Tag Archives: York

York to Chipping Campden

Backpacking, Cotswold Way, England, Flashpacking, Hiking, Travel, ,

July 11 – Today we traveled southwest on two buses and three trains, leaving Yorkshire and entering Gloucestershire, where tomorrow we will begin the 102 mile Cotswold Way. No pictures en route. Weather remains sunny and warm. As we traveled, I marveled that this country has a public transit service that could get us from there to here, on time. Good on ya, England!

Just to recap, in June we warmed up with the 82 mile Dales Way (in blue), then completed our main 192 mile Coast to Coast Walk across the country (in yellow). Tomorrow we start our “cool down” hike, the 102 mile Cotswold Way (in green).

Different part of the country. The accent is definitely different.

The roofs on the buildings in Chipping Campden look different. Some slate…

…some thatch, with a hedge to match!

We ate dinner at a restaurant next to a pub stuffed with every red-blooded British male for miles around, helping their English football (soccer) team by belting out God Save the Queen and drinking as much as possible. When the Brits scored the first goal the roar was deafening! Unfortunately, the rest of the game was kind of quiet. Best of luck to Croatia as they move to the World Cup final – it was fun being here while England was on their winning streak!

Another Day in York

Backpacking, England, Flashpacking, Travel, ,

July 10 – Today is our rest day, but there is so much to see! We are going to visit York Minster Cathedral, the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, built on the ruins of two prior churches starting in the 1200s. Gorgeous blue sky today.

Very light and airy inside, very simple main altar, with lots of medieval stained glass, so intricate that it’s hard to see the designs in the glass.

A serenely beautiful ceiling in the Chapter House.

An old dead guy, and a much jauntier dead guy.

The cathedral was stripped of all its Catholic saints, gold, frills and frippery when Henry VIII shut down his opposition in the 1500s, but they kept one saint on hand so that the cathedral would be a pilgrimage site. St. William of York is interred here. When the local bridge collapsed in 1153, nobody died, so he became a saint.

Rose window.

The Doomsday Stone, preserved from the earlier Norman cathedral. Toads and goblins.

I really like stained glass.

Then we were off to the Castle Museum, a misnomer as the castle no longer exists. The building was actually a prison, built on the site where the castle once stood. This tower is the only part of the castle that remains.

The museum has a carousel.

Inside was a strange collection of artifacts donated by Dr. Kirk, who used to accept interesting trinkets in lieu of payment for his medical services. The artifacts were arranged as Victorian street shops and rooms.

The museum had a room that commemorated the Sixties. We don’t need to remember that era – we lived it!

Old toys, bicycles and Punch and Judy puppets.

The Bear Arms. Ha!

Enough excitement for one rest day. Tomorrow we’re on the road again!

A Trip to York

Backpacking, England, Flashpacking, Travel, ,

The Grand old Duke of York he had ten thousand men

He marched them up to the top of the hill and he marched them down again.

When they were up, they were up, and when they were down, they were down

And when they were only halfway up they were neither up nor down.

July 9 – We took a bus from Robin Hood’s Bay to Scarborough, then hopped on a southbound train for the hour’s ride to York, an historic city if ever there was one. The nursery rhyme above refers to the defeat of York troops to the Lancasterians during the War of the Roses in 1460. This is a city that still has its wall.

Beautiful front gardens – the hydrangea are in bloom!

We were so enamored of the steam engines back in Grosmont that we checked out the National Railway Museum attached to the train station. They had trains from every era, including old cars from the 1600s, the Queen’s fancy saloon, and the Eurostar.

You could look at the engine controls, and also walk underneath to see the underbelly of the engines:

They also had a huge warehouse of train-related stuff that you could spend weeks examining.

If you are a train aficionado, let me know and I’ll send you a hundred more pix!

We walked to the city center, crossing over the River Ouse.

Lovely buildings and an umbrella street!

Can’t you imagine Mary Poppins and Bert dancing around those chimneys?We strolled down an old street of shops called The Shambles, which used to be the part of the open market where the butchers hung their meat back in the 1000s. The current street dates from the 1400s.

Now the shops are more for souvenirs, baked goods, chocolate, and Harry Potter themed items.

This man was collecting donations for victims of the Grenfell Fire. He has pledged to sit on the bike for 72 days, one day for each person who perished.

Constantine was proclaimed Roman Emperor here in the year 306.

And what could be more appropriate in York? Yorkies!

More tomorrow.