I gazed into the rock pool hoping to spot a Velvet Swimming Crab, its red eyes glowing bright like car tail lights. Seven years previously an ecologist from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust had shown us one in this very place, on the beach near YHA Boggle Hole in Robin...
After miles of undulating moorland Whitby comes as a surprise; in the words of James Herriot: "you almost tumble out of the heather into the town." As we gingerly descend Blue Bank in second gear those magnificent, unmistakable ruins appear on the horizon: Whitby...
Waking up slowly to the thrumming of raindrops and gentle bleating of new-born lambs is the best way to start the day. Lying in bed in an oak-beamed attic at YHA Hartington Hall, other countryside sounds filtered through the single-glazed windows: the twittering of...
It must have been a magnificent way to arrive in Keswick, the train from Penrith rushing down into the steep-sided wooded valley, then crossing the River Greta again and again, eight times in all, across elegantly curved bowstring bridges, designed so they didn't...
I could hear him coming up on the inside, legs whirring at 100 rpm. A decade of daily trampolining has given him strong calf muscles. Glancing sideways as he overtook me, I saw a big smile of delight on his face ... and then he was around the corner and out of...
We hopped across the stepping stones and skirted a field. Round the next corner was a wild boar getting ready to charge, an enormous bull leaning into the wind, a gleaming white horse that must have galloped out of a fairy tale, and a feisty pair of goats. We...
As we peered into the dark waters of the boating lake searching for the fidget toy our son had dropped overboard, they suddenly came into focus: scores of pale, translucent creatures gently stretching and contracting as they circulated just below the surface, like...
Travelling on the top deck of a bus can give you a wonderful new perspective on the world. Looking down from that height - and having far more time to look at things than you would if you were driving - turns an ordinary journey into an adventure. And right now bus...
Just before the quarter hour people gather expectantly near the cathedral's mighty strainer arches and gaze up at the burnished face of the ancient astronomical clock. As it chimes, jousting knights come galloping out. One knocks another flat with his lance. On the...
YHA Poppit Sands has left the YHA network. Many other YHA hostels are available for Exclusive Hire. It was a long, winding journey west through the Preseli Mountains towards the rust-red horizon. Arriving after dark, we could barely see the sea, but what a view...
Dear YHA, Dusk had fallen over Robin Hood's Bay. Our children were laughing and whooping as they jumped into rock pools and got caked in sand and mud. The tide was out, and the immense expanse of the beach was their playground. At last, worn out and happy, they...
You never know who you'll meet in a hostel self-catering kitchen, and at YHA New Forest, at a certain time of year, you're as likely to find yourself surrounded by ethereal creatures with wings and flowers in their hair as by hikers with backpacks and bobble hats....
