Thursday 11 September - York, the Holy Grail and Evensong

Just outside Marks and Spencer there was an old lady with a walker dressed in a bright scarlet dress. She had a long grey beard and bent down to say hello to a small girl who was passing - scared her half to death.
We had an easier day today in York. There were many school groups in the Museum Gardens.  It was another warm and sunny day and we walked along by the river Ouse. It was very peaceful and we saw mainly people walking their dogs. Just outside of town there is a very large field adjacent to the river but separated from it by a berm. It must be at least a mile in each direction. I assume this has something to do with flood protection.
We returned to the city and had lunch at the Star in the City. I was delighted to find a good bitter called Monty Python's Holy Grail.  Well balanced with a hint of toffee. The only bad thing about it is that this was their last  barrel. 

A product of the Black Sheep brewery of Masham.

The food was excellent. I started with traditional Yorkshire puddings and gravy while Mary had scallops. 

Three Yorkshire puddings with a tasty gravy

My main course was an excellent Beverley Duck while Mary had a mushroom omelet. A very satisfying meal.

This afternoon we went to the Jorvik Centre to use the tickets we had retained from our visit last November. Mary produced our ticket and the cashier asked for some identification with her signature on it. She produced her passport and we went in. Afterwards we realuzed i had signed the ticket.

We went to Evensong again this evening in the Minster. This was a special service for the new Bishop of Whitby to take his seat.  The singing by the all-male choir was excellent and the space is beautiful.

Wednesday 10 September - Hull

We can see this church from the living room window, it is just across the Shambles near Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma gate

We took the train to Hull. The electronic information boards said it was on time right until we left 10 minutes late. The guard apologized for the delay but pointed out that we arrived in Hull on time.  There are many semaphore signals and signal boxes on this line from Selby east, presumably the boxes have been retained to control the many level crossings with roads. The land is generally flat, mainly arable with a few sheep and cattle. Several churches, surrounded by trees, marked the small communities. The large Humber bridge heraldedour arrival. 

The man at the tourist office was very helpful in spite of his strange Humber accent.  95% of the buildings were damaged during the war. However, many notable buildings have been retained and restored. 

The Punch Hotel seems to have survived from the bombing just as a facade which has been turned into a good pub.

Brakspear Brewery is in Whitney, Oxfordshire

We walked down to the Deep which is a large aquarium.  On the way we passed the barrier which has been used several times to stop flooding of the city during exceptionally high tides. The foreshore is comprised of soft, deep mud. The Deep has a large tank with some interesting fish but the emphasis is on a lot of small exhibits which makes the focus blurred and the experience difficult to follow.  I kept waiting to see the large tank in all its glory but this only came right at the end. There was a lot of emphasis upon saving the planet and it's endangered species. I felt cockroaches, centipedes and toads were not really relevant. Altogether the Deep was disappointing compared to Genova or Lisbon.

 

This is a species of small conger eels which poke their heads out of the sand.  They were watching us.

The coral reef was very well done.

Holy Trinity church is the largest parish church in England.  The vicar is very progressive who is promoting non-ecclesiastical uses for this well preserved building.  A man in a pub praised him for putting on a very good Real Ale Festival in here

We just kept looking up and saw a great number of interesting and beautiful decorations

The tourist leaflet mentioned the smallest window in England at the Crown so we went in for a drink - Fullers London Pride -but couldn't find the window.. The barman took us outside and pointed out a small slit.

The actual window is the black slit to the right.  It now looks into a rarely used utility room but the barman has put a face in there for the kids to see.

The Streetscene Museum of Transport is well done. There are not a lot of exhibits but what they have are well preserved and presented.

We made our way back to the station passing the very impressive Old Court Building.

One end of the long Old Court Building

The Princes Quay shopping centre is a three level swanky place built over the water near the Marina. It has fallen on hard times and large parts are vacant.

We found a number of covered shopping arcades or galleries. Reminiscent of Paris.

Click here to see all pictures taken at Hull
The Hull station is enormous, possibly the largest covered station I have seen.  A large part of it is a parking lot and one section contains the bus station with at least 35 bus bays.

The evening light was good on the way back to York.  We were running on time until a dead stand for at least 5 minutes just outside York. Traffic regulation seems to be a problem here.

We had a drink at the Blue Bell. There was a discussion going on about the safe areas of the town.
"I grew up in xxxx".
"Oh so you had shoes then".
(This is a comment about the bad old days when, in poor areas, the families could not always afford to give their kids shoes. in some cases a kid would come to school on alternate days because he shared a pair of shoes with a brother or sister.)

There's nothing like a packet of scratchings to give you a boost.

Tuesday 9 September - Ripon

Eddie Brown's route 142 bus took us to Ripon by an interesting route through a number of villages. At Marton the phone box on the green had been turned into a book exchange. At Ripon we first visited the cathedral which is in good repair and has excellent glass. Possibly the most pleasant cathedral we have visited. It is set in a quiet green area that doesn't have the large number of tourists that visit York. The sun was shining through the large windows and the organ was playing quietly. A quintessentially English cathedral.

The Ripon canal has been reopened and we lingered at the basin watching the ducks. The ducks grumbled when a dog dusturbed their repose and a few even went into the water.

Walking back into town we were surprised to find a ford which is very well used. The path beside the river is more pleasant than that along the canal because it is quieter. A robin was watching us as it sang its high pitched trill to others hidden in the trees. The Tour de France passed through Ripon and terminated in Harrogate and everywhere there are reminders. The main square of Ripon had been yarn bombed with small yellow, green and polka spotted jerseys. The naim square at Boroughbridge has been similarly decorated.

This doesn't seem a safe way to place a ladder in a busy street.

After lunch at the Unicorn we went to the Spa Gardens which were well kept but which didn't keep us very long and we decided to take the Eddie Brown1415 bus back.
Click here to see all pictures taken at Ripon
This meandered through even more villages than before but we enjoyed it very much. The grain has been completely harvested and the hay bales brought in. The sun was shining brightly and it was warm although there are now definite signs of autumn.

We had dinner in the Blue Bicycle and then had a drink in the Blue Bell where I tried a Yorkshire, Bradford, Salamander Brewery Five Faced Bishop stout. It was pretty good with a rich consistency and taste similar to Guinness but slightly more bitter but with hints of chocolate

Monday 8 September - Harrogate, Knaresborough

Walking along Lendal to the station this morning there was an old, confused lady in a dark blue print dress. Using a walking stick and smoking a cigarette she looked at the confusion of delivery vans and said to nobody in particular:
" Bloody 'ell".
We took the train directly to Harrogate. There are many signs of autumn. The hawthorn bushes have a lot of red berries and several apple trees were well laden with fruit. The fields are populated with magpies, rabbits and old lambs.

There are reminders of the Tour de France everywhere

Harrogate is a high end place with many expensive shops but very few pubs. There is a large green area in the centre which must be left open in perpetuity. There are a lot of massive stone buildings, seriously in need of cleaning which impart a grim, sombre feel to the place. 

Maybe there's more going on here than meets the eye, or maybe its my sick sense of humor.

We left Harrogate sooner than expected and came back to Knaresborough which has real people and gives the impression of being lived in. There are a number of buildings decorated in a black and white checker board fashion. 

An unusual checker board pattern of decoration.

We walked along to the castle and admired the view over the river Nidd then found the Crown for lunch (chili and steak and kidney pudding).

The classic view of a train traversing the Knaresborough viaduct

More Tour de France

Knaresborough has a lot to offer and we enjoyed walking along by the River Nidd even though part of the walk was through a parking lot close to the river bank. There were a lot of very small fish swimming in the shallow water which was warmed by the sun. Much of the river bank is in thick woodland and at one point we were walking through a forest of holly trees. Crossing a field we watched a sparrowhawk hovering about 30 feet above the grass. It was able to stay stationary by flapping its wings as opposed to other hawks which glide in the air currents. We had about an hour to wait for the train back to York which we spent in the Mitre with a very acceptable pint of Black Sheep bitter. 

 

There is still some semaphore signalling in this area and Knaresborough actually has an unusual stone signal box. There are also two sections of single line working using electric train staffs.

Semaphore signalling

An unusual stone signalbox

Click here to see pictures taken at Harrogate and Knaresborough

One feature we have noticed in the entire area we have visited is "Award Winning" "Prize Winning" "World Famous".  It seems that every Fish and Chip Shop, Pub or brand of Ice Cream has won a prize marking it as the best. There must be a lot of competitions.

Sunday 7 September - York, Merchant Adventurers Hall

Early morning view of the Minster from the city wall close to the station

It was sunny today although the wind cooled things down a bit.

We have only just noticed Lady Pecket's Yard which is right across the street. It is a delightful alley way which contains a coatwainer which is a craftsman who makes high quality shoes as opposed to a cobbler who repairs shoes.

The Coatwainer is on the left.

The Guildhall of the Company of Merchant Adventurers was open today at a cheap rate because there was an antiques fair in progress. The building is very old indeed and the great hall was impressive as was the chapel.

This stonework is above the entrance arch

The Great Hall was being used for an Antiques Fair

On the wall of the Great Hall

Stained glass window in the lower level

The Chapel

The outside is every much as impressive as the inside.

The Red Lion provided a very good dark mild and we were surprised that we were the only people in there.

The dark mild had a flavor of molasses

Lunch was a good carvery with roast beef, pork and Yorkshire pudding with lots of good vegetables.

Dessert

The west side of the Minster is beautiful in the evening light

Saturday 6 September - Market Rasen

Due to an East Coast cock-up our train to Newark was an electric one rather than the scheduled 40 year old diesel. Seat reservations were cancelled so it was a free for all.
Sheep dogs working a flock in a field. Cows coming out single file into a field after milking.
Just before Doncaster is a very long newly completed bridge over the main line which removes a bottleneck through the station.
Several lakes before Newark had many fishermen kitted out with canvas shelters to keep the rain off.
The train from Newark to Market Rasen was an overfull single car puddle jumper.
At Lincoln there were several Morris Dancers in full costumes - they went out to the derision of a football group travelling to Cleethorpes. The cathedral was hidden in the mist.

The puddle jumper at Market Rasen

We quickly found the model railway exhibition at which Brian's group was participating. Brian was out front talking to people. Their model of Market Rasen station was excellent, the first time it has been to an exhibition. There were several other layouts, mostly OO and mostly with local themes. The entire show was very well put together and the layouts were all exceptional. I lingered around several just watching the shunting moves.

Market Rasen coal staithes

Market Rasen showing the original overall roof

A nice shunting layout with plenty of interest.

We had an excellent lunch at the Aston Arms. Bombardier bitter and steak pie. Mary had an excellent full English breakfast with an enormous nicely herbed sausage and a great mound of back bacon.

It was raining a very fine mist as we walked around the market which is held on the first Saturday of each month. There was a good selection of locally made produce, jams, chutneys, cakes, pies etc. and we bought some good local cheddar which we had sampled.

 

The church was build of soft stone which has weathered significantly in parts.

A final visit to the model railway exhibition and we said good bye to Brian and made our way to the station via the bar of the Advocate Arms.
Click here to see all pictures taken at Market Rasen
The automatic station announcement explained the train was delayed - by one minute. There were only 8 people waiting to board the two car train which was empty in contrast to the over crowded one car train of this morning.
There was a signalling delay after Lincoln and we eventually passed a semaphore signal at danger.  As we started away there were two foxes sitting in a field watching us pass.
The train to York from Newark ran six minutes late because it was put out of Peterborough on the slow line - sounds like another cock-up.