. Yep. Okay, so let's talk about Tuesday because so instead of got the Howard Parsonage, which I'd planned to do, we did basically we did a a Dales loop, didn't we?

SPEAKER_04 16:39

Yeah, we we sort of loosely planned it before we went, the places we want to go, and then we put it into uh a journey planner.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:46

Uh one I use in the UK is called the A Route planner, which I do enjoy, I like to use, and yeah, and we just did a circular loop because I like a circular loop when I'm driving.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Well that makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 16:57

Same as I do on a train, really, if I can do a circular loop, back to the starting point. And we did. So we went to Ribblehead Viaduct first. Yes. Now the Ribblehead Viaduct, it's the the name of the bridge, the Viaduct over the river, Ribble, and that usually say the river Ribble, but yeah, it's uh very famous, it's on the Settle Carlisle train line, which is one of or many say is the most picturesque in the UK, certainly in England, and can't disagree with that statement. So it's not I was planning on a train journey over the the viaduct, which I did a couple of days later, but also it's nice to have a view of the 24-arch viaduct itself.

Yorkshire Dales Loop And Big Views

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Yeah, because you don't see it I guess you don't see it when you go over on the bridge.

SPEAKER_04 17:38

When you go on the train, I mean it's just a glimpse of it, really. So it's a slight curve, but you don't see much of it. Uh so we did that first, and it was a beautiful day. And so walk to the walk to the viaduct.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Got some great we've got some great footage of trains going over, freight train going over, passenger train going over.

SPEAKER_04 17:52

In each direction, so there'll be there will be a YouTube video to support those views.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

Yeah, I think we should just make a little short of it because it was just fabulous to see. So we'll share that YouTube, UK travel plan, and go and go and follow our YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_04 18:04

That's it. So we drove from there, just further along the line, there's um uh little station called Dent. Now, Dent is the highest railway station in England. Uh, not in the UK, the highest there is uh a station called Carroll on the West Highland line in Scotland. So we drove up to there, passed another little violet Dentvale. And we'd loved it. And while we're there, this RAF jet came flying over and booming over the top of us.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

I have to say, I cannot express how beautiful, how stunningly beautiful this part of England is. The Yorkshire Dales are breathtaking, absolutely breathtaking. That's right. And I I just it we had a beautiful day. It was just makes all the difference. Honestly, it was it was one of those days where you're just like, wow, wow, wow, every every few seconds. It was so beautiful. It was lovely to go up to Dent as well. We took you took some video at Dent.

SPEAKER_04 19:01

There's actually accommodation there, you can actually stay there. Yeah, I know you want to stay there, don't you?

SPEAKER_02 19:04

That's on your now to-do list. Doug was like, I have to stay here, we have to stay here. Um, so that's something we're gonna absolutely look at. Um, and after that, we're getting a little bit a little bit peckish, weren't we?

SPEAKER_04 19:13

We were getting a little bit peckish, so we just drove further along to a place called Hawes.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

H-A-W-E-S. Yep to the Wensleydale Creamery, cracking bit of cheese grommet. Aye, lad. So I this was someone that I put on the itinerary, and Doug was a bit like, oh I don't know, I don't know about that, didn't you?

SPEAKER_04 19:30

You were you weren't sure? No, I wasn't sure. And you loved it. I did, it dragged me away from there because I'm a big fan of Wallace and Gromit.

SPEAKER_02 19:35

But you also and I'm a big I'm a big fan of cheese. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 19:39

Ticked a lot of boxes in.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Oh, and honestly, we had they have a cheese afternoon tea.

SPEAKER_04 19:44

Say that again.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

A cheese afternoon tea for 19 pounds each. It is stunningly delicious, fantastic, brilliant. I cannot express how much I love the Wednesday deal, creameries, cheese afternoon tea. Go and have it, have it, seriously, it is just delicious. So you can go and see a little bit about how cheese is made. There's also lots of cheese, obviously, for sale. There's a fantastic shop, which Doug had to drag me away from because it had so many. In fact, we looked, we did buy a milk jug from there. We did, uh so it was fantastic, absolutely loved, loved, loved the Wensdale Creamery. Um, and it you know, it is an association, of course, with Wallace and Gromit. So if you're a Wallace and Grommet fan, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

I also bought a placement that says put kettle on, lad.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Yes, you did. You did. So thoroughly enjoyed that. So then after the the creamery, we had a lovely drive to our next destination. We are going to talk about our next destination. I'll talk a little bit about that. But I want you to talk about that drive because you loved it.

SPEAKER_04 20:43

That drive was absolutely stunning. We now know it's known as Beggar's Lane or Beggars Road, and it's just you don't know where to look. I'm trying to concentrate on the road. You can see this beautiful, stunning scenery both sides. You rise up and you've got uh streams or becks as they are in in Yorkshire, and it's just oh I just can't find the words.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

It was it was absolutely beautiful, it was a beautiful drive, and actually you did get to enjoy that drive a few days later, but I'll I'll we'll talk about how, yeah, we'll talk about how. Um, but we were heading through when when we through this beautiful drive, we're heading to something that's actually become really famous and is associated with All Creatures Great and Small, the new the new series of All Creatures Great and Small, and that is Daroby. We went to Darrowby.

SPEAKER_04 21:28

We went to Darby, we did indeed. So anybody knows where Darrowby is. Uh if you if you can point to it on the map, you're a very, very clever person.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Yes, because actually Darby doesn't exist. Darrowby is actually the village of Grassington.

SPEAKER_04 21:42

Grassington in the in the Yorkshire Dales.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

In the Yorkshire Dales. So we we parked there at the top of the hill, because again, that's on a little bit of a kind of slope down into Grassington itself. And we walked into Grassington, had a walk round, had a look around the shops, had a cup of tea, um, checked out the drovers' arms.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

We did, we did.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Checked out the the veterinary the veterinary uh veterinary veterinary uh um building, the the the house that's that that's in. Um and that was great. So it was just lovely. Uh if you're a fan of All Creatures Great and Small, you totally, totally appreciate this. And and it was great. So um again it was free parking at the top of the hill, but I I guess that parking could be a bit of a premium.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

Yeah, they asked for a uh donation if you a voluntary donation if you wish.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

Yeah. Um we did Park somewhere differently a couple of days later, but again, we'll we'll get back to that. So there is some places to park actually if you go to Grassington. Again, it's very popular because, of course, everybody wants to go and see where All Creatures Great and Small was filmed. That's right. Um, so that was that was basically um the Tuesday. So then we headed back to to Howard. So that was a full day out, it was a lovely, lovely day out. So that's what we did that day, and thoroughly enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_04 22:49

We did.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

Um so the next day it was a Wednesday. Um so we'd spent two nights staying in Howard, so this is our third, I guess the third day of rival day, the day before we did the Dales Loop. And the Wednesday we did the parsonage, which you'd been to before.

SPEAKER_04 23:04

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Um, so it was my turn to go. Um Mallam Cove and Bolton Abbey. So we'll talk a little later.

SPEAKER_04 23:08

I did go and look at the trains because in the Keithworth Valley Railway there was a diesel garla on at the time.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

Yeah, I will say we did not do the train this trip because you've done that before.

SPEAKER_04 23:18

I've done it before, and there was no steam on at that moment because the diesel garler was on.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Yeah, so we decided not to, but you can fit that in if you wanted to. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 23:27

It's a good day ticket, you can go backwards and forwards on the line as many times as you like.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Oh, you'd probably just sit on that all day.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

Easily. Happily.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Okay, so while I while Doug was doing his checking his trains out, I went to the Bronte Parsonage. Now I just bought the ticket on that morning, went and booked it, queued up for about 10-15 minutes or so, I can't remember. It wasn't that long, and then they I went into the parsonage. Um it's smaller than it's smaller inside than it looks on the outside, which is weird. You'll like take photos in there. Um I

Brontë Parsonage Malham Cove Bolton Abbey

SPEAKER_02 23:56

what stuck with me about it is that I couldn't see where Emily slept. There's like Charlotte's room, there's Bramwell's room, and there's you know uh Mr. Brontley's room, but there was no room for where I don't so I I was a bit confused about that. But anyway, um it was really interesting to see. And again, I think what did strike me is um Charlotte's Charlotte's there's a dress that Charlotte made and her hat and her shoes were so tiny. Oh yeah. Um and I I think what also struck me is the tragedy of the Bronte family, is like how they all died young, and it it was yeah, so I I think Charlotte was the eldest at 39 uh when she died. Um Mr. Bronte lived until maybe was it 80s, I think. Um yeah, and there's there's a lot of reasons and a lot of speculation why, and it's worth going and finding out. Um yeah, so it was it, I don't know, it was a really interesting experience, and it kind of I felt that I learned I did learn a lot more about the Brontney sisters um and and where they lived and how they lived and about the family, which was really, really good. Um I did enjoy as well going into the church. So basically, um there's the the parsonage and then you've got the graveyard and the church right in front of the parsonage. Um now the church was rebuilt um in the late 1800s and where it was rebuilt over the graves of the the Brontley Sisters, the Brontley family, but there is a plaque and a mention of where because it was in the corner of the gym, yeah, they did mark where they'd kind of built over on top of the graves. Um very atmospheric. It is a very atmospheric place. Um, if you're uh obviously a Bronte fan, you're probably gonna know a lot more than I do about the Brontley Sisters. For me, this was a you know, I I enjoy the books. I've just been to see the Weather and Heights movie, I've seen that one of the older movies, uh, and obviously I'm a big fan of Kate Bush, and you know, Caffey Come Home. Um so it was just lovely to go and and experience that and and see see how they lived. Yeah, so I really enjoyed that. So you went and did the trains and one did that, and then we kind of then we met up, didn't we?

SPEAKER_04 25:57

Then we met up and then we had a drive to Maluncove.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Yes, for a little bit of a hike. Now, if anybody knows me, I don't like hiking.

SPEAKER_04 26:05

I don't mind some walking, but I've never been here before.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

Yeah, so we did walk. I I don't know, uh we walked through basically parked on the road. There is a car park beside the visitor centre, and quite a few people drove past and asked us because they couldn't find parking. So there is parking. We actually parked on the road, which was fine. Um and then yeah, there was the car park, and then it was probably maybe about a mile or so walk.

SPEAKER_04 26:27

Yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

Um and then you continued. I kind of went through the style, could see Malan Cove, walked part of the walk through. There's like a long path, and then um, which was fairly a little bit uphill but fairly flat, so pretty accessible.

SPEAKER_04 26:44

Obviously, the the range in um um what do you call it? Steps and steepness and duration. Yeah, stepness.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

I don't know if that's a word, steepness, stepness, yeah. But I yeah, because I I just so I just took the fairly um flattish one, and then you you continued walking maybe another couple of two hundred metres down to get the kind of view of the cove from below looking up, and the little bag, um whereas I just sat and enjoyed the sunshine and and watching the cows and the sheep. Um so that was really good. So you can do as much or little of that as you want. Yeah, you can literally um it's up to you, whatever you can you know you want to do or you're able to do. Um that that part is is pretty accessible, um so you get a good view of the city. It's a flat path as well. Yes, that's it, that's what I'm saying. So uh that was quite good. Um, and then after that, we had a little bit walk around the the visitor centre. Yes, I did see there was a farmer that puts on a sheepdog show. I really wanted to go to that, I think it was a Thursday night, um, and I thought that would be really cool. So I did take a picture of the of the leaflet because I thought if you're in the area interested in seeing the sheepdogs and and the work, this guy was basically showing. A lot of people would like to see that. I think it was really good. So that's something I would like to have done. Um, and then we headed to Bolton Abbey because I wanted to go and see um Bolton Abbey. That was something that was on my list to do. Uh now we just want to talk a little bit about parking at Bolton Abbey because there's nowhere to park. It's not unless you pay.

SPEAKER_04 28:14

There is double yellow lines, which in the UK means no parking.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Yeah, well, you can't. If you park there, you're gonna get either clamped or fined.

SPEAKER_04 28:22

And it's all the way through the village, there's very few places you can actually pull in. Very few.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Yeah, so so what we decided to do, so basically parking, because this was getting later on in the day. So the parking is basically if your book in advance is £12.50, if it you're on the day, it's £15. Um, so it was quite late in the day. So what we decided to do is that Doug drop me off. So I then walked and had a look at Bolton Abbey and then the ruins um behind it. So you've got like this uh I think it was a Bolton Chapel, and then you've got Bolton Abbey ruins, and then you've got the beautiful river, there's the stepping stones, it was another lovely day. Um so I went down there, had a look at some, took took some photos, just checked it out so I could talk to you about it really if it's something that somewhere you want to go. So it's actually free, obviously, to go and have a look at the ruins, but you have to pay for parking.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

That's it. I drove a good mile outside and to find somewhere safe to park.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

Yeah, yeah. So um so just you know, factor that in if you want to go to Bolton Abbey, that um you're gonna have to pay for parking. I mean, it was lovely, there's a lot of families down by the river. It was a beautiful ice cream van. Um so again, a beautiful popular place for British people to go as well. Weddings as well. Oh yeah, there was a there was a couple having some wedding photos. I forgot about that. That was lovely. Yeah, yeah. So so that was really good. So then we drove back down back to Howarth. So um we we had I wanted to mention about food and drink. So during the we'd already eaten like the day before, we had a really good meal at um at the creamery. That day on the on the Wednesday, um, we drove past this beautiful bakery, didn't we?

SPEAKER_03 29:53

We did.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Oh, I've got to get the name of it, and bought um they just had fantastic sandwiches. I got a sausage sandwich, we had a bacon sandwich, I think.

SPEAKER_04 29:59

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

Um, and so that was really good. Um, there's some lovely bakeries and places to stop off in the villages as well, some lovely cafes. Uh so we did that, and then we're headed back again to go and eat at the old white lion because there was something you saw on the menu you wanted to have.

SPEAKER_04 30:15

Well, one of my favourite meals is you don't see very often these days is ducking a black cherry sauce. And not had it many times in my life, but because you don't find many places that sell it, and oh my life, it was lovely. So you really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

So we we actually ate there twice. The first you wouldn't be surprised, the first time I had Gemin's steak, the second time I had Scampi.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

Um I had my favourites good pub food, uh, you know, go and order at the bar, um, and then come and deliver it to your table, pay it.

SPEAKER_04 30:42

I actually stayed there when I visited last time.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

Yeah, so it yeah, so Doug was knew it. Um, and then actually the day that I in that morning that going at the Howorth actually uh round the uh the um parsonage, actually I'd bought a sandwich on on the way down the hill from this bakery, and it was it was it one of it was one of those um hot roast sandwiches, it was a roast pork sandwich that was delicious as well. So you're not gonna be sport for choice for places to eat.

SPEAKER_04 31:08

And I had a meal deal from the local supermarket.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

Yeah, so yeah, so it must have been. I'm trying to think when we actually went to that bakery, then was it the day before? It was the day before, but there were again there was some there was some fantastic places to eat.

SPEAKER_04 31:20

It was, it was after we've been to Dent Station, we stayed there, right?

SPEAKER_02 31:23

Right. So we went and got grabbed something to eat. No, because we went to the creamery after that. We're getting mixed up now.

SPEAKER_04 31:29

It must have been before we went to the Biblehead Vidal.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

Must have must have been. Anyway, so there's lots of places you can stop off and get food. That's basically what what we're trying to say from fantastic bakery. So you're not gonna you're not gonna starve. Absolutely not gonna starve. Um fact you're gonna be spoiled for choice. Um, so yeah, we did stay in a in a uh like an apartment, so we had we we had a fridge, so we just made our own breakfast. Yeah. Um, so you know, we had we went to the soap, like there's loads of supermarkets beside we stay, so I think we're the spa co-ops who bought milk and cereal and brought some of that with us because we're in the car. So that just made things a little bit easier. So um um yeah, so that was basically our our Yorkshire uh Dales itinerary. Now it you can find our itinerary on the website, um, and I will link to that in the show notes if you want to plan something similar yourself. So say we were based in Haworth and all of those steps what we did, we kind of went off and visited all those places.

SPEAKER_04 32:24

If anybody's interested in trains and they know the old Valway Children, the first edition edition of the Valway Children film, which is very, very good. We invite Ian Esmitt. Um I would recommend having a um a journey on the steam train on the Keithley and Worth Valley Railway.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

Absolutely. So lovely. And we are going to be back a couple of days later in the Yorkshire Dales. We'll talk about that in a second. So the Thursday we're at to go and drop the car off. So the easiest way for us to do this, because we were heading to York next, and now this next bit of the trip is going to be by train and by tour. So we're doing trains and tours. So that's kind of the driving part done. Um, so this is where you got a good mix. This is where we had the driving, where we thought was necessary, and then we had uh took the trains for the next part and tours. So we went to Leeds Airport, dropped off the car.

SPEAKER_04 33:10

So from Haworth to Leeds Bradford Airport where we were dropping the car off, it was uh less than an hour's driving. Uh driving towards Leeds, yes, it was busy, it was congested, so allowed ourselves plenty of time because we'd obviously arrange a planned drop-off time. So we got there earlier than that that time, and what we did then there was the car higher uh central location where you drop your cars off. There's a courtesy bus back to the airport terminal, which did that, which was no more than like five minutes. Yeah, it was really easy, and then there's uh what we're called A1 flyer bus, which takes you from uh Leeds Bradford Airport to towards Leeds railway station.

Switching To Trains Plus York Base

SPEAKER_04 33:51

So that took about half an hour, 40 minutes, I think. Yeah, and that's very straightforward. Now, this is where we divided. We you went by a train direct to York half an hour, 20 minutes half an hour, and I managed to then jump on the train and do the very famous the Settle Carlisle train line. So it leads from Leeds all the way up to Carlisle, back over that Ribblehead viaduct which I'd already seen a couple of days before from underneath. So I went all the way up and then all the way back, two and a half hours each way. Uh because you're going high up and the weather wasn't quite as great, and towards then a few raindrops, but the second drop down again both sides, it was stunning scenery and just a lovely train journey. Absolutely, it's one of the best. So, what I did, I went up on one side of the train and then ver journeyed back on the other side to get a view both sides.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

Yep, you did, and I went well, uh so I had work to do. So, unfortunately, when you're running a business, you can't always be travelling everywhere. So I headed off to York. We had booked in at the Abbey Guest House York, who I'm giving a huge shout out to. We absolutely loved our stay there for a couple of reasons. But one, and I guess this this may not suit everybody, but for us it was absolutely perfect in that our room was right overlooking the train line, which was just amazing. Um, and we just enjoyed seeing the trains coming in and out of York station. It was fantastic at night. I got some great footage at night. To be honest, it wasn't it wasn't noisy really. No, I mean they do provide earplugs, but we never used them.

SPEAKER_04 35:25

It's slow speed over there. Ah, yeah. Which is over the the uh it's right next to the river ooze as well. So then you've got the the bridge uh over the river for the Scarborough line, which is at the Seaside Town in Yorkshire. So this the the speed over the bridge is very low anyway.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

And just the views are great. We just love to just sat bed watching the trains go over the bridge, and also it's got great views of the river. It was just a really I think I'll stay there again and I'll ask for that room again. So in room number two, thank you. Five minutes walk from the train station. It could not have been better, and they do have parking, so if you have a car, um they did mention about parking as well. So just absolutely loved it. I think it's probably one of my favourite places we've ever stayed at in New York. Just really thoroughly loved it.

SPEAKER_04 36:06

I think so too, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:07

Um so don't do breakfast, it was just a guest house. But um, again, uh we're actually when we uh on the Friday, we're gonna talk about what we're doing the Friday, but we've got when we got back on the Friday, we just sat outside with drink, enjoying the views of the river. It was a beautiful evening. Um, so fantastic. So so I got there Thursday, I had to work all afternoon, so that's what I was doing, and then Friday we had a tour booked. We did have a tour booked, and this is the first of our tours that we took with Mountain Goat, um, which is one of our newer partners this year, and we do have a promo code. So if you do book with uh Mountain Goat, you can use our promo code UKTrav10 and you get 10% off. But they'd invited us to do some of their tours, so we decided we were going to do the All Creatures Great and Small tour, um, which was across the lake the Orchadales, which of course where we've just been. But the advantage of this meant there's two things. One is that we had a guide who could show us and explain things to us that we had and some things we had missed, so I was so glad that we saw it. And the second one was that meant you didn't have to drive.

SPEAKER_04 37:05

That's right, and obviously anybody who drives knows that you know you've got to keep your eyes on the road, and if you're a passenger on the same same piece of road, you see things from an entirely different perspective.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Absolutely. So it meant that so if you you know, if if you don't want to do the drive, and this is your perfect way to not do the drive, and based off in York, so that the tour goes out from a number of places. We went out from York.

SPEAKER_04 37:26

Which is only a couple of minutes well, five minutes from where we're actually staying as well.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

Yes, exactly, exactly. So it was a five-minute

All Creatures Tour With Mountain Goat

SPEAKER_02 37:31

walk. Um picked up by the the the coach driver. I think there were was it a full bus? I think there was was that 14 of us, 16 of us on that one?

SPEAKER_04 37:39

Nearly full.

SPEAKER_02 37:40

Um, yeah, it's a lovely tour group. Um, and we had a really knowledgeable driver guy, so taught us loads of stuff as we were driving across the Yorkshire Dales.

SPEAKER_03 37:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

Um, so it was absolutely perfect. So basically the route covered, I'm not going to go into it because you didn't book it. But it it was basically uh Yorkshire showing us the best of the Yorkshire Dales and All Creatures Great and Smalls. So we did go to Grassington again. We did um do some of the drives again that you had driven, but we actually had missed, I can't believe I missed this. You know what? In fact, when we drove past it, I said to you, Oh my goodness, look how beautiful that farm is. It was actually Helen's farm from All Creatures Great and School. It was and I had passed it. Yeah, the new series. And so we stopped on the tour and took photos. And I we had when Doug had driven past it, I said, Oh my goodness, look a bit of vice. It looks familiar, but I couldn't. Penny didn't drop. Obviously, on the tour, we stopped, took the pictures. Yeah, um, we also went back to the creamery, which was great, so it meant that we could have some more cheese.

SPEAKER_04 38:33

We had it literally straight up straight there, straight to the cheese.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

So it was really, really good. And uh, as I say, it meant that there was no driving or parking stress involved. We just sat back and absolutely enjoyed the tour. So that was a full day tour, really popular tour. People want to go and see the the Dales and they want to go and see all creatures great and small. Perfect way to do both, departing from York. I will put a link in to Mountain Go. Don't forget, we've got a promo code to get 10% off. So get it booked, go and enjoy the Yorkshire Dales, sit back and enjoy it and go and go and see all these amazing creatures great and small uh film and locations. You may even, if you're lucky enough, arrive on a day when they're recording, which would be amazing. Unfortunately, we didn't, but I would love to have seen that. And also in Grassington, there's so many places that they've got photos of when with the locals and and they explain a little bit how about the how they do the film and it was just fantastic, it was really, really good. Um, so thank you so much to Mountain Goat for inviting us on that tour. We we that was the first of our Mountain Goat tours because we're gonna talk about the second one we did in a second. Um, so we didn't spend much time in York. The main point of us being in York this time was that so we could go and do the Mountain Goat trip. Um, so we did spend a little bit of time walking around York when we arrived back after the tour. Um, but obviously we want to encourage you to stay in York longer. So if you're gonna do the Orkridges Great and Small Tour, or you can do the Moors tour as well, which is another really popular one uh with Mountain Goat. So you get that's two days. You want to give yourself another couple of days, maybe to base yourself in York to actually explore York itself.

SPEAKER_03 39:59

There's a lot of years, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Um, so the reason so that's why when you're here thinking, well, you were rushing around, yeah. We're rushing up because we're just we're fitting in things that uh so that we could share them with you basically. Um so the next day is we took the train to the lake district.

SPEAKER_04 40:18

After I've been to the train museum.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

Yes, you popped in the train museum.

SPEAKER_04 40:22

Sorry, I can never go to York without going to the National York.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

And then we jumped on the train. And we did take a slightly more unusual route because you wanted to do some videos for YouTube.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

Yes, I'm doing a couple of my uh YouTube videos. I need some footage for two parts of that. So you can head straight across uh from York by Leeds towards Preston and then you can head straight up to the Lady Street that way. Uh but what I decided we're gonna do, we're headed by train from York up to Newcastle, and then went from Newcastle straight across from east to west to Carlisle. So that train line is known as the Tyne Valley Line. So it sort of runs adjacent, which you could unfortunately you can't see, Hadrian's Wall. So it's just a different scenery again, stunning scenery, and then from Carlisle down the West Coast main line to Oxenholm, and this is where the second part of the video I needed to do from Oxenhome showing you how you can reach Windermere in the Lake District by train.

SPEAKER_02 41:21

Yep, so that's what Doug was doing, but I was just sitting back

Reaching The Lake District By Rail

SPEAKER_02 41:23

and enjoying the scenery on the train.

SPEAKER_04 41:24

Those videos to follow them, yes.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

So they'll be on the YouTube uh channel soon. Um, so we went based in a we I chose accommodation again beside beside Windermere Station. It was just easier for what we're doing the next day. But there's fantastic honestly, if you go to the Lake District, just don't take your car, you don't need to literally get the train in and then just take buses around. The bus the buses are fantastic, they're really, really coordinated and really well done uh in the lake district. And to believe me, you do not I would not want to you couldn't pay me to drive around the lake district.

SPEAKER_04 41:55

No, no, I've I've driven it before, and it's it's not just the drive and it's the difficulty parking as well, which is not easy.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

Yeah, yeah, it's not it's not something uh that's a lot of fun. So we had on well, actually, we went to our favourite Chinese in the lake district as well. Yeah, lovely Chinese restaurant, that was fantastic, so we enjoyed that. Um, so then on the Sunday, we were taking the second of our mountain goat tours, which is their Ten Lake Spectacular, which you may have heard Asia talking about in our episode about summer around the UK, when she talks about the Lake District, and she mentions this um Ten Lake Spectacular. So obviously, this is the one we had to do, and it really was spectacular.

SPEAKER_04 42:35

It really was stunning, it really, really was. I mean, the the weather was beautiful as well, which obviously you've got a good view of the hills. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

Well, what I what I will mention about the difference, I guess, between Yorkshire and the Lake District. The Lake District is you've got high passes. Um, so you know that there's some of the highest uh some of the highest roads in England you can drive over in the lake district, and they are pretty demanding to drive. Now, Yorkshire itself is pretty demanding because you've got a lot of high hedges, single roads, again, similar in the lake district, but there seemed to be a lot more traffic in the lake district. I guess it was a Sunday, it was a beautiful day. Um, but it there was there was a kind of you could there were some people that were stressed, you could see driving.

SPEAKER_04 43:17

Most definitely so, yeah. Um, you know, and

Ten Lakes Spectacular And Orrest Head

SPEAKER_04 43:19

I was relieved because I wasn't driving myself, I'll be honest.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

Yeah, well that's it. You could sit back and enjoy the lake district without having to drive because you were driven being driven around by our fantastic um mountain goat driver guide. So that made things really easy. Now I I've shared uh you can have a check out our reel on Instagram, which which shows you some of the scenery. Hopefully, we'll get a video together as well on YouTube showing you some of the beautiful, um stunning sights that day. Yeah, um, but obviously we saw 10 leaks. We stopped off, went right to the north, so we stopped off in Keswick and had lunch. Oh my goodness, we had the most scenic lunch ever. Um, I have shared a lot, I have shared a lot actually on Instagram stories and the feedback I have had from people that have said, wow, oh my goodness, it's stunning. I'm breathless looking at it because it's so so beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 44:07

We did our mail deal and we sat on the grass looking across the lake.

SPEAKER_02 44:12

Oh, it was just beautiful, absolutely beautiful. And really, driving around the lake district is not for the faint hearted, but also getting parked in the lake district is just so difficult. There's so many people who had you double parked and had parking tickets.

SPEAKER_04 44:26

Oh, that's right. There's traffic wardens there who check your parking.

SPEAKER_02 44:29

Yeah, so honestly, Dake District, get yourself there by train, get yourself accommodation, you can get the bus down to the lake, get yourself on the buses to get round, um and and just enjoy it. Take it.

SPEAKER_04 44:40

Which we have done before when we visited.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:42

We have taken the buses, we've relied on the buses before. Yeah. Um without any issue whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02 44:46

No, it's a great way to get around, but honestly, the best way to see the full lakes and that and the ten lakes that we do it is to take them out and go to it is again.

SPEAKER_04 44:54

You've got the driver guide with their knowledge and the explanations about different places. Because frankly, if you drive around yourself, you don't get that same level of knowledge.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

No, you don't. Well, we probably would have argued because I imagine you would have got stressed with the driving, so it would have probably ended up with a bit of a to be honest with you, it'd be hard not to get stressed without driving, I think. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I guess I mean so that was it. We stayed, we stayed in the lake district. But we got back, actually, we did a beautiful walk that evening.

SPEAKER_04 45:23

We did back uh near Windermere railway station.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

Yeah, just opposite the guide, the the the travel, what's it kind of the guide shop? I don't know what you want to call it. The information centre tourist information. Tourist information, that's it.

SPEAKER_04 45:34

Also left luggage there as well.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

Yes, there is that's right, and a really good uh place, supermarket booths where you can get stocked up. It's a fantastic supermarket.

SPEAKER_04 45:42

Yeah, it is good.

SPEAKER_02 45:43

Um so that's really good.

SPEAKER_04 45:44

Yeah, we walked to this viewpoint called Orist Head.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

So we'll put some photos. Oh, you've got a fantastic view over Windermere. Yeah, uh, just beautiful. Uh you know, and we were very lucky the weather was fantastic, but the Lake District, we in fact we heard so many different accents and people from around the world in the lake district, it's such a popular pop with destination. In fact, I'm hoping we'll get a whole episode all about things to know before you visit the lake district. I think that will probably be an essential podcast. So we'll get that sorted in the next um in the next month or so, um, so you can listen to that if you plan to visit the lake district. Um, because it is just again, we we we went, I would say the north of England offers some most stunning scenery anywhere in the world, it really does. Yep, um, Yorkshire Dales, Lake District, beautiful. Um, so we've got uh we work with mountain goats. So if you don't want to do the driving, you don't want to do the public transport apart from getting the train there, but you actually want to sit back, all of your party enjoy the scenery, the best way to do it is to book a train.

SPEAKER_04 46:46

And the small groups, not all driving guides.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

Yeah, so let's just think about so obviously this we've gone through an itinerary, we did a bit of driving, we've done some trains, and we've done some tours. So we've kind of given you some options, talked about all of the different ways that you can travel around. We did some car, we did some trains, we did some buses, and so obviously did our guided tours. Um, and we gave you kind of an outline of some of the positives and some of the negatives of thinking about if you're driving some of the considerations that you've got to have. Now, if you are planning to drive, make sure that you book your car well in advance. If you want an automatic, especially, you'll need to consider that because um there are less. I think there's more automatics than used to be a few years ago, but still, if you need an automatic, you need to make sure that you book that. Um, and also remember in the UK we drive on the left. Highly recommend that you do the Trip Yarmo course. I will link to it. Everybody who's done it said it's absolutely fantastic, will prepare you for driving in the UK, where we have some of these places we've talked about, single track roads, and it will tell you about passing place etiquette. You need to know what to do when you've got to pass people. Um, and that caused a little bit of altercation in the in the lake district, didn't it? Where people weren't sure about you know, you know if there's passing places, you need to reverse and let people pass on not parked

Driving Lessons Toilets Money And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_02 47:59

the car in them. Yes, and not some cars are parked in passing places, which was a bit not very good. Um, so Trippiama is we highly recommend the Trippiama course. We do have uh an affiliate link, no cost to yourself. Um, if you book through that, it's not expensive, but honestly, absolutely worth doing. Um, so we we mixed both. You enjoyed both the driving, you enjoyed both the chores as well, didn't you?

SPEAKER_04 48:22

Yeah, I enjoyed the the driving, the weather was nice, and yes, I'm familiar with driving on the left, but it was just the things that our pace. Um so it was just yeah, nice, gentle days.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

So thoroughly enjoyed it. So that was uh so basically that was our itinerary for the north. Um so I'm not really include Northumberland, but into Durham, Yorkshire Dales, and into Lake District.

SPEAKER_04 48:43

Yeah, one little tip of course anywhere you travel, uh public toilets, conveniences, there's a mixture of card and coins needed.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

Yeah, I was actually gonna mention that. I've got one tip I'd say that most of the time we were able to pay by card, um but some did did some want cash?

SPEAKER_04 49:02

Yeah, there's there's one I think where it was, it was fifty or sixty pounds. Was that in Grassmere? Yeah, it might have been.

SPEAKER_02 49:08

And did you have to pay in cash for that one? Could you use card? I don't know where. I think most of them you could tap with card.

SPEAKER_04 49:13

Yeah, most of them you could. One of them was free, it should have been charged, but the barrier was open, so everybody's using it.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

But yeah, just be aware of that. You it's not free to pee. Yeah. Uh and then it is a backup or live district.

SPEAKER_04 49:24

Take a few, you know.

SPEAKER_02 49:26

Have a few bits of change. I do say have a little bit of change. I know in London you can get away with it most of the time without needing any cash whatsoever. But if you're going outside of London, have a little bit of cash. So that would be our tip for that as well. Now, Mountain Goat, we recommend highly going out with Record Mountain Goat tour, small group tours, really, really good. Um, our tour guides were amazing, really good. We have a listener discount, UK Trav 10 for 10% off Mountain Goat tour. So, you know, use that, put that in as checkout, and you'll get your 10% off. Um, yeah, so I next time I want to spend longer.

SPEAKER_04 50:00

Most definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:03

I want to spend longer there, I want to spend longer.

SPEAKER_04 50:04

All places.

SPEAKER_02 50:05

Um, but uh it was just so beautiful. Yorkshire is beautiful, the Lake District is beautiful, Durham County. Durham is beautiful, they've got the Durham Dales, Northumberland is beautiful, the north of England is beautiful, and you know, quite often um parts of it get overlooked.

SPEAKER_04 50:20

It is. Don't forget, there's more to the UK than just London and Edinburgh.

SPEAKER_02 50:25

Yeah, absolutely. There's lots and lots of other places, and also um outside the cities, we were experienced the countryside, which was just stunning and absolutely fantastic. So if you've enjoyed this episode, um if you've got any questions, let us know via Speakpipe. Share it if you know anybody that's planning a trip to the UK, share the podcast with them, please. We absolutely appreciate that. Um, as I say, um we will be bringing you more information about the Lake District uh in coming up episodes. We're going to be talking about our Scotland itinerary in coming up episodes as well.

SPEAKER_04 50:57

Yes, that'll be a good one.

SPEAKER_02 50:58

Yeah, but I guess there's anything else you want to share, Doug, or with John, do you think for this episode?

SPEAKER_04 51:02

No, I'll just say we reinforce what you said. Don't forget, all Yorkshire is some stunning, stunning scenery and the Lake District.

SPEAKER_02 51:11

Absolutely. Anyway, that I guess just leaves us to say until next week for myself and Doug. Happy UK Travel Planning! Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanning.com. If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app? We love to hear from you, and you never know, you may receive a shout out in a future episode. But as always, that just leaves me to say until next week, happy UK travel planning.