The Walk 2010: Prelude: Helmsley and Duncombe Park

N.B. This is the first of 11 posts about my trip to Yorkshire England in 2010. Feel free to browse forward or backward using the navigation links.
Cleveland Way Navigation: [Next Day] - [End of Trip]

This year, the "A Team" went walking in Yorkshire on the Cleveland Way. I flew in to London, took the intercity train to York, and followed Sarah's text messages to get to Betty's for a light lunch. Although I also liked the look of this place:

We took a taxi to Helmsley (from a taxi stand near York Minster):

Once we checked in to the hotel in Helmsley, we took a pre-Walk walk to Duncombe Park, with nice views of the 12th C tower of Helmsley Castle.

There were sheep in the meadow:

A stately home:
And more views of Helmsley Castle:

Birds -- I like to think rooks -- circled over and around the tower as evening fell:

We returned to the village to dine at the finest Italian restaurant in town. Our innkeeper warned us we needed to make reservations two weeks in advance, but it turned out two hours' notice was sufficient tonight. As we wandered about, we admired the street scenes:

We strolled past a church graveyard with listing stones:

This is the place we did NOT stay. You'll never guess its name.
Luckily none of us had this unfortunately named product for dinner:

A delightful evening, marred only by my impatience to find out what happened in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which I'd picked up in the airport. Couldn't justify staying up all night, though, since we were starting the Walk first thing in the morning.

N.B. This is the first of 11 posts about my trip to Yorkshire England in 2010.
Cleveland Way Navigation: [Next Day] - [End of Trip]