Day 4: Hunmanby to Driffield
The weather forecast was great today, ... sunshine all day! A treat indeed. We dressed appropriately and set off. This was to be our longest ride of the week in the Wolds. The start of the day was a classic! No names, no pack drill, but one of us set off in one direction whilst the other set off in the opposite. "It's this way" said one... "No, it's this way"... said the other. We both insisted we were right! This went on for a while, both of us checking the others GPS. Indeed they had us going in different directions. It took a good five minutes to realise that there were two .gpx routes out of Hunmanby! One was the route we needed for the day whilst the other was a route if you wanted to divert to Filey to see the sights. So, that sorted, now both following the same route, we set off.
The sun certainly wasn't shining. Dark clouds filled the sky and the wind was fierce. We had to stop to layer up to keep warm. I would like to say that we had a very leisurely cycle today in that we only averaged 11.5mph, but the truth was that we were battling against a strong head wind and the going was much slower.
Cycling once again through quiet, undulating lanes with little traffic was super, despite the wind. We passed through largely agricultural land with stunning views when we reached the tops of the hills.
About half way through our route we found ourselves in Bridlington, a Yorkshire seaside town. We cycled along the prom to the harbour to have a coffee. It is a town of contradictions. The prom had been beautifully paved with mosaic brickwork and was stunning, but the nearer we came to the harbour we felt we had hit a time warp. It was a seaside town of sixty or seventy years ago. It really did have the charm of an 1950/60s resort with its retro fairground and amusements. And yes, you really could buy 'kiss me quick' hats and fish and chips! On researching Bridlington we found this interesting piece - William Hartley led an orchestra in Bridlinton in 1902 - later he was the leader of the orchestra playing as the Titanic was sinking! That was the role that Leonardo DiCaprio didn't fancy when he was signing up to his role in the film Titanic.
Onwards and upwards... but with no 'cheeky little climbs' today. The uphills were gentle as were the descents. Imagine our delight when we came across this lovely village pond at Burton Agnes..
We wound our way to Driffield, descibed as the cultural capital of the East Ridings. A sweet little town. We are spending the night at Hotel 41 a trendy and modern hotel and eatery in the centre of town.
Tomorrow is sadly our last day on this gorgeous tour. We make our way back to Beverley.
Fond wishes
Annette & Bob