Day 7: Scarborough Castle

Just pretend that you can't see the grass at the bottom of the picture

Alright folks, today was young artist competition day at the York Early Music Festival, so there were not really any concerts.  We decided to head out of town for a day trip to the sleepy little coastal town of Scarborough.

Scarborough was Daniel's idea and it turned out to be a great place to go.  It's pretty close to York - just a 45 minute train ride, made more interesting by an old man sitting in out little group of 4 seats who tossed out facts about the English countryside and all sorts of other things the whole way.  For instance:

1) Yorkshire is the largest county in England.

2)  He has lived in York his entire life.

3) Most of the royal family's men are going bald.

4) Downtown York is turning into "one giant pub" because there are so many of them.

5) "The Kennedys" was a pretty good documentary.  Greg Kinnear, you know.

6) Scarborough's train station has the longest train station bench in the world.  

7) The best fish and chips in Yorkshire is just to the right of the terminal - called "Mother Hubbard's"

Allison's Notes: Honorary mention goes to Daniel and Andrew for their great help in keeping the conversation going.  4.5 minutes into the old man's life story, Daniel put on his headphones and sunglasses.  Awesome.  Then Andrew decides he has to use the loo.  Really??    

We all ("Allison") had to concentrate pretty hard to understand him with his accent but we learned quite a bit on the ride over.  When we pulled up he said, "Right-o.  Enjoy your day."  Nice guy.

We then embarked on an unplanned day.  (Allison is mildly hyperventilating even as she's writing this several hours after the fact.)  I had to schedule it as an "unplanned" day in my agenda just so I would feel like some aspect of it was planned.  We didn't even have a map!!  But we figured the beach was somewhere nearby and if all else failed, following the sea gulls seemed like a logical plan.  So we did.  Got to admit that going to a beach in 60 degree weather was weird.  I kept my athletic shoes on the whole time, and I was bundled up because it was so windy... brr!   Scarborough's touristy spots are so darned cute and really remind me of your average American boardwalk, minus the saltwater taffy.  (We looked for it, it doesn't exist.)  Instead, we had afternoon tea along the beach.  Love it!  (Warm scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream is now what I want in my I.V. any time I have to go to a hospital.)

Daniel has a massive sweet tooth.  This was the first cream filled pastry he had  today...
there were more.

Cute little seaside boardwalk

Running shoes in the sand?  Cold?  Yes.

Beach!

Very cold water

So many flowers

Daniel was not dry the rest of the day

We sat in the sand for a good while just hanging out.  You see a lot of different types of attire here in England.  I'll do another post on it later, let just say that the nose piercing I've had for the last year or so fits right in.  My blonde hair does not, a bright shade of purple or red might be more appropriate for my age... but that's a topic for another day.  At the beach, there was a weird mixture of sissys like us who had nine layers of clothes on, and then the average Scarboroghonian (??) (Scarboroughniantonianists) who had a swimsuit on.  Evidently "cold" weather is a relative phenomenon.  (As is a cheese sandwich...if you order a cheese sandwich, you will not get grilled cheese but a slice of chilly cheese on a piece of bread.  In Scarborough, you will get a mound of shredded Kraft on a hamburger bun (How do you eat it??) ).  

The ruins of Scarborough Caslte

After our athletic shoes were heavy with sand, Daniel suggested we climb up the Scarborough Castle.  I had to contort my neck in a very ungraceful position to see the castle behind me, which made me think twice about not having a car.  Scarborough is very hilly.  So we climbed and walked and climbed...but it was so worth it!  The castle ruins and ground were probably my second favorite place we've visited so far.  So desolate and beautiful.  You know those pictures you see of the cliffs of England and Ireland?  We were on top of them! 

 Harry Potter nerds:  

1.  It was like when Dumbledore takes Harry to the caves where Voldemort hid the horcrux!  

2.  Tomorrow!  I will see the movie 6 hours ahead of you!!!!!

Surveying his domain 

Take a look at the windy pictures.  We have video too but can't load it with the slow connection at our B&B. Afterwards, we walked around some of the seedier parts of town, had dinner and returned home on the train.  Daniel even serenaded Andrew and I on our empty train cart, it was comical.  (It was something...)

Ruins of the castle tower

Andrew began gnawing on "wheat"... which he said wan't actually wheat, so he called it "faux-wheat",  or "fwheat"

Lord of the Rings fans should be very happy with this picture.
"Light the beacons!!"

Awwww....

You can't see it, but he still has the fwheat in his mouth... nerd.

Tomorrow is going to be a good day - as we said, we're seeing the last Harry Potter movie and BY THE WAY - we found out that The Dufay Ensemble played on the soundtrack of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (movie #3)!!!  All you fellow nerds, listen to the soundtrack and see if you can pick out where they play.  How's THAT for connecting current pop culture with early music??  Tomorrow is also the biggest concert of the entire festival - The Sixteen perform in York Minster Cathedral!  I've been a Sixteen fan for a long time, so hooray!

Before we go, Happy Birthday to my beautiful and wonderful Mom today by the way!  Love you Mom!!