Overlooking the first couple of days where Noeline was recovering from Jet flu the first week started off with a walk through Wetherby and a quick Sunday lunch in the riverside cafe, Monday off to Thirsk for a browse through the market square, to buy some warmer clothes, and an hour or so looking in the Herriot Museum. We left Thirsk after a spot of morning Tea and went to Sutton Bank on the edge of the North York Moors to look at the best view in England and watch the gliders being launched from the airstrip.. http://www.enjoyengland.com/destinations/find/yorkshire/north-yorkshire/sutton-bank.aspx We have mentioned in these pages before the Mouseman furniture factory at Kilburn www.robertthompsons.co.uk/ nearby but as it is such a lovely little village and the factory/showroom so rewarding we went there for lunch before returning home. Bumped into our next door neighbour , Liz, who was getting lost in the foothills with some of her walking buddies and had stopped off for refreshments.
Tuesday was off to Boston Spa for lunch and Wednesday we set off for Gail's birthday for a visit to York to attend an auction, have a walk through the Shambles in York, a visit to watch the making of a wonderful sweet in the fudge factory before doing a tour of York Minster.
We also did a tour of Clifford's castle http://www.cliffordstower.com/ where we saw the gardeners doing the lawn cutting in a most unusual way.
The next day we set off over the Pennine mountain range to the upper reaches of the Wharfe river where Bolton priory is located http://www.boltonabbey.com/ .
A great day out of riverside walking, river crossing,
abbey viewing
and then back to the Devonshire Arms hotel for a sandwich lunch. http://www.thedevonshirearms.co.uk/index.cfm .
Saturday was a day of rest and some prep work for a lunch we had planned with David and Carolyn our neighbours. Gail's plans included a trip up to Newcastle to attend a farewell rage for some of the work staff who were leaving Alliance because the main contract they were hired for was coming to an end.
It was 
a bitter sweet farewell as the team of "helpers" were much appreciated and will be sorely missed in ensuring the day's work runs smoothly. The Sunday Lunch was a great time with good chat and
a rare sit outside as we braved the summer day in defiance of the rather chill climate... 
we relented later and had the meal indoors.Monday and Tuesday saw Gail at work so Greg and Noeline headed off to Leeds on Monday and back to Harrogate on Tuesday. Leeds is a great city and a visit to the Queens arcade, Leeds Markets, Corn Exchange, Town hall and a slap up Italian lunch was about all we could squeeze in to one day. The double deck bus trip in and back was a feature of the day as from up high it is possible to have fantastic views of the countryside and people's gardens and grand homes on the way. The day in Harrogate was equally eventful but notably we had lunch in the Old Swan, the Hotel where Agatha Christie hid out while the whole country speculated on her disappearance http://www.realholidayreports.com/hotel_list/Old_Swan_Hotel_Harrogate.html
Wednesday and Thursday were set aside for a trip to the East coast via the North York Moors town
of Helmsley with 
it's castle and market square
and on to the coastal towns of towns of Whitby and Staiths,
both 
linked to Captain Cook and despite changeable weather we had a grand two days . A visit to
Whitby abbey was a highlight and a worthwhile couple of hours were spent roaming the ruins and enjoying the scenery. Next Month will include a visit to the Lakes region on the West coast so I am sure we will have a ball there too. Do read our other adventures this month in the headings below this entry, we had a beer festival , a pram race, a liquorice festival and a cow mentioned previously.
Thursday was a trip to Harrogate , our local victorian spa town known for it's high fashion, conference centre and Betty's cafe where we had High Tea as a late lunch.
