YORKSHIRE HERE WE COME!
How often can one sit out late into the evening enjoying a leisurely meal in Yorkshire (or indeed anywhere in the UK) before the end of May? Not often, is the answer, but that is precisely what we did on the eve of this year’s Yorkshire tour.
Michel and Annalie Vanhoonacker very kindly and generously hosted us at their home just to the north of the Humber Bridge.
Those taking part had come from disparate places, including Surrey, Shropshire, Cheshire, Ayrshire and Estonia. We based ourselves that night at the cheap and cheerful West Hull Premier Inn, which is within walking distance of the Vanhoonackers’ home (thankfully, for those wanting to drink more than one glass of wine!).
There were eighteen of us taking part in the tour, in eight cars (it should have been nine, but Paul Taylor’s newly restored Jaguar Mk 11 managed to shed a wheel about twenty yards from Michel and Annalie’s home).
Nothing daunted, after making arrangements for the Jaguar to be transported to Suffolk, where it lives, we all set off after breakfast for the east coast in an informal convoy.
Over the course of the morning, we covered about seventy miles visiting, inter alia, Bridlington, Filey (what a magnificent beach there is there) and Scarborough. We broke for lunch at the lighthouse at Flamborough Head.
The drive in the afternoon was about thirty miles and led us to the very attractive location, Robin Hood’s Bay, where we all stayed at the Victoria Hotel, which was perfect for our needs, including having enough (just) room to park our cars.
Sunday dawned lovely again, and we headed southeast to Beverley. In our way, we visited the town of Grosmont, where we were lucky enough to see one of the few remaining ‘Schools Class’ locomotives (Repton) leaving the station pulling several carriages full of sightseers/railway enthusiasts.
We had a minor moment climbing the incredibly steep hill out of the town when Patrick and Susan Russell-Jones’s 1939 Convertible Citroen decided that this was one degree of elevation too much.
All was resolved by us all returning down the hill and leaving by a less vertiginous route.
On Sunday morning, we also found a few minutes to visit the Mathewsons auction house of ‘Bangers and Cash’ fame at Thornton Dale. The amount of free publicity that the firm must have got over the last few years is incalculable.
We arrived in Beverley slightly behind schedule, but our host, Eddie Scot, the winner of Master Chef 2022, was unfazed, and he and his staff looked after us brilliantly at his bistro, L’Opaline, located about fifty yards from the famous Minster.
After lunch, most of us paid a visit to the Minster before setting off for our respective homes.
Huge thanks go to Michel and Annalie for organising this, their fourth SDC Yorkshire tour, and to Chris and Liz Kettle who did the reconnaissance work and prepared the incredibly detailed route plan. Thanks also go to everyone else who came on the tour for your excellent company and good humour.
Miles Preston