Day 6 - Harrogate

Distance walked: 13km (not sure I believe this), Alcohol consumed: 1 glass beer, 3 small G&Ts, 1 large glass wine

Today we woke to overcast skies with drizzle.  It is beginning to be a common theme.  We headed off for the day to Harrogate by train.  We arrived quite early and puttered around the small but pretty town before stopping for a quite decent coffee.  Surprisingly enough most of the coffee we've had has been decent.  Not good, but drinkable.  I've been pleasantly surprised.

At 11:15am we met up with Kay from Yorkshire Appetite food tour, for a 3 hour walking trip that combined the history of the town with the chance to try some local produce.  We started at the Starling Beer and Coffee House.  Sadly neither beer nor coffee was on the menu here.  Instead, we had a half sized serve of Eggs Benedict with bread from a local bakery, free range eggs from a nearby farm and bacon (free range?) from another local farm.  Tasty but would have preferred to try their coffee.

Next we went to Yorkshire Tapas which serves Northern "soul food" above a blues bar.  The building was fantastic.  We ate a Yorkshire pudding with brisket pull beef, creamy mashed potatoes (local again) and parsnip crisps.  Very tasty but a large serve for a tapas bar.  No info from the owner about why this is "soul food" for Northerns which was a bit of a missed opportunity.

The stop after this was a combination bike shop and coffee shop, Prologue.  Even though it was the middle of a workday, it was full of MAMALs.   Here we ate a small square of some health food slice, which seemed to be mainly oats, nuts and seeds held together with agave syrup.  I think it was more fibre than I've eaten the rest of this holiday.

The fourth stop was one of the best.  An ice cream/gelato parlour called Vanilli's, run by a good Yorkshireman called Alex.  I had lime & mascarpone which was a bit too heavy on the lime but otherwise quite tasty.   The reason this stop was such a good one was it was quiet so the owner stopped to chat with us about how he makes his ice creams and how he comes up with the various flavours.  He was keen that only the best quality ingredients should be used and that the flavours should be interesting - quality over quantity.  He kept rushing out the back to bring us samples of new flavours he was working on.  I had orange marmalade, rhubarb and forest fruit crumble, blueberry, carrot cake (made with crushed up carrot cake) and a watermelon sorbet.  I think he would have kept us there, trying more and more flavours but Kay hurried us on.

The next stop was a bit of a disappointment.  It was Hales Bar which is the oldest bar in Harrogate. The building is amazing but the landlady was unsociable.  Even though we were the only customers, beside one regular propping up the bar, she put our beer and food down in front of us and then disappeared back into the kitchen without saying a word.  The beer was a light local IPA - too hoppy for me.  The food was two local cheese - a blue cheese (not a fan) plus a Wensleydale studded with blueberries (why?).

Farrah's was the next stop, which is a local confectioner famous for their toffee which is flavoured with lemon.  Forgettable and we didn't even get to go into the shop.  We just stood outside and Kay bought us our snack.

The last stop cheered us up.  It was the Spirit of Harrogate which is home to the local Slingsby gin. Not only were we allowed inside, we were welcomed by one of their salesmen who was cheery, cheeky and passionate about his product.  We got to try their standard london dry gin (very good and very drinkable), their rhubarb gin (very tasty but better with ginger ale and ice on a hot day) and their navy strength gin (which puts hairs on your chest).  They also had a range of about 6-8 other gins that they are trialling, which are available to taste.  If they prove popular, they get put into production. There were all sorts of weird and wonderful flavours (gooseberry gin anyone?) plus three that had been mixed with cream (gack).  They are trying to sell their product in Australia.  I hope they get through all the red tape as their booze is delicious.

After bidding farewell to Kay, we went to the Royal Pump Room museum which had an odd collection of items.  I enjoy small museums has they have more character, if a more limited collection, than the big ones.  This one included a small display on a man who got himself mummified for science a couple of years back.

After this we wandered back to the railway station to go "home" to York, as the weather had beaten us down.  Melbourne might think it has changeable weather but Harrogate has it beat.  We would go into a shop wearing sunglasses and then leave 10 minutes later needing to don wet weather gear.  We went through this cycle half a dozen times.

Back in York, we had a farewell dinner at Piccolino which is the first place were I thought the food was good rather than just OK.  I had mozzarella, finocchio salami and figs to start and then penne with melanzane and ndjua for main.  Finally I tried their tiramisu which was just OK sadly.  For some reason they poured some custard around it and the custard had split.  The chef should never have allowed that dish out of the kitchen.

Finally, back to the flat to pack and get ready for our next stop - Oxford.