Haven’t seen the Grand Old Duke of York yet

23 May 2007
Well today I write from York. We left Cambridge yesterday and picked up our little hire car that Natt found for us - instead of an Vauxhall (Holden) Astra that she booked we got upgraded to a Peugeot 307 with a sun roof! Very smick! We drove around Cambridge a couple of times on the ring road before leaving (not by choice) took a wrong turn and was confronted with a rising bollard in a controlled area. Needless to say we weren't supposed to drive there and a police-looking type man started to walk towards us but I was able to utilise the tiny turning circle and burn rubber getting away. Ric was supposed to be navigating but he couldn't concentrate on the map with all the beautiful buildings we hadn't seen on foot. We finally got on the A1 and headed north.

The countryside is truly beautiful - leafy emerald green fields lay in every direction. Through the sun roof we could see cloud building then rain showers and then patches of blue. We drove straight into York and paid £6 for parking one hour (about $15). The traffic here as everywhere including the big arterial roads and small back roads is crazy. I think there are just way too many cars in this country. If everyone went out driving at the same time it would just be gridlock from one end of the country to the other. No wonder just about everyone has a bike for when they can't face the traffic. Consequently today when we drove back into York we used the 'Park& Ride' option. You park out of town for free and catch a bus that gets caught in the traffic - oh well, some lanes are just for buses.

I booked accommodation for us from the internet and I didn't realise it was a 'theme' motel. We were amused to find our room was in a railway carriage! Pretty small but cozy - a shame the TV was on the wall above our heads (go figure?)

We went to the restaurant for a drink and some dinner- the whole complex is right next to a main railway line. Huge trains and smaller ones wizz and clatter past about every 15 minutes. There was a couple in the restaurant and every few minutes the husband raced outside with his expensive looking Nikon camera to capture a shot of the locomotive for posterity. He didn't photograph every train mind you - just the ones he was enamored with. Some even honked in appreciation as they raced past! I tried to engage him in conversation to find out what his penchant was but he and his wife were quintessentially British and preferred not to elaborate beyond the absolute minimum. I didn't press my luck with them but found out he was an actual 'train spotter' and his wife did not share his passion beyond accompanying him on the 'spotting' expeditions.

Overnight it took a few hours to calm my nerves when a train suddenly burst through the sound barrier - and convinced myself they wouldn't derail and land on my head, which was closest to the tracks (< 5 m) through a very thin timber carriage. Needless to say I survived the night and will no doubt sleep better tonight with a few passionfruit vodkas under my belt!

This morning we went to Fountain's Abbey near Ripon. It was extraordinary. I think Ric and I took about 4,000 photos between us. It was huge and ruined (that's why we were there really) King Henry VIII apparently took the honours for ruining this Abbey since the catholics wouldn't let him divorce when he got sick of his wives. So he vindictively tore the roof off and sold the iron and cast the monks out. But according to the chaplain who gave us a potted history in the spectacularly beautiful grounds, the Abbey was already on the road to ruin. Money and other such worldly distractions had made them unpopular with their townsfolk as well. I gather Henry disbanded all monkeries and abbeys - but will have to read more on the subject.

Sadly this afternoon when we arrived back in York the camera battery has gone flat and there are so many sights to document. We went to the York Minster (huge cathedral) and walked down the Shambles - a small lane with weird leaning buildings defying gravity. Might come here tomorrow really early before everyone is up to capture it on chip!
That's all for today!