Yorkshire Tales

After leaving Thirsk on the 27th, I made my way to the little village of Crayke! Crayke is the village that my cousin Amanda and Catherine both grew up in, so I have heard LOTS of stories from both. I stayed with Amanda's good friend, Nettie and her lovely family until the 30th. The first afternoon I arrived, Nettie took me out nerding (!!). Her, the kids and I went to Helmsley Castle - about 20-30min from Crayke.

Me, Nettie & Moia

This was SO neat. It was old castle ruins and of course lots of history that I won't bore you all with - but I really enjoyed it. The next day, we went into York, as the kids wanted to spend some of their Christmas gift cards. The weather was foggy the ENTIRE time I was in Crayke, so that paired with losing light early did not allow for great pictures in York (AND the walls were closed, AGAIN!). It was loads of fun walking around with Nettie though. She told me all the "accurate" history about the city of York as well....very entertaining!

If you ever need to catch up on sleep, I would suggest spending time at Nettie's! She also runs a B&B and is a wonderful hostess! On my last day, we all went for a walk around Castle Howard. Unfortunately the fog did not allow me to actually SEE Castle Howard, but we had a nice walk around the property.

Moia and Callum

This was the path to get from Nettie's into Crayke (across 3 fields)

Nettie's husband, Eamon (the same hero that helped Amanda get from York to Glasgow to catch her flight) took me to the train station early in the morning on the 30th to make sure I caught my train to Edinburgh!

It was a lovely visit with them, and I am SO happy that there are wonderful people over here to visit and spend time with!

During my time in Crayke, I had a chance to meet up with Catherine and family, as they were in Crayke for Christmas. She took me on the long awaited "Amanda walk" to see all the places where the stories took place! It was very cool - especially seeing the house that Amanda grew up in. It was neat to see the family up in Crayke as well - Oscar and Gareth joined us for part of the walk.

The house that Nettie's Aunties used to live - Oscar and Gareth

Gareth, Oscar and Catherine

The house that Amanda grew up in/Goodin Sweet Shop!
The backyard (aka Garden) Amanda and Catherine used to play in

Village Pub - The Durham Ox

After Crayke, I was en route to Edinburgh for 4 days! I will talk about that next post.

Work update - things are going well! I seem to have great classes so far (Year 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Girls PE, plus a tutor group). I will meet the rest of my Year 11s tomorrow, and Year 10s next week. The PE staff are very helpful and friendly. It feels amazing to finally be able to settle into one place for a while.

Much love. xo