Flat Caps & Flat Out – The Yorkshire Dales and Moors Tour 2021
In true style to our saying about Petrol heads need to indulge themselves at least twice a year!
We are off on the first of this year’s trips and thanks to Covid we are having to stay in the UK.
Having voted at the committee we are off to sample a bit of Northern England on a 2/3 night short trip around The Yorkshire Dales National Park and the North York Moors with our base being in Skipton.
We had 8 cars with 9 people attending the trip. 5 of us started on the transit day with the remaining 4 meeting at the RV point on the Wednesday midday.
Transit Day: (Tuesday 22nd June 2021)
Meet at the “The Club House” – Water End – for Breakfast
by 9.00am (We need to let Jana know what we want in advance ideally from the menu Appendix A)
Then on the road by 10.00am and head long (3.5hrs) to York.
We will choose the route on the day A1 (Preferred) or M1 – The choice will be dependent on traffic conditions.
Staying at the “Queens Hotel” Skeldergate, YO1 6DH Tel: 01904 611321
There is an underground car park where we have reserved parking (£15 per car)
On arrival the hotel has asked us to just have one person deal with the car check-in which was done.
We can all properly check in and get keys after we come back from the lunch.
Both the accommodation and parking are paid for
We will leave the cars and head over the river to the town where we have a reservation for a light lunch at “O’Neils” bar for a spot of beer, wine and nibbles at 2pm.
Evening dinner is reserved at “Masalacraft” at 7.30pm – It’s an Indian “Street Food” restaurant.
After dinner we have a table reserved at “Plonkers” Wine Bar for the evening –
Stay as late as you like as they are open till 2am…
No breakfast has been arranged at the Queens Hotel.
This gives us the option to grab something local or to head off to the Rendezvous Point (Burger King) and grab something there on Day 1. – Time to the RVP from York is around 1.5hrs
Day 1: (Wednesday 23rd June 2021) – Meet with the remaining 3 cars
All cars to meet by midday at the Burger King (Skipton) – A65/a59, Gargrave Rd, Skipton BD23 1UD
We will need to leave here by 12.30pm in order to get round the next leg in time for the off-roading.
Those joining the tour on this day please plan your journey from where you are starting from and get there in good time.
12.30pm – We will head off on a loop lasting around 3 hours taking in the Yorkshire Dales National Park – Passing through Buttertubs Pass, Ribblehead Viaduct and hopefully seeing some great scenery which you would have seen so many times on motoring shows on TV.
The roads are good and not too taxing and even if it’s wet all cars will have no trouble negotiating the undulating high roads.
Time permitting, we will stop for coffee along the route especially if the weather is not great – We have options to shrink the route if need be. The Dales is a truly beautiful part of England – Not as stunning as some of our European destinations but as we have to “Staycate” this is about as good as its going to get…
To finish the days driving we will be ending up at The Land Rover Experience Centre and swap vehicles for our hour session of off roading. – We must be at the centre by 4pm.
(The activity is all paid for)
The experience starts with a briefing and an update of how the hour will run. Maybe grab a quick drink too. We will be out in the vehicles for a full hour.
After finishing the Land Rover experience, we will head into Skipton and check into our lodgings.
The rooms are split between their two premises on opposite sides of the road. There is of course a bar there ..
We will have a chance to freshen up in our rooms before heading out for the evening.
There is a bar owned by the hoteliers (Akroyd’s) – They also have a restaurant which on the first night is closed – We are however booked in for the following night when they are open. It’s a steakhouse with fresh local produce with something on the menu for everyone.
We will have a chance to freshen up in our rooms before heading out for the evening.
There is a bar owned by the hoteliers (Akroyd’s) – They also have a restaurant which on the first night is closed – We are however booked in for the following night when they are open. It’s a steakhouse with fresh local produce with something on the menu for everyone.
After freshening up we need to head into the High Street where we are booked into a nice little French Restaurant at 7.30pm.
This is on the High Street only a 5 to 10 min walk from the rooms called “Le Bistro des Amis” – As we are a “Bubble” – The owners have sorted us out a table for 9.
Day 2: (Thursday 24th June 2021)
10.00am – After a hearty breakfast (Included in the room rate). We will head off North East through the North York Moors National Park.
The journey will take around 2.5hrs and we will end up at the famous coastal town of Whitby. Renowned for its fish and “Dracula” ?? WTF ? – Anyway that’s where we are heading. The car park next to the old “Dracula” Abbey is a pay one and they use the app “Ring Go” if you have this on your phones. If not, you may wish to consider adding it before you go or bring change.
We will leave the cars up next to the Abbey and walk down into the town. Just over the bridge we are booked into a small restaurant called “Marine” where the chef will prepare our choices from the menu and will buy the produce the day before. As its small and we are in numbers – I have said we will pre order so we have a chance of getting the meals out in reasonable time. The restaurant is in a great central location overlooking the river Esk.
The return to Skipton will take a slightly different route and will drift into the Dales. A 3 hour drive where we will have a stop at a pub in Pateley Bridge before finally getting back to our rooms.
The evening is at the Napier’s restaurant and bar – we are booked together from 7pm onwards.
Day 3 - Heading Home
So today we have a full breakfast again and after checkout a chance to maybe do a bit of shopping in local shops. There are chocolatiers, a pie shop, local sausages and cooked meats etc all in close range as well as The Wright Wine Company – right next door to where we are staying. A wholesale wine and whisky trader with an extensive range of everything. Well worth a visit on the last day. They open at 10am. Take a look at their place here https://wineandwhisky.co.uk/
Then we need to look at heading South – Traffic dependant its going to be around 4 hours.
We can decide on the day if we want to travel down together or where people will peel off and where we stop for a bite etc….
The final stop will be where some of us started out at the “Club House” for a debrief before saying our goodbyes…
That’s it for the first trip since lock down – A very short one but a busy one and hopefully all will have enjoyed the driving, the company and the food.
Pictures of the tour
