THURSDAY 30 JUNE
After Whitby we have three days to get to Felixstowe and it isn’t very far. The weather was quite stormy looking all around during the morning but we dodged the rain until lunch time and even then we only got the tail end of a shower. We were really lucky.
The town we ended up in was Newark-on-Trent. Once again, not a place we would have sought out (ie. we had never heard of it) but a lovely place to visit. It is a market town with the ruins of a castle. Fancy that!
But firstly we had to get there. When we went to Pickering on the train yesterday we didn’t go on the moors, rather staying in the valleys. This morning we went through Pickering again, but the road takes you up over the moors. A very different picture from what you see on the train.
As the morning progressed we started to get into flatter country with lots of crops. There were also lots of red poppies along the way. Not a great photo, but the best I could get as we rode along.
We went past a huge power station. It makes the ones at home look tiny.
We had a lovely afternoon wandering around Newark. I found this little shop, Eclectica. It was just divine. Such a pretty window display that I had to go in.
Yes, more pretties inside. An advertising thimble (the first I have found this trip) and a cute button brooch came home with me.
Then it was onto the castle. The castle is in the centre of town and is a ruin. However, it has been incorporated into a lovely garden.
It was built on this site as it was a strategic place on the river on the main road to Scotland from London. The river curtain was a major part of its defences.
In more recent times a canal system was added.
They were rather handy for the trade that came later. Newark was a major place for malting for beer. There were about 200 malters at one stage.
The market square is apparently one of the largest cobbled squares in Europe. There are markets each day. We only came on the remnants of the Antiques and Craft markets as they were packing up. There were a few antique stalls not quite finished, but I didn’t see any craft.
You can definitely tell that we are back in the more southerly parts as there are quite a few Tudor styled buildings. We had dinner at the Prince Rupert Hotel, which has just been restored and dates back to 1452. It is a very popular place.
The afternoon saw the weather clear for our explorations and on the way home from dinner it was a clear blue sky. Just perfect weather.
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