Traaaaaaaiiiiiiiinnnnnsss

Me and Chalkie had waited about 5 years to go to the National Railway Museum.. ran out of time last time we were in York when JJ was a baby. I remember very little from the time we came as kids. I am, however, rapidly becoming obsessed with steam trains.

The first thing I learned was that the boilers are not just a massive cylinder full of steam, but there loads of pipes in there that efficiently transfer the heat from the fire box to the water.

The turntable was cool.. and yes, it is always the big kids you have to watch out for..

Replica of Stephenson's Rocket

The ultimate trainspotter's trophies..

Some trains have a hard life!

The fastest steam train in the world.. and the coolest uncle in the world..

And then slow little me..

I would have said that this was my favourite train (apart from the Hogwarts Express), but as it's taken me a couple of weeks to write this blog and I have since seen a certain Flying Scotsman...

Crap selfies time..

Then a kind bloke helped us out..

Will have to watch the film again to see if this is the real one..

This hall is the one I sort of remember from when we came years ago.. I think I remember the Royal Carriages.

Someone's off to Joyland..

Now that, Dad, is how to wrap a bike..

Two soups?!

Rule 2 reminded me of Chalkie and Jim at their saturday job..

The gift shop here was almost torture.. so. many. things. Especially difficult to not fall for was the Hornby starter set of the Flying Scotsman. I think had it been there for us to see some accident may have befallen the credit card! Lets hope I see it at the car boot one day for 20p like I did the Terry Pratchett Train book. 

The FS story bit was good. Wish I could remember more. It was more a famous service than a famous loco. There has certainly been more than one loco. And that has been rescued several times. 

After hours and hours Mum had seen enough trains (I think she'd seen enough after 30 mins but.. ) so we went shopping in York. Chalkie did a sneaky tour of the Minster while we lost him...distracted by crap selfies.. 

Looking for the Shambles...

Mum almost bought this for us..

Cache hunting led to finding this hilariously named street, and an awesome shop thereon..

Birthday list..

Yup, there is a cache here..

And this was a Ghost cache. We had already walked past it earlier and completely missed it.

Long and excellent day in York. Topped off by an excellent meal (pizza) in the Dormouse, which remembered from the last time we were in York. Hurrah for smartphones, located and booked by the time we got back to the car :-)  

Buzz bombs and Prefabs

Monday
Stared the day with Egg Banjos with the proper Bacon from the food festival, now that we had some tommy K. They were extra yummy. And extra explodey.

Chalkie's choice today. Eden Camp. It was a PoW camp in WW2 and is now a museum of domestic and military life from that era.

As usual in a museum we took ages reading everything. Some bits were horrible, like the hut that depicted a submarine under attack. Some bits were surprising. Like how big a V1 rocket was.. and how Chalkie told me that the RAF dealt with them, because you had to get really close to shoot them you'd just end up flying through the flack. Bad idea. So they used to get alongside them, then get their wingtip under that of the Doodlebug, and tip it. Messed with the gyro so it just crashed on its own. Genius.

Some bits were hilarious.. namely the Music Hall show. Puppets of Gracie Field, Vera Lynn and George Formby. And Sooty. And a squirt gun. Foreign visitors must marvel at how the English laugh at a puppet being chucked in the air, and will sing along with anything, even when mocked by a held up sign.

Mum's favourite bit was the prefab. Exactly as she remembered it (except the cladding outside) down to the cupboards in her bedroom that gave her nightmares.

Think this was the first gift shop.. slippery slope on the tea towels, mugs and pencils front! Best bit for photographs was at the exit.. a Spitfire and a Hurricane.

Was still fairly early so went to Pickering for a 'look' and to find a place to eat. Typically it turned into a Geocache wander in random directions. First was a multi at the church, which had a huge mural inside. I only got a picture of the bat gates. If I have a fence when I finally get a house I want bats on it..

Next was a Sidetracked cache. So furthering the trains theme (and possibly giving Mum the brilliant plan of a ride on the NYMR) we went to Pickering Station..

Then had a bit of a countryside stroll going for the next couple..

Could hear the train, but this was as close as we got to seeing it.

Then as we got back across the river we saw our first loco of the week..

And ended the walk with a tour of Pickering Castle..

Found a pub. Only good thing was playing Heads Up... but for aaaaages.

Ignoring signs leads to adventure

Sunday
Chalkie said this was going to be the best day for weather (prob right sadly) so we had a beach day. We started off full of hope. I faffed looking for a vest and shorts, we went in Bumble, and even took the surfboard even though MSW said zilch. Was even sunny when we spotted the 'Seagull' chalk painting...

Less sunny when we spotted out first train of the week, shortly followed by the short purple one that went over the crossing.

Hope soon evaporated when we discovered that it was cold and windy. Stayed in Bumble for our picnic. Took blanket and chairs etc down the steep hill to the beach to confirm that it was cold and windy.

The new windbreak was an Epic Fail. Not only was it impossible to pitch (guy ropes on a stony beach not gonna happen) but was pre torn. Not Go's finest. Sat on the blanket. Trev covered from head to toe this time. Watched some people sailing (trying to persuade Pops to get a boat again) and did some knitting. Time on car park running out so me and Pops went to look for a cache while others went back to Bumble and then cafe.

 Off across the field, sorry, country park to find a couple more caches. Little did we know what adventure lay ahead!!

Simple one very similar to previous find by the gate post, then it got interesting hehe. Earth cache first, pacing across perilous cliff top ridges and hunting for answers on information boards. The Ghost Cache was the most awesome one in ages. Only to be found by the brave. And those that ignore safety warnings on the top of cliffs.

Was expecting the usual "keep away from the edge" from Pops, but everybody followed! Mum did brilliantly, and got as far as the green slippery rocks. Me and Pops forged on, hoping that the 'thing with the nuts' was not underwater already. It wasn't.

Time on car park again running out, so pegged it back as we realised we had all the keys. All back in Bumble to go up to Bridlington. Soon realised it was miserable weather for exploring so just a short walk along the harbour wall. Not even a cache within reach.

Witnessed a race between a lobster and a fish. My money on the lobster.

Went into first eatery Mum spotted. Turned out to be really nice, lovely roast and best views of the sea and the desserts were extra yummy.

Little look at the boats before heading home fairly early for games night.

To my surprise everyone actually agreed to play Monopoly!!! Maybe because it was Yorkshire Edition rather than Star Wars, maybe because of the Rhubarb liqueur. Anyways. It was fun. Almost speed monopoly, which probably helped. I won, despite repeatedly landing on free parking immediately after someone else had picked up all the fines money (French rule), mainly because I got lucky and landed on all the train stations. Then everyone else did at £200 a pop. Hehe. The start of a slippery slope with me and trains this week.