12/11/18 York

A day in York.

After dropping off the car to have a new tyre fitted (tyre replacement place , car hire office, different  tyre replacement place) we walked the short distance into York city in ideal sunny weather with clear blue skies and climbed the stairs onto the city walls when we came to the gate. There are city walls remaining around a good portion of the city and we walked about a quarter of them today.  It would have been more if it hadn't started raining.

Disregard the bus stops.  You can see the castle wall segments well on this map. We entered at the Micklegate Bar, had a short break in the gardens near the museum seeing ancient Roman ruins and lots of squirrels and then climbed back up at Bootham Bar and around to Monk bar after checking out the Dean's gardens from the wall. 

We wandered along the walls for a while and then came down in time to admire York Minster and then be inside for the 1230 communion service held at the very front (Eastern) end of the Minster.

Micklegate Bar

you can do a rubbing of part of the map as you walk the walls- we didn't come prepared for this.

St Mary's Abbey

Old Roman ruins.

This area showed 4 different levels of ground bank from 4 different times in York's history.  Old cities tend to be built on top of earlier ones.  The levels were Roman a the lowest (1st to 4th century), Dark Ages (5th to 10th Century), Norman (10th to 14th) and Mediaeval (13th to 18th?)

pretty wall 

The Dean's Garden on a beautiful day

In the floor of the wall walkway

York Minster

The chairs all locked together into the rows!

Remembrance day memorial

Looking up in the Chapter House

Floor tile in the Minster

The Minster was overwhelming, and we accidentally found ourselves in the crypt which led into a really interesting display of the archaeology of the area and the process of repairing and preserving the Minster plus many amazing historical items (thousands of years old) .

We wound our way through some of the narrow streets and then found an amazing spot (Kennedy's) where they were offering half price food on Mondays for most of their menu and ate and drank happily.  (first fish and chips Trev and I had had since arriving in the UK).  Thom had haloumi and cous cous salad with cooked haloumi, grilled zucchini, tomatoes and lime. Must try this. When we finally came out it was raining (what happened to our lovely day???)

We continued on anyway as we had to find the Shambles (a very old, very narrow street which used to have many butcher shops many centuries ago. )  We found it, along with the tiny Snickelways (narrow lanes) which lead off from it. This was one of our major goals for the day achieved.
We also found the "fudge kitchen" and tried dark choc and sea salt and lemon meringue flavours.  both worked. the sea salt chunks in the dark choc were good and the lemon zest in the meringue made it slightly grainy and delightfully zesty.
We also enjoyed some hot doughnuts from a guy on his first full day of doughnut making who has moved to York to be with his girlfriend.

Then a map was picked up outside one of the shops which showed "the fabulous York cat trail" - A trail to follow around the centre of York where you can try to spot cats hidden somewhere as you walk around.  We followed this for a while, finding a few of the cats, but it was raining again, so we called a stop to this activity.  Maybe we can do more next time.

A link to the cat trail is found here
This is what it looks like

Apparently statues of cats have been placed on buildings in York for at least two centuries, although some of the statues which have have rotted or been removed are thought to have been from medieval times. Originally they were placed to frighten off the rats and mice which carried plague. They were also thought to bestow good luck and good health. York glass produce a lot of tiny glass cats and sell them for good luck to tourists. (hence the cat promotion trail) .  We didn't buy any glass cats, but we did enjoy our short time on the trail.

Basically by this time we were getting very wet, as the lovely day had turned to a terrible one, and we hot footed it home pretty much as fast as we could.  The rest of the wonderful things to do in York will need to wait until our next visit.

Played "Patchwork" (where you build a quilt from testris like shapes and score with buttons)  and Paperback (where you make words with letter cards and wild cards and score stars)  with Thom, Laura and Trevor.

11/11/18 Remembrance Day Edinburgh to York

As we left Edinburgh behind the signs came up for the "Coastal Trail" and we decided that this might be a more interesting way to get to York, so we diverted. 

We followed along here past many fancy golf courses (the road is also know as the Golf Highway) and also walled woods areas which we assume are privately owned estates. Some have very fancy gates and buildings inside. 

We stopped off to look at Bass Rock- a steep rock island just off of the coast. There is a little coffee place here - built in containers by the looks- that has a magnificent view of the Rock from the mainland.  Apparently the Rock is a reserve for Gannet.  

View to the beach on our side of the water.  Over here you need a conservatory to soak up the warm sunshine.

Bass Rock and tiny fishing boat for perspective

Container cafe

Just a little further along was the ruin of Tantallon Castle (one of many ruins) - it was probably open to see (at a price) during peak season, but no doubt closed now. (like most things) 

As 11am came near we pulled in from the highway and found a little town to stop in.  We pulled in to a suburban street and found a parking space just as 11 approached and observed the minute of  silence (punctuated by cannon at the start and end and celebrated with bell ringing) before heading onwards. 

Not a lot later we noted the sign to Lindisfarne.... - we have heard of Lindisfarne.  Let's go there.  

So we did.  Across the causeway ("Responsibility is yours" ) as Thom googled the tide times to make sure we would be able to get back across again.  It was OK - we had until 2.45 to make our way back across the causeway before it would once again be covered and the Holy Island cut off from the mainland.

We parked where we could and walked into town.  The castle was not open, but the priory was, so we slowly made our way there, via lunch (crab sandwich is the local specialty), toasted sandwiches and great coffee. As usual , someone came in (up the stairs!!) with a couple of dogs as well.  All across the UK we have seen dogs inside of cafes. 

Then we walked on to the Priory, but decided to enter the churchyard (free)  but not to pay the required money (£6.80 each), so read the basic information and admired the views and statue of St Cuthbert from churchyard.  

Lindisfarne Castle in the distance (We didn't walk out there as it was not open and we were on a time limit)

The Priory

Tiny Island with a cross on it and the shallow water between the island and the mainland in the background.

St Cuthbert

Fascinating and unidentified tree - please help me identify if you can. 

When we made it back to the car park and started up the car it showed an alert for a tyre!  Sure enough the front left tyre was flat.  We had hit an unexpected curb on the side of the road a little earlier, (there are not curbs on most places, and this one was jutting out into the roadway a little) and this was the result. 

Unpack the car, change to the space saver tyre, squash into the car again. Drive on (now at 50mph/80km) limited. With only a couple of hundred miles to go to York not a problem. And luckily we hadn't left it till the last minute to get back across the causeway.  

As we drove we admired again the amazing colours of the trees at the side of the highway.  This is the unexpected trade off for having some places closed and less sunshine.  The delightful colours of autumn are fantastic.  The dark green of the evergreen firs, mixed in the planting with yellow leaved bulb shaped trees and leafless brown candle shaped trees, and all around the orange of fallen leaves on the ground.  Fantastic!!!  We also saw lots of pheasants on the road (all as road kill).  At one stage we were coming across one every 50 metres or so!! At least they wouldn't hit so hard as a Kangaroo. I've seen one live one in all the driving we have done, but dozens and dozens of dead ones.

We have seen this sign in many places where roadworks are in place. 

We took the tunnel under the Tyne so that we missed Newcastle pretty much (unexpected sudden toll of £1.70) and drove past a really old mill with scaffolding supporting it silhoetted against the sky.  (This was among many modern wind farms in the area). I can't figure out what it was.  Looking across the valley in front we could see many different chimneys belching out smoke (power stations??) - maybe because we were in a coal mining area near Middlesborough.

We made our way into York a little later than anticipated (due to slower driving speed) and had to argue with our car navigator regarding the location of our lodgings, but eventually found the right location using phones with maps.  We are relatively close to the city centre and the place is better than the others we have been in. (cereal, plunger coffee, bread and milk and shampoo provided)  It was easy to walk to one of the many pubs to find tea, and we are planning an early and busy day tomorrow, trying to take in some of what York has to offer. 

our room tonight

Thom and Laura's room

10/11 Edinburgh

I'm sitting in a cosy lounge room with Thom playing on his computer and Laura quietly chatting to him and watching (cup of tea in hand). Trevor is also drinking his tea and reading his book.  The warm light spills over the room and the heaters are heating to a comfy level. The person who lives above is walking around (creak, creak, thump, thump) and all is calm. It has not rained all day - we even saw some blue sky at one stage.

We were up and out to walk up towards the castle and meet our walking tour guide Euan for a 10am start to the walking tour.  The day was looking promising as we made a cracking pace up the now relatively familiar route towards the Castle. 
Sure enough, a large group was assembling as the yellow umbrella appeared and the meeting place became clear. Luckily one of the parts of the group only was for an English language tour.  Not sure what the other one was.

Euan quickly moved us on, telling us about the old buildings, statues and life in the old days as we walked along, slipping into the narrow alleys off of the street and into hidden cobbled squares, the a quick story or two and popping back out again in another area.

old Parliament Square

Scottish flag bravely flying

writers museum

We gained some different views of the Castle, and also found some of the other old areas (such as Grassmarket - where the cattle used to be sold and executions held.  We saw the pub called the Maggie Dickson and heard the story of Maggie , who was executed, but cheated death.  (Her coffin was very active on the way to the burial place and she popped out and ran away - she couldn't be tried for the same crime twice).

We saw the Greyfriars churchyard (just a short distance from where J K Rowling sat drinking tea and writing her book)  with the many gravestones with familiar names (William McGonagall and Thomas Riddle among them) and the school for orphans through the fence with four houses and a yearly competition for the much sought after trophy. 

Greyfriars churchyard

"Hogwarts" beyond these gates

Faithful Bobby

I could have browsed the church yard for a long time.  There is also the story here of the small dog called Bobby who stayed by his master's grave for years after his death, and became famous for his loyalty.  The statue of Bobby has a gold nose (from all the rubbing of hands) , while all the rest of it is black.

We gained a different view of the Edinburgh Castle, perched high on it's volcanic position today  and enjoyed a rare patch of warmish sunlight.

Close your ears/eyes vegetarians.....  we opted to eat at Oink, where they cook a whole pig and then you can buy a delicious pork roll with pulled pork, apple sauce and black pudding sprinklings. wonderfully filling and warm. 

We then headed on to the Museum of Scotland - where we were assaulted by 6 floors of assorted interesting exhibition  - more than we could possibly do justice to.  Lots of hands on things to try, lots of technology information (how various machines work) and lots of Scottish information and history, plus much much more that we didn't have time to look at. Many beautiful things.  Entry is free here and it is a feast of information.

floor tiles

fly a hot air balloon

admire the stunning beauty of the central atrium

We finished by taking the external metal spiral stairs to the terrace roof, from where you can look down onto most of Edinburgh.  Another great view of Edinburgh Castle among the many other old buildings.

We followed our noses to walk home (it is hard to miss Arthur's Seat and Holyrood Palace as landmarks) to a well earned cup of tea and some recreation time.

Extreme use of netting to keep the pigeons out.  Pity they didn't shut the gate.  

Holyrood Abbey ruins

Look one way to see Arthur's Seat

Look the other way to see the little gateway into a lane that leads to our place. 

Tomorrow we head on to York. We have hardly touched the surface of the things we could have done in and near Edinburgh. Plenty to come back to, that is for sure.