It wasn’t as cold when we woke
this morning. We had to put our clocks back overnight as
Daylight Savings ended here this weekend, so we had an hours extra sleep which
was nice! After breakfast we headed off on the longest trip we have done in the
Motor Home thus far! Our first stop after one and a half hours was at a roadside café
where we enjoyed a Latté, Baguette and Lemon Tart. It was a clear day with no
fog so we were able to enjoy the view of the countryside as we progressed
further north.
Just prior to coming into the
turn off for our Caravan Park we got caught in the first delay we have
encountered the whole journey. It took us about 30 minutes to drive 2-3 kilometers
and the only thing we could attribute it to was that today is Sunday so we
figure most people are trying to make the most of the weekend!
We booked in at
‘Naburn Lock Caravan Park’, hooked up the van the caught a taxi into town as it
was going to be much easier than fighting the weekend traffic. The taxi driver
was extremely helpful and gave us helpful hints for today and our next couple
of day’s itineraries. It was nice to get a little bit of local knowledge to
make things a bit easier. We were dropped off at the outer
edge of the city and after grabbing a takeaway Latte, we made our way to the
City Sightseeing Bus tour stop that was just nearby. We enjoyed an hour’s tour
of York with a recorded guide of the city’s major landmarks as we passed them –
so many of them to see. York Minster – York’s Cathedral church is one of the finest
medieval buildings in Europe and was a stunning backdrop for many of the sights
we saw along our journey. York Art Gallery, St Mary’s Abbey, Yorkshire Museum
The Wheel of York, National Railway Museum, York Castle Museum, Clifford’s
Tower, The City Walls and the list goes on. It was great to see these sights as
the bus weaved through the streets dodging traffic and tourists as it went.
Again, we sat up top of the bus and got absolutely frozen, but it is really the
only way to see everything! As well as many famous historical buildings, York has a host of historical figures who were either born, lived in or died in York - Guy Fawkes, Constantine the Great and Dame Judy Dench to name a few!
Once the tour was completed we
joined the rest of the tourists and walked through the streets of York taking
in the atmosphere and sights. The fun is finding your way around the ancient streets. York is a compact city and most of the shops are found inside the city walls. We headed for ‘The Shambles’ which is a lane
arguably the best preserved medieval street in the world and one that I had wanted
to visit! Many of the buildings on this street today date back to the late
fourteenth and fifteenth century (around 1350-1475). There are buildings that are nearly touching each other at the top, close enough for people to shake hands with the person in the house on the opposite side of the street! A truly
charming part of York, definitely worth including in the visit to York.
From here we continued meandering
along the streets, one of which is Stonegate, a street full of character and charm.
With daylight savings finishing last night, it was starting to get dark
much earlier and our tummies were ready for food, so we decided to have a very
late lunch/early dinner We found an Italian restaurant where we had a delicious
dinner of pizza and chicken. It was obviously a good little spot as there were
people continually coming in looking for a table, and the staff were running
flat our just to keep up with them.
When dinner was done we headed
back – once we had got our bearings – to the area we had been dropped to
earlier and caught the same taxi back to the Caravan Park. The day was over and
we both were ready to sit and relax and catch up on blogging, emails and
sorting details for tomorrows journey.
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