Steam weekend on North Yorkshire Moors Railway

 My Canadian cousins are over for a few weeks travelling round the country. It proved tricky to meet up with them so we ended up meeting up with them in Pickering at the end of September. Michael is mad about trains and steam trains in particular so they were there for 3 night riding the rails for the NYMR Steam Gala.

We spent a day and a night with them and had a brilliant time. Curry on Friday - they were effusive in their appreciation of a decent but not spectacular meal. Apparently Canadian curries lack spice!

On the Saturday we took the morning train from Pickering to Goathland (Aidensfield from Heartbeat). Took in the magic of steam; enjoyed the beautiful views; sampled the wares on offer at the  beer festival on the station; poked around the village (hardly anything there); had a steak and kidney pie with no pastry lid in the local pub (not a pie!); then they headed off to Grosmont and we jumped back on the train to Pickering and home.

It's amazing how much fun you can have doing simple stuff with family. We don't see each other often but it was lovely catching up. Laughing and chatting and watching Mike who was like a kid on Christmas morning. Heartwatming.

The only annoying thing was me managing to delete the only photo of me....a very flattering selfie out the window of the train. Gah!