Mark & Tracy's Travels 2024

Yesterday we arrived in the town of Helmsley from where we start our walk on the Cleveland Way. For the next 10 days we will walk from town to town, with about the first five in North Yorkshire and then the next five along the coast. Our charming digs.  Off we go! The Rye River runs through town and we crossed it on our walk.  We made a stop at the Riveaux Abbey, established in the 1100s by a group of monks dedicated to prayer and hard work.  The Abbey was populated for more than 400 years by more than 600 monks. The remains are impressive.  Much of the Abbey was demolished in the 1500s on the orders of Henry VIII.  Back on the trail, we encountered 100s of pheasants. At first we thought we were spotting something special and then we'd encounter huge flocks in fields where the gamekeepers are fattening them up for an early October hunt.  The weather was am...

As we transitioned between our canal boat ride and our walking trip, we spent about 48 hours in York. Clifford's Tower, pictured above, is all that remains of one of York's castles. It sat right across the street from our apartment. It was non stop entertainment to watch kids and drunk partiers try with varying degrees of success to scramble up that very steep hill.  This street called the Shambles was in the Harry Potter movies.  Some of the city walls remain, and you can walk on portions of them. We went up near dusk, which the signs say is when they close.  We scrambled down just in time... Before I saw a guy lock this door right behind us.  The next day we headed to the National Railway Museum. So many trains! This one is from the 1850s.  Lots of opportunities to see the innards.  This locomotive was rescued from a scrap yard and then cut open to reve...

Hard to believe we are already completing our two-week canal cruise. Common sights on any cruising day covered a wide range. Daily we saw various water birds, including the grey herons, which are pretty close to our blue herons. Coots. Their babies are very noisy and demanding.  So many swans. I don't like it when they hiss. They are huge!  We encountered cows. We saw these beautiful sheep. Also tons of less interesting sheep.  So many cool bridges. The angles on the bricks on this one! This is the only swing bridge we encountered. Boaters have to get out and push it to move the boat through. It's so well balanced that it is light as a feather.  Cute.  We also enjoyed the various houses and barns. Everyone has a shed or other out building.  Typically while cruising, at least one person would sit up f...