Middlesbrough; Tuesday, 26 October, 2010

If yesterday had been a glorious day then today was the exact opposite. The prediction had been for some light showers, and to begin with that’s what it was, but as the morning wore on the weather appeared to get increasingly poor. Thankfully, the plan was to spend almost the whole day travelling so it wouldn’t really matter what the weather was doing.

The only slight flaw in this plan was it did require getting from the hotel to the bus station, which provided ample time for a light soaking.

First trip of the morning and it’s the bus back into Whitby, though this time a different route from the one the previous evening. This route went up over the Moors and it was pretty spectacular, if only for the horrific weather, lashing rain and a really strong wind that made the bus weave and wobble quite a bit. By the time I arrived in Whitby the rain had reached a crescendo and in the 20 or so yard scurry from the bus stop to the station I managed to get soaked again.

At the station I brought my ticket for the through train to Pickering. The North Yorkshire Moors Railway is different from other heritage railways in that it is able to run over the “normal” rail route to Whitby, and they almost double the service between Whitby and Grosmont. Beyond Grosmont the line climbs back up through the moors before finally descending back down into the town of Pickering on the Southern edge of the Moors.

I had a wander around Pickering, intending to look at the castle, only to find that it’s closed from October to March! I had a bit more of a wander around before making my way over to the bus stop to catch the bus along the southern edge of the Moors and then back down into York.

It’s quite a long journey (made even longer by the extended “crew refresh” that took place at Marton) so by the time I got back into York it was already almost four.

I had a quick pit stop for a sandwich in the station before catching the train north to my final stop of the day, Durham.

I was taking a bit of a risk, as I wasn’t due into Durham until gone five. Whilst any museums or other attractions would be closed by then, I had hoped that the Cathedral, the defining symbol of the city, perched high over the river Wear, would still be open, and my gamble paid off, I arrived at 5:30, with 30 minutes to spare before it closed.

I had a wander around the bits of the Cathedral that were still open (they were closing it behind me as I went, and all of the exhibition areas had already closed), before heading back down to the bus station to catch the bus back to Middlesbrough and dinner.