Friday 18th June 2010:Castleton and Staithes

The weather forecast from the BBC said "A light shower at 7:00 AM. Sunny periods thereafter. Hmm! the first bit was right but we are still waiting for the second! We had a drive round the Moors to pass the time during the morning and you can see from the image below what the weather was like
We did stop a couple of times and Mrs SnapHappy was out of the car like a shot photographing everything in sight like these poppies.
And also Beggars Bridge, there were some workmen here repairing the railway bridge next door, which can't have been as well built as this one was hundreds of years earlier.
After a lovely lunch in Castleton we went to Staithes and for a little while at least the sun came out, though there was a very chilly north east wind. We chose to go down the steep hill into the village and come back between the houses which is a little bit easier.
This used to be the local hardware shop (it still does sell some) but as you can see the main trade now is in knick-knacks for the tourists.
It was pretty quiet down in the village with very few locals and visitors about, just the way we like it, and of course the only cars down there are those of locals and the disabled.
One of the nice local fashions is for these "coble" flower box come house names, really rather nice, don't you think?
An unusual window display for the local butcher, he has become well know for selling honey, and also fancy candles cast out of Beeswax, a popular line with tourists apparently
Here is a panoramic of three shots down on the harbour, it's one of those places where an ordinary wide angle lens just cant get everything in.
It was time now to make our way back and these steps are the start of the alternative route back up the the car park. It's intesting as it takes you up and over the rooftops of a large part of the village
Here we are half way back and as you can see there is a grand view down onto the harbour, it's good to see that there are still some roofs covered in Welsh Slates. When we were young every single house was roofed in this fashion
And then to our surprise we saw that one of the houses was having the roof restored in the traditional manner, this is the first time we have seen this done in the last twenty five years!By the time we got back to the car park it was time for a little shopping and a return to the caravan for a good rest.

Despite the dull weather it had been a very enjoyable day.