A bear sized railway

Following the very nice comments from two of my readers, I thought you might like to see another train adventure. This one is a more bear-sized railway!

This is Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, famous for its Christopher Wren design and Robert Adam interiors, not to mention 25 acres of award winning gardens, including one of Europe's largest double herbaceous borders. Phew!

And hidden away in those marvellous gardens is a bear's delight - one of the best miniature railways I've ever seen!

I saw four engines altogether but this was the most spectacular. Here I am eagerly waiting to go.

The railway boasts a station...
... a turning circle...
... a tunnel (it was too dark in there to take a picture!) and a railway bridge across a large pond.

Here I am waving to some people on the river. Everyone waved back too!

Ah, to feel the wind blowing in my fur!!

Heaven!

There will be more from Newby Hall in another post but I just had to share the train with you first.

The best day ever!

It is a little known fact that bears love trains. We are for the most part creatures of style and nothing is more exciting than a huge, lumbering, noisy, elegant steam train.

Here I am at The National Railway Museum in York which was established in 1975 and now contains over 100 locomotives. Coo!

This is me on LNWR 2-4-0 no. 790 Hardwicke. She was built in 1892 at Crewe Works for the London and North Western Railway and was withdrawn from service in 1932. Just think of the history beneath me!

As you can see this is one of the American style trains but I got so excited I forgot to write its name down. Pretty cool though.

The next picture is me on the Japanese Bullet train.

How about that for comfort. By the way, the story about the men in white gloves pushing people into the trains so that they can get the doors to shut is absolutely true!

Here is something that amused.

I'm sure that by 'lower orders' he was not including bears!

With the advancement of the railway the Duke's fears did indeed come to pass and the country was opened up to people from the cities. The seaside particularly became everyone's favourite holiday destination.

What do you think? Does my bum look big in this?

Or this?

Although I am too old now to fulfil my dream of being an engine driver, I must admit that I do look rather dashing here although I am perhaps a little short to reach the controls!

Now here's a train to get a little bear excited. This is Great Western 4-6-0 Hall Class 5972 'Olton Hall' dressed up as the Hogwarts Express. Magic! She was built at Swindon in 1937 and was preserved in 1981.

Here she is before the make-over.

It was amazing day at the Railway Museum (which has the highest amount of visitors of any museum outside London) but I was a little disappointed to find otu that Mallard was out on display to another museum. I would have dearly loved to see that beautiful train.

Here's a little info for you.

The Doncaster built Mallard is the holder of the world speed record for steam traction on rail. This record was set on the 3rd July 1938 (same year as it was built) when the 70 ft, 102 ton locomotive registered a speed of 126 mph. Blimey!

LNER Chief Mechanical Engineer Sir Nigel Gresley designed the Mallard. He came up with the name while feeding the ducks at Salisbury Hall.

The £8,500 Mallard ended its service in 1963 after a lifetime distance of almost 1.5 million miles. It's official name was LNER 4-6-2 A4 class No 4468 Mallard.

Now that really is magic!

Beningbrough Hall

Hello and welcome to Beningbrough Hall and gardens, just outside York. These snaps of me were taken when I visited in September. Although it's all cold and frosty now, it was a lovely day back then and all the flowers were still out.

The hall was built in 1716 (wow!) and and is very beautiful. It also features a lot of 'down stairs' placesto see as well. Here I am in the laundry. My word, I'm very glad I don't have to wash my clothes this way.

This is me on the front steps to the hall just before I went in. Because it's run by the National Trust, I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside. Meanies!

Look at this! This is the best giant teapot I've ever seen. It is covered with hundreds of different hand made ceramic tiles. Made me fancy a cuppa!

The best way to finish any National Trust visit is a turn around the shop. I found a few things to buy and the nice lady is just putting them in a bag for me.

Good thing no one thought I was for sale!

More next time with a visit to Castle Howard!

Lost at Fountains Abbey

My first day out was to Fountains Abbey. It's an amazing place, dear reader, and I'd really recommend getting there early before the ravening hoards.

This little chap was certainly caught by surprise and scurried away very quickly when he saw me. He was obviously looking for that last little bit of food before the people (and bears) started arriving.

This is the watermill at Fountains Abbey. It was built in the 12th century and restored in 2009 and is one of the finest examples of its kind in Europe.

Here I am at the exhibition of stonework in the watermill. As well as a mill and granary the building was also used as a stone mason's workshop.

The ruins of the Abbey itself are fabulous. Apparently it was started in 1132 and was closed in 1539 by Henry VIII. As you can see the stone is the same colour as me! Can you see me here on the bridge?

Sitting here I can't help but wonder what it would look like today if it had remained a Cistercian monastery. Certainly I wouldn't be sitting here having my photo taken!

Lastly, here I am at the Octagon Tower in the water gardens that now surround the Abbey.

Just after this picture was taken a little girl ran up shouting to her mother that she had found a bear. I had to tell her that I was not actually lost but was on my holidays. She was a little concerned that I was on my own but I reassured her and we went our separate ways.

I will leave my visit to Fountains Abbey with a titbit about the Cistercian order that founded the monastery.

Under Cistercian rules the monks lived a rigorous daily life, committed to long periods of silence, a diet barely above subsistence level, and wore the regulation habit of coarse undyed sheep's wool, which earned them the name "White Monks." Lastly, underwear was forbidden.

Ouch!

Yorkshire Ho!

So sorry, my dear readers, for not sharing my holiday with you sooner. Since returning from my week in September I have been a very busy bear and have only now had time to sort through my holiday snaps.

Well, here I am (with my friend Albert) on our way.

The nice thing about Yorkshire is that it is not all that far away. It was lovely day and we got to Ulleskelf in about two hours.

Here we are surveying our new home for the week.

The caravan was lovely. Albert was already making himself comfy whilst I checked out the kitchen.

We were on a really nice caravan park a couple of miles outside Tadcaster. Ours was the only static caravan and it was lovely and quiet there.

Albert is a very shy chap and had already decided that he would not be going on any adventures. He was more than happy to see the photos and keep the caravan warm while I was away.

One of his favourite things was to sit on the decking in the evening and look out at the sunset. And spectacular sunsets they were too. Look at this.

Wow.

I mean... just wow.

Next time, my first trip out - Fountains Abbey.

Back to Blighty

Sadly, all things must end and here I am on the last day of my cruise. We were due back in Southampton the following morning and I was going to be very sad to leave the ship.

Still, the holiday was not quite over and after a leisurely afternoon relaxing by the pool...

I made some new friends in the bar. This lady was awfully nice (although I can't remember her name) and was very happy to have her photo taken with me.

Packing was dreadful. I got very upset at the thought of leaving the ship although it would be good to get back to Blighty. Foreign places are all very well but they are not as good as home.

The next morning I was ready to go and I did not mind getting a lift as my legs were very tired from all the places I had visited.

The nice thing is that although that holiday had ended, I am on holiday again in two weeks time! This time I am going to York and will be posting pictures from the Minster, Castle Howard and lots of other places.

Stay tuned for my new adventures.

Vigo

As I've mentioned before, Vigo was very nice, if a little shut. Remember that when wanting to visit Vigo so not go on a Sunday!

Here I am claiming Spain for the English although we occupied the city in 1719 for ten days so really I'm actually re-claiming it. Sadly, no one took any notice.

The port is very smart and welcoming and there are a lot of strange statues along the waterfront. Most of them are quite new and a bit too modern for my tastes. This one is very odd indeed.

A little way from the waterfront are the remains of an old building although I have no idea what it was. The sign was in Spanish!

Eventually though there was nowhere really to look because all the shops were closed so I headed back to the ship to take in a little sun.

Now this is the life!

Lisbon

As a relatively well travelled bear I have learned not to make snap judgements about places I visit. Saying that, I did not really like Lisbon very much.

In the first place it rained - lots. Not necessarily Lisbon's fault but still not fun for a chap with small legs!

Here I am getting ready for my trip out.

By the time I reached Black Horse Square (Praça do Commercio) I was soaked but stopped for a photo at the statue of King José I. This splendid sculpture by Joaquim Machado de Castro, was cast in one single piece in 1774.

Coo.

The strangest thing about Lisbon is that it has no public toilets. What is a bear to do if he gets caught short? This bear gave Lisbon up for a bad loss and headed back to the ship.

Wouldn't you know it - as soon as I got back to port the sun came out!

Next time - more from Vigo!

More life on board

This cruising lark is a hard life, I can tell you, although unfortunately even a small bear has to do laundry every now and then. P&O very kindly provide a laundry on each corridor. Got to get those smalls done!

After that, there's just time to check out our route in the ship's library...

before getting spruced up for the evening's entertainment. Here I am in my best bib and tucker for the Captain's Dinner.

Later, there was just time for a nightcap...

before I tucked myself up in bed.

We were due in Lisbon the next day and I'll tell you about that soon.

Night, night!