All Aboard the Hogwarts Express!

The beautiful weather continued this half-term so we stole away another afternoon and enjoyed a wonderful day with our new friends, the Jakemans who have been such a blessing to us. Maddie has the Jakeman triplets in her class: Ellie, Beth, and Tom. We quickly learned that they were Christians and they quickly invited us to church at York Evangelical--despite the fact that this meant shuttling the 6 of us there each week since it's too far to walk! They always do so with a smile. The first Sunday they had us back for lunch and before we knew it, it was five'o-clock!

So Faith and Alastair suggested a wonderful adventure: driving to Pickering to catch the North York Moors steam train that chugs through the valley in the moors. Word has it that this was one of the trains and sites that was used to film the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter (though word also has it that every steam train in England makes the same claim).We took it north to a little village called Goathland (near the not-to-be-found Roman Road we mentioned earlier). There we disembarked and enjoyed a beautiful hike through the hills and woods (despite that it began with me promptly falling--quite spectacularly--in the mud).
We found a couple benches beside some laid back sheep who didn't seem to mind our presence and there, in the sunshine, enjoyed our picnic lunch.

We then picked up the path again to Grosmont where we caught the return train which chugged us back to Pickering. The day wrapped up with tea and hot chocolate in the toasty lounge of the White Swan Inn--warm fellowship with wonderful friends.