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11th – 13th August 2021
Heading up North for a long weekend and we were stopping off en-route to visit the North Yorkshire Moors. Jon’s Dad was meant to be coming with us so this was going to be a trip revisiting his childhood haunts but things conspired against us and alas he couldn’t make it.
Everywhere in the North Yorkshire Moors was fully booked so we had the choice of Hartlepool or Harrogate. Hartlepool won the coin toss. Home for the next couple of nights was the Premier Inn on the marina. Note to self, when booking hotels in Summer, check to see if they have air-con. This one didn’t and was unbearably hot – room temp reached 30C!! The fan supplied by the hotel had little effect and we melted!
There had also been a transmitter fire which meant there was no TV in the hotel (or anywhere in the North East!). There was a supermarket nearby so the purchase of a HDMI Cable to give us the option of watching the iPlayer via the laptop!
The marina area was quite nice. We walked around the marina on the first night, passed HMS Trincomalee berthed at The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Hartlepool. We planned to visit here before heading up to Newcastle on Friday.
Across the marina from the hotel were a row of restaurants. We grabbed a drink from a bar whilst we decided which restaurant to choose. A lovely warm evening and a pleasant change to sit outside.
In the end we opted for Casa Del Mar – a Spanish Tapas restaurant. It was busy (good sign for a Wednesday night!) but they found us a table. It turned out to be a great choice as the food was really good. We each chose three dishes and they didn’t disappoint.
We continued around the marina to get back to the hotel (opportunity to check out somewhere to eat tomorrow night!) and we found the monkey!
On Thursday, we were touring the North Yorkshire Moors (see separate post) and once we returned, we headed back over to the Marina for our dinner. We’d set our hearts on Thai food tonight and we were lucky to get a table at Thai Village as we hadn’t booked. A very warm welcome and nothing was too much trouble.
We settled on a selection of starters and a couple of main courses to share. Have to say, this is one of the best Thai Restaurants we’ve been lucky enough to eat at (food was better than the Mango Tree, our favourite Thai place in London).
The fish cakes were delicious and we loved the Thai Village take on Prawn on Toast (Satay Chicken and Tempura Prawns were really good too). Pad Thai as good as anywhere and for me, the Cod in Sweet Chilli Sauce was my favourite of our main courses – Jon and Callum gave the Thai Green Curry a thumbs up too.
Staff worked incredibly hard and were lovely. If we ever get back to Hartlepool, we’ll be back for sure (alas a little too far from home for a Saturday night out!)
A wander back to the hotel and as it was another hot night, we sat outside the pub next door to the hotel for a bit – looking out onto the Trincomalee!
Friday morning and we checked out of the hotel and headed over to the Maritime Museum. We knew Jon’s dad would be interested so decided to check this out.
The museum is not large but plenty to see in 2-3 hours and pretty interesting. You can explore HMS Trincomalee (from the same era as HMS Victory) and a recreation of shops and houses from around this time.
