Weekend excursions

[Steve]

Are there easy ways to get to The Yorkshire Moors. How about to Fountains Abbey and the Dales? Do I need to rent a car?

[ali]

Hi

You can get on to the North yprkshire Moors with the bus called the Yorkshire coastliner, you can pick up a timetable from tourist info in York, and the bus goes from various stops in York including the railway station. This bus also goes via Castle Howard. Not sure how you get to Fountains abbey though.

Ali

[Toby]

I would always suggest renting a car, purely so you have the freedom to travel. You always get to see so much more with the freedom to roam. There are also some stunning places that are not rammed full of tourists. I personally think the coastline is just amazing.

Budget have always given me a good deal when needed.

If you do a google I am sure you could get the bus information for getting to places.

It may be worth looking at place names and doing searches that way.

[Pam]

On Sundays during the summer you can get buses direct from York city centre to Fountain's Abbey and parts of the Yorkshire Dales National Park - have a look here www.dalesbus.org/ under the link for Summer Buses.

Personally I would choose a visit to Rievaulx Abbey and Byland Abbey in the North York Moors, rather than Fountains, but that is just my preference. Mount Grace Priory, just outside the north western edge of the NYM, off the A1/A19, is very pretty and provides a fascinating glimpse into monastic life....

Ryedale Folk Museum is a very good open air museum, the motte and bailey of Pickering Castle is not far away and if you are into medieval church wall paintings, a visit to Pickering Church would be worth your while!

Middleham Castle, in the Yorkshire Dales, is another good place to visit if you like medieval stuff - it is where Richard III grew up in the care of 'Warwick the Kingmaker'.

If you fancy a row on the river, a riverside walk, a quick look round a castle (not much left, thanks to the Civil War) and a nice cup of tea and a bun, you might like yo drop by my little home town of Knaresborough. The train station is very pretty and has direct rail links with York (and also straight through to Harrogate and Leeds).

Anyway, those are a few touristy things to do, if any help to anyone.

As Toby says, getting off the tourist track is great as you get more peace and quiet and the countryside and coast itself is often so spectacular that just being there is enough!

[keiths]

A few extra ones worth a look:-

First of all if you fancy a day trip to Scarborough there are frequent trains, and if you want to justify the beer, fish & chips, ice cream etc. Scarborough castle is worth a look. Similar for Whitby & Whitby Abbey.

Helmsley Castle is pretty good, I spent a few hours looking around a while ago and enjoyed it, you can combine this with a trip to Rievaulx as they are pretty close together.

The Rudston monument in the churchyard at Rudston (funnily enough) in the Wolds is at 20' the largest free standing Neolithic monument in the country, and is the focus of 4 cursus monuments (although these are not really visible). A bit difficult to find but worth the effort. The Wolds is stuffed with old churches etc. so you can take these in or continue to Bridlington/Filey for a day out.

Kirkham Priory is just off the A64 a few miles from York, and if you have a car isn't far from Castle Howard.

Cawthorne Camps is a fairly extensive set of Roman camps (earthworks only no reconstruction) at the back of Pickering, but a good car ride away, and a bit difficult to find but well worth it.

If you are into museums I recently visited Hull & East Riding Museum and was really impressed, great collection of prehistoric stuff, and Roman pottery, it's about 15 mins walk or a short taxi ride from Hull station. While in Hull you can always visit the Deep admittedly not archaeology but apparently a pretty spectacular aquarium.

Since I live in York I will be around most weekends, and although I have a boatload of university stuff to do over the holidays, I wouldn't mind taking a few people out in my car on an informal basis occasionally, if there is any interest.

[Steve]

You are all amazingly helpful. I figured there was a lot to see. Yes, you've got it, Pam, I do like medieval stuff. Toby, I like the idea of getting off away from tourist hordes and the flexibility of going where the spirit moves me-- like stopping at a pub because it seems the right place. I probably will rent a car and gather some others who would like to explore the countryside. Of course, this Yank (from Connecticut) will have to get used to driving on the left side of the road. Thank you, Ali, Keith, Pam and Toby. See you all next week. Then I'll see about getting a likely group together for July 14 and 15.

[Lindsey]

I would definitely be interested in finding someone (preferrably who is more bus travel savvy than I) with whom I can go exploring! Being from the US, I am relatively dimwitted when it comes to busses...

I will be at the university from July 8-22nd. Steve, if you find any interesting places to explore and you'd like company, let me know!

[Toby]

You will need to watch out for people on bikes (with and without engines). I found that he roads around the good places to go are also good for not seeing car/bikes, depending which one you are on/in at the time.