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Yay!!!
Setting off for our trip
York Minster The April rains have arrived a month later then usual. For the fortnight the skies have alternated between black, grey and blue in rapid succession, rather akin to Melbourne’s weather patterns. Apparently the drought has now broken and everyone is very relieved that the rains are finally here. I have now been on holidays for nearly two weeks and it has taken me this long to get over my essay induced fatigue to be able to bear to sit down and write something. The last month and a half has flown past; it is difficult to believe that I will be home in Australia in only one month as the past five have gone so slowly, it feels as though I have been here for a much longer time.
I started my Easter holiday by hanging out with George as Meags left for Europe with her boyfriend Joel at the end of term. We did nothing much in general but procrastinate and hang around the uni campus, waiting to go on our respective trips around the country. George was leaving to go on a Haggis tour of Scotland, then to hang out with her flattie Ali and her family
in the Lakes District then down to Exeter to stay with her friend Will. I was waiting to meet Stu who was flying over to see the country with me, working our way up the east of England, into the north of Scotland and back down the Western side of England to hook it over to Norwich again. After George left I had a week in my flat all by myself, broken only by a day when Kate came back, and thus by the time poor Stu got here the solitude had sent me a little crazy.
Stu arrived at London Heathrow on the 29th of March at 6am and after picking him up and wondering who the stranger was sitting next to me on the bus we got to Norwich, both very tired from lack of sleep. After some lunch we headed into the city to see the sights, managing to crawl between the Cathedral, Elm Hill, the Market place and into St Peter Mancrofts church. After dinner we booked our trip to Paris for when we returned from our big trip around England and then went straight to sleep, ready for a big day the next day.
The York Minster
Setting off for our trip We were due to pick our car up at around ten that morning and after getting everything ready including adding a giant suitcase full of food and assorted bits to our entourage we got a taxi through the outskirts of town. Our car was amazing, and the lady at the car hire place (Norwich Car Hire, shameless plugging because they were so wonderful) was very friendly and helpful. We got into a our little black Punto, all shiny and new after making an inventory of scratches, looked at each other cautiously and set off on the long drive up to York where we were spending the night.
The drive through Norfolk was beautiful. A comment everybody makes about Norfolk is “Oh, its very flat there isn’t it?” and whilst it annoys me, it is generally true. One of the wonderful things about Norfolk and Norwich is that everyone seems to consider that it doesn’t exist, it’s as though the whole Eastern chunk of the British island is a world unto itself. Therefore there is a general lack of tourists (both British and foreign) and this makes the place so much more authentic. The road rules and signs were
very confusing and Stu handled these very capably. However, at our first stop in a sweet little town called Sleaford, just past Kings Lynn, we did have to ask the Publican what the little blue sign with the red line through it meant. Glad we sorted that one out. The remainder of the drive was fairly uneventful and whilst we did pass through Sherwood Forest we didn’t get to see Robin Hood which was a bit of a shame.
On approaching York, we were introduced to the wonders of the Motorways and the amazing merges that they require; somehow we lived through that although I’m sure that some people don’t. Stu navigated into York expertly, with me turning the map around, trying to find where we were and looking up to see that we were parked below our B&B for the night. Pretty capable young man. We settled into our place, Ashley House, which was a lovely bright and airy, albeit pokey and with plenty of character, house run by a very friendly and helpful young couple. We put on all of our warm clothes as the weather outside was very chilly and headed into town before the sun
The Punce
...oh and the car set to see a bit of York whilst we could.
Our walk into town took us past parts of the old city wall built by the Romans as mentioned in an earlier blog of mine, yet on my previous visit I hadn’t seen this part so it was still exciting. Clifford’s Tower, originally part of an older fortified castle and situated on the top of a grassy mound to offer a strategic view over the river and valley, was covered in bright yellow daffodils. From here we walked along the river trying to make decisions about dinner or really anything in general but couldn’t due to a mixture of tiredness/jet lag and indecisiveness. I got us temporarily lost due to my expert navigation between the river that is situated in the middle of the city and has enough bridges crossing to confuse me.
Yet eventually we found our way to the Minster, which by the time we got there was closed so we wandered back down the Shambles to find ourselves outside a wonderful pastry shop. Pastry shop is a bit of a misnomer for this place as it was probably more akin to a French boloungerie with
amazing cakes and pastries lined up in the window. Betty’s is a York establishment and for those that have the time, funds and inclination to wait in a very long line for the privilege of eating in their beautiful tearoom, it is supposed to be an experience. We had none of those qualities so we got a chocolate tart and an éclair and took them away with us in a box tied up with a ribbon to eat later on.
For dinner, he headed to a bar that I had been to whilst previously in York, the Evil Eye which offered great Asian food. Stu got a Jungle curry which was full of peppercorns still attached to the vine; I swear it was so peppery that my eyes were watering from smelling. Way to get to know someone…
We crashed that night without even eating our pastries, disgraceful.
Next morning we headed back into York to see the city during daylight. On our way to the Minster we walked around the old Roman walls which took a considerable amount of time but showed us a lot of York. I probably associate a negative memory with the walk because
we were still so tired, Stu from jetlag and me from being up so early to pick him up from the airport. The York Minster is definitely impressive, a huge imposing structure that dominates the skyline and a fair corner of the city. Inside was amazing, the high ceilings that are so ornately decorated, the enormous pipe organ that made Stu salivate, and the various little rooms dedicated to personal prayer. It was whilst walking around the back of the cathedral that we came across one of these rooms, a circular room with beautiful stained glass and in it, a choir practicing with the haunting acoustics that only a church of this size could afford. The effect was amazing; I have included a video that Stu took so you can get some idea of what it sounded like. After leaving the Minster (there is only so much time one can spend in a church that looks very similar to all the other churches in England) we began our strolling through the streets which by this time were very busy with tourists and locals out shopping, I don’t think I would like to be in York in summertime as I think
I have inherited my Fathers hatred of crowds. However, we persevered and I bought some fudge (it was a trial, let me tell you), looked through the markets and bought some pasties for lunch. After all of this and having done many more laps of the streets of York, we headed off to our car to make our way up to Fountains Abbey.
Getting out of York was a bit of a trial but Stu managed once again and we headed out into the countryside up into the Dales. Whilst the weather was still very cold, the hedges and trees were beginning to explode with lime and emerald coloured leaves and the fields were yielding a bright yellow crop that we still don’t know the name of. We turned up to Fountains and Stu was induced to get a National Trust Membership which he didn’t seem too happy about. Walking down the path to the Abbey we stopped by a cold stream to eat our pasties (which I had been pouting about since York and which Stu would not let me eat, he is a hard man) and they were amazing. Whilst I had been to the Abbey before,
Sneaky...
The English Heritage scum wanted to charge us to see this...we tricked them it was lovely to see it when the weather was a bit warmer and the trees had leaves covering them. The daffodils were just dying off and the snowdrops were well gone but instead the trees held blossoms and wildflowers covered the ground throughout the woods. The Abbey is an amazing construction, the sheer scale and workmanship of the place is magnificent even without considering the age of the place. We walked through the ruins and up onto the hill overlooking the planned gardens below and made our way to the Seven bridges walk, meandering over streams with beautiful clear water coursing over millions of small coloured stones. On the way back to the car we walked over a big hill, on top of which was a large Victorian church constructed when this place became popular once again and got into the car to head up to our bed for the night in West Whitton.
On our way up there we passed through the beautiful countryside of the Dales and made it to the Old Vicarage when it was coming on dusk. The view from our window was beautiful and as we were situated in a valley we could
Hadrians' Wall
We were actually there together! see up onto the opposite hill and down into the grazing land that at this time of the evening had turned a beautiful golden and orange colour. We had dinner at a real local pub, complete with silence when we walked through the doors, a man wearing braces and playing the piano, a mother standing at the bar with her baby and small children playing in the corner of the pub. I think the most special thing for Stu was when we got his local beer which the lady had to pump out to pour it. The beer was cloudy and white but then miraculously, like a Guinness, the beer began to settle and revealed a dark malty ale. The look in Stus eyes was priceless and he wouldn’t stop talking about for a very long time.
The next day we woke with the sun casting its beautiful rays over the valley and drove away after breakfast, driving through some magnificent scenery. After driving through Richmond and Hexham we found ourselves in Northumberland and after making many wrong turns we found ourselves in a car park where we stopped to look at the map to find Hadrian’s Wall. I
walked over the road to take a photo of the valley and when I went back to the car Stu said “Umm…we are at Hadrian’s Wall now.”
Hadrian’s Wall is set into sparse rolling countryside. It has a peculiar appearance as the hills were obviously old and worn but still gave evidence of being unfriendly and it was easy to imagine the hostility of this place as a Roman fortress against the Northern barbarians during the dead of a freezing winter. The place was covered in tourists, particularly Americans who appeared to be running a competition to see who could talk as loudly as possible which took away from the atmosphere of the place a little. After becoming a little sick of the Americans and the novelty of the place we headed off the Edinburgh.
The drive up to the border was beautiful and there was a definite change when we crossed into Scotland. Pine plantations covered what was once sparsely vegetated hills and the road became windier and the gradient steeper. It was interesting to note that the accent changed prominently once we had crossed the border, Scottish independence has some fairly strong adherents and the feeling must spread this south as these English and Scottish communities would have to have a fair amount of contact. We stopped in a small town to get some late (and cheap) lunch as we were starving and only had a few pounds between us, made from searching under the seats in the car for coins and scrounging through wallets. After some watery pea and ham soup we made a direct line for Edinburgh were we were due to spend the night.
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digital_explorer
Reymos
Yorkminster
The church is amazing especially the interior part of it. You did a great trip and hope you did enjoy your trip to Edinburgh which is also a stunning city with great old buildings. Rey