Yorkshire! Yorkshire!

It’s great to have been back home for nearly two weeks. It’s exactly what I hoped for: a chance to catch up with loved ones, celebrate birthdays I was otherwise going to be away for, go back to work and catch up with colleagues (I am a proud public servant) and get out and about in the Independent Socialist Republic of Yorkshire.

On Sunday, we walked most of the distance of one of my favourite walks – walking the former railway line, known as the Cinder Track, on this occasion between Robin Hood’s Bay and Scarborough. It included train journeys too, which always make me happy, with the Yorkshire Coast Day Rover ticket enabling rail travel and also use of the local bus service between Scarborough and Whitby. It meant we could stop off in Driffield on the way home and be served a gorgeous Sunday roast by the superb H, a lovely treat after 17 miles of walking (and 8 weeks of no roast dinners).

It’s a wonderful, easy-going walk, with railway stuff to see along the way, as well as the stunning views over Ravenscar, the town that never was.

Here, have some photos:

Yorkshire in its entirety is vast. You can drive for two hours from Hull and still be in Yorkshire. Yorkshire has everything – cities, market towns, villages and parishes with some of the most Yorkshire names you can think of (Ugglebarnby is still one of my favourite examples), hills that cyclists love, flat land (that walkers like me love), thousands of years of history and geology, human and social history of many different stripes and diasporas. I like the attitude in Yorkshire – people are friendly and let you be yourself and there’s a lot less silliness involving ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ round these parts. It can be a bit League of Gentlemen but it can also be the most embracing of communities – Hull threw the doors wide open last year as UK City of Culture and people came from all around and experienced brilliant art and a brilliant welcome from an awesome city.

Last year, I purchased a Yorkshire flag; you will best know this particular one from the hotel windows and sporting events from which I have hung it from time to time on my travels in the last 2 months. It’s a great totem to carry around with me and a lovely reminder of home. People ask where it’s from and what it means – in lots of Europe, there is a lot greater visibility of city and county flags than you often find in the UK, so being able to explain the Yorkshire flag is a source of pride that has now visited 7 countries with me and will be taking in 3 more in the next 2 weeks.

On Sunday, I take off to re-join my original itinerary – Mantova, then on to Montreux, Munich and Prague. Having had the chance to recharge at home, I’m ready for the off again.

Ciao ciao! Ci vediamo in Italia!