Great Ayton - a Kiwi connection

Today we were taken on another road trip to interesting places in North Yorkshire. First stop was the market town of Stokesley. It was actually market day but the number of stalls was pretty low for a market town. Not to worry - the nearby Catterick Markets on Sunday at the Racecourse are the biggest in the north of England. We went for a walk along the small river behind the shops. We've been told it's the lowest these rivers in North Yorkshire have been in a long time. The River Swale, that runs through the village we're staying at, is the fastest flowing river in the country. It has been known at times to rise as much as 10 feet in an hour! Local fishermen are cautious of this - a few of them have been swept away over the years. Crikey!

(Below: Stokesley...and us by the Captain Cook statue in the village green)


Next stop was Great Ayton which is the boyhood home of Captain James Cook. All the locals seemed pretty pleased about this. The Cook family moved to this village when he was 8 years old and he remained there until he was 16. Later, he sailed boats to lands far away. The rest as they say, is history! We had lunch at The Royal Oak pub and the meals were huge! I think they're used to feeding hungry farmers. Sheryl tried her first ever Yorkshire pudding. "It was pretty good", she said.

We popped into the local museum all about him and couldn't resist having a couple of snaps next to the models! We also checked out the 12th century church that the Cook family was buried at. All except James Cook, he was killed on a beach somewhere in Hawaii.



The weather was corker today - best yet since we've been here. More please!

(Below: The river in Great Aylton)