We spent a couple of hours at Thirsk Market which wasn’t much as it was packed with tourists. After we had lunch at a pub called The Black Bull we once again drove into the moors to explore.
The first village we came to was Coxwold where we stopped to look around the charming 12th century church. Then we drove deeper into the moors to Byland Abbey. The day had turned cold and grey so we just looked at the imposing cistercian ruins over the fence. The Abbey was founded in 1177 and the church there was larger than Rievaulx or Fountains abbeys. All that remains now however are the walls and the dramatically broken circle of the rose window in the west front.
Moving on, we passed through the large market towns of Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside then we turned off the main road and drove up through the truly beautiful Farndale. We stopped and looked at a tiny country church and drove up and over another bleak, windy top through Hutton-le-Hole then back to Kirkbymoorside and from there back to Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe.
CurseOfTheTraveller 