The York countryside

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With a good weather report, and sunny skies, we set off for Whitby after breakfast. It took about an hour to arrive, and we headed down through the town to the harbour area where we parked the car. The town itself was very busy, so we decided to walk up to Whitby Abbey, above the town. The sign told us there were 199 steps to climb. The Abbey was started in the 7th century, and like many of the abbeys is now in disrepair. Henry VIII, when he changed England's religion, was responsible for the destruction of most of the monasteries in the country. The buildings that are still standing give a good idea that this had once been a thriving community in medieval times. There are also great views over the town and out to sea. After a cup of coffee, we walked back to the car and onto the next part of the Journey. We put Helmsley castle into the gps and followed its directions. It was an interesting road, and soon we were crossing the North Yorkshire Moors. Lots of heather all round, a few sheep and not much else. Very soon the god announced that we had reached our destination! No castle in sight. THen no reception either. Lucky we had a map. We were able to work out approximately where we were and got off the moors. Once we had found a larger road, we got ourselves to Helmsley. We spent time looking at the castle- which is now in ruins, but with some of the younger buildings a little more in tact. There were two moats and a number of defences. The castle was also linked to Rievaulx Abbey, which was our next stop. The Abbey is huge, one of the first Cistercian abbeys outside of France where the order started. It was a very prosperous Abbey at it's height and made its wealth from wool. After some issues- such as plague- it built itself up again, just in time for Henry VIII to break it up. Before we started walking around the Abbey, we had a late lunch in the visitors centre. As we ate, we had a wonderful view of the Abbey ruins. We walked around the ruins, and in the small museum getting an idea of just how much time and effort went into building this massive community. We made sure we left so we had time to get back for Evensong in the Cathedral. There was a large congregation, and the choir sang well. Back to he hotel for dinner after a busy day.

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