York

Here we are in York. It was an icy start at Crook Hill Farm – our best B+B so far. After another full English breakfast (they’re getting a bit much) we hit the road and had a small drive through the Peak district before leaving to head north to York. We took a direct route and travelled on the M1 for the first time on this trip. I felt a little excitement as we got closer and closer to where I was born but of course we continued to York instead of heading west to Halifax. It’s a very industrial area of England and the day was clear and sunny. This just highlighted a layer of smog that could be seen across the horizon. We arrived in York for lunch and sought out Great Britain’s Top 100 tearooms” tearoom of the day – Little Betty’s . York seemed packed with people especially those with grey hair on coach tours. Most of them were in the queue for a table at Little Betty’s. Mark said we were getting a two for one typically English experience of tea and queuing. We eventually got a table. Mark had a Yorkshire Rarebit (fancy cheese on toast) and I had a Yorkshire Ham sandwich. Afterwards Mark had a Fat Rascal (a fruity oaty scone which is a local invention) and I had fruit cake with Wensleydale cheese (my Mother would be proud) We then checked out York Minster which was very impressive. Unfortunately the east wing (?) was closed to the public because of a wedding ceremony. We then found some accommodation which is on the riverside. It’s very nice and the owner’s Gill and Alec have a Border Terrier called Loofer which we took for a walk. He is 8 years old and the same colour as Nina. He’s never been plucked so he looks a bit scruffy. He had the same habit as Gus of peeing on every tree in sight when out walking Mark has gone to Evensong but I’m chilling out in the room watching some sci-fi show from the 70’s and updating this blog. Not sure what we’re doing this evening. We eat so much during the day that neither of us feels like dinner. Maybe we’ll get a beer instead. We’re looking forward to having authentic Yorkshire puddings. Oh, we found out why there has been an invasion of coach tours. The Festival of St Nicholas is on this weekend. There’s supposed to be lots of stalls and things which we will check out tomorrow. Feeling a little bit fatigued from all the travel at the moment. Please let us know if you’re following the blog.