Wednesday 15 April saw Bankstone’s Dickon Tysoe and his trusty co-pilot/PR man Davy-Jane McMandible test-drive the route proposed for this summer’s charity-fundraising monkey-bike marathon Monkey Movie Stars (see previous news stories) which involves grown men on undersized underpowered bikes tooling round most of Yorkshire and along the way visiting locations used in various well-known films.
Despite frequently poor visibility, due to low-lying cloud and mist, and defective coffee receptacles, the two covered the vast majority of 251-mile course and learned some valuable lessons along the way. Among these were the following: they don’t serve peanuts in the Golden Lion, Northallerton; they do a very respectable sandwich in Hunters of Helmsley, parking’s a bit pricey at Whitby Abbey; and there’s a half decent point break off Scarborough’s main beach.
Locations scouted included: Aysgarth Falls (where Kevin Costner gets a soaking in Robin Hood Prince of Thebes), Northallerton (home to The Golden Lion, which features in WWII RAF flick The Way to the Stars), Herriot habitat Thirsk, Harry Potter rail destination Goathland, Dracula haunt Whitby (so comprehensively mist-enshrouded as to be virtually invisible) and Scarborough whose Coffee Bean Cafè (featured in Little Voice) has been imaginatively renamed the Coffee Beans Cafè and has a sign in the window announcing that reviewers from the local paper are not welcome (a quick look at the unflattering review on the paper’s web site, soon explains why).
Anyone wishing to support the Yorkshire Air Ambulance service by sponsoring Monkey Movie Stars can make a donation at https://www.justgiving.com/monkeymoviestars
If you would like to take part – or offer your support in any other way – please contact Bankstone’s Dickon Tysoe, pictured below outside Thirsk’s Herriot House.
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