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Published: July 17th 2011
The Shambles
a hint of what medieval York would have looked likeWe made our way out from Edinburgh down over the border to leave Scotland - but hopefully not forever. Our destination was the walled city in Northern Yorkshire, York.
York & the Vikings
Since an earlier visit to York a few years before, the Viking Centre had been number one on Jo's list. Alas, the first time around it was too late to visit the museum so Jo had to make do playing with the replica swords and helmets in the gift shop. Not a complete loss! This time round though she wasn't missing out and had Brett ready and waiting along with the hoards of school children at the entrance in the morning.
The Jorvik Centre is built over the remains of 1000 year old houses unearthed in excavations between 1976-81 and showcases the artifacts found in the dig. The highlight is the 'state of the art time capsules' which transport you through a recreated viking street. Jo generally has an aptitude for embracing the mind of a child and though the 'time capsule' was a bit more like a jolty ride in a chairlift/flight simulator - the various recreated street scenes with animated viking humans in their
York Minster
England's largest Medieval Cathedral daily street and home lives were entertaining but not quite enough to keep this big kid amused. (Although they get points for the very noisy viking man doing his best to do his 'business' at the end of the ride - everyone loves a toilet joke!)
Once the educational displays and the school children became all too much it was back out onto the streets of York to the famous York Minster.
York Minster
The Minster is touted as one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe and it doesn't disappoint. There has been a church on the site since 630AD and in the crypt you can see the remains of the original Roman church built on the site. The nave - we are starting to learn our church terms - contains two impressive stained glass windows: the West Window, constructed in 1338 and the Great East Window, finished in 1408, which is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world and which on our visit was completely covered for restoration. Timing is everything.
West to Wales
We left York after our morning of playing tourists and headed for the Welsh border. It was a
Snowdonia
Looking towards Pen-y-pass, a base for one of the Mt Snowdon hikes long drive, with driving on the highest motorway - the M62 - being the only highlight. It rises to 1,221 ft(372m) above sea level at its highest. Again, it was a long drive.
We finally made it onto Welsh soil and followed the north coast along the Irish Sea before heading down to Snowdonia, a national park in north Wales.
We had hoped to set ourselves down in the village of Llanberis, as this was advised as a good base to tackle Mt Snowdon - Wales's highest peak. We were a bit out of luck but managed to find ourselves some accommodation in the nearby village of Beddgelert.
The next morning, we wearily prepared ourselves for another mountain ascent. The reason for our lack of excitement was due yet again to our overwhelming lack of preparation and a poor weather outlook. We had no food or water ready for the walk and we weren't ready to walk in wet jeans just for the sake of 3,650ft (1,085m). We had ascended Britain's highest peak... and we had missed Scafell Pike - England's highest peak - in the Lake District, so we didn't feel we
needed to tackle Snowdon.
Harlech Castle
a medieval fortification with sweeping views across Tremadog Bay It would've been nice, but it wasn't necessary.
So instead we turned around and headed west for the coast, where we found Harlech Castle. On our way to the castle, we were interested to read that it was built high on a cliff with impressive sea-side fortifications, where attacks via the Irish Sea were common. However we were a little perplexed and disappointed when we arrived at the castle and the coastline was some 500-odd meters away. Obviously since the castle's construction in 1283 the coast had now shifted and moved somewhat!
The next day we left Snowdonia and headed south on our gradual return to London, stopping via the Brecon Beacon National Park in south Wales for our last night on our UK road trip. We drove through the National Park, via Brecon, to Abergavenny with time limiting us on what we could venture off to see. Thus unfortunately our experience of the Brecon Beacons didn't quite match the likes of the Peaks, Lakes, Cairngorms and Snowdonia. Still, the town had a decent pub where they were showing the tennis, so not all was lost. Well, except for Andy Murray!
Last of the road
Our final
The River Conwy
Enjoying the beautiful village of Betws-Y-Coed in Snowdonia National Park day had come and we were heading back to London when Brett decided to
spice things up a little. Having decided to avoid the last of the Services on the motorway before the M25 (London's ring road), Brett had started to test the limits of the car's fuel tank - and the nerves of both he and Jo.
When the 'Empty' light began to flash, things got that little bit more interesting, and a mad search for the nearest petrol station began. After some frantic searching on the sat-nav, we managed to find a station and re-fill, and were finally able to share a smile - well Brett did... Jo not so much.
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