We still have 1 or 2 15 minute slots in our itinerary for Cumbria and Yorkshires.
 

Hi all. We arive Gatwick Sept 7 and will train to Cambridge that night. After a day there we pick up a car and drive up and over and back. 12 days with a car and then 4 in London. Are there any personal recomendations for things to see/places to sleep/places to eat that are not listed in any of the standard guidebooks?

I'm sure you know all about York and the great fun to be had wandering its narrow streets. Go to see one of the ruins of Cistercian abbeys, Revialx (sp?), north of York, or Fountains Abbey (that I can spell) NW of York near Ripon. In late May we drove from York to the Lake District and back. We enjoyed visiting Skipton Castle (in Skipton, a bit SE of the Lake District). I had not heard of it before. It has no furniture, art, etc.--just a bare castle, but it had several circular staircases where we could scramble up the stone stairs to rooms with arrow slits in the walls. I was wishing we had found that site when we took our children to Europe in 1985. <BR> <BR>We loved a B & B in Ingleton (on toward Kendal from Skipton) called Moorgarth Hall. Interesting, large old house with friendly hosts, comfortable room, delicious breakfast. I had found it on the aa.co.uk hotel search site. I was also interested in the Augill Castle in Brough, Cumbria. It is a fabulous-looking castle which is now a relatively inexpensive B & B. It's further north, just NW of Richmond. They couldn't accommodate us on the dates we wanted, unfortunately. They have their own website, with pictures. <BR> <BR>BTW, my husband and I had a terrific (but short) visit to Victoria last summer.

Thanks Diane. I checked last night and the Reviaulx abbey already had a pin in the map, but not the Skipton castle. Sounds like our kind of picnic spot. It would seem you and hubby have similar travel tastes to Dor and I. An abbey here, a castle there with an ocasional manor house or stone circle thrown in the mix. I will definately check out the Augill castle when we are there. re Victoria. I had never stayed anywhere longer than 3 years until I moved here in '82 ,nuf said?

Hi, Rand. Check out the thread NO TIME FOR TRAVEL to see a summary of our first trip to Europe (in 1964). We do tend to try to pack too much into one trip, even now. For our trip in May 2000, we spent 6 nights in London, trained up to York to rent a car and drove around for 3 days, and then took the Eurostar to Paris for 4 nights. I probably would have spent the entire time in England except that we took my sister to Europe with us and it was her first time.

I went to a friends wedding in Skipton a couple of years ago. The town is known as the Gateway to the Dales. Skipton is a nice mid-sized town, and the castle is it's claim to fame. Surrounding it are beautiful hills and dales (the small towns). The dales are quaint, and ancient dry walls crisscross the hillsides. <BR> <BR>You can also see the ruins of Bolton Abbey near Skipton. We spent a day in Burnsall. Not much to do there but walk in the hills, but it's very pretty. Mallem (sp?) is another nice area to go walking.

Hi, Rand, <BR>Maybe you've already booked the time, but tea or a meal at Betty's in Harrogate is fun - great food, tea, and you can rub shoulders (well, not really) with the well-turned-out Ladies of Harrogate (many with wonderful helmet hair IMO). Sadly, regular patron (aka) James Heriot is still dead. <BR>http://www.bettysandtaylors.co.uk

hiya, <BR>If you make it to skipton and malham, you have to go to grassington, smaller than skipton but less touristy, just a few shops and pubs round a cobbled village square. i used to live nearby. <BR>ps- well done for looking at yorks. too many US tourists only do the big places; London Bath Edinburgh etc.

Thanks for the suggestions. We spent the weekend looking at more books and now have too many pins in the map. Decisions, decisions. Any suggestions on the best driving route back down from Skipton to Cambridge where we will drop off the car. I don't want to spend hours lost in the big cities in between and may head east and then south to avoid them.

If you are heading to Yorkshire you might enjoy a visit to Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby. <BR>Whitby's a small town with narrow streets, tea-rooms very quaint. <BR>Robin Hood's Bay is a small village with narrow twisty streets and when the tide is out you can walk up along the cliffs and back along the beach.

Whitby is already pinned. I will look up Robin Hood's Bay. Thanks. www.mapblast is a neat toy. It picked the same route from Skipton to Cambridge that I had. Oh no, does that mean I think like a computer database? Many think so.

If you are thinking about going to Cumbria have you thought about the Lake District. We've just been there for the weekend, there is some spectactular scenery, touristy bits and very remote bits. Its a very long drive to get there though, thats the downside.

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