Up hill and down dale.

We hired a car for a day in the Yorkshire Dales. Lyn drove to Aysgarth Falls. We did short walks to the Middle, Lower and Upper Falls. It was pumping due to a long wet period which only ended with our arrival in York.

Then I drove through the Dale's to Grassington which was packed with tourists. Lyn bought a book. The other photo shows the new use the Brits have found for their phone boxes in this age of the mobile phone. 

We drove on through relentlessly beautiful scenery: lambs, drystone walls, hills and, what else, dales.

Last stop of the day was Fountains Abbey. This place deserved more time but wow!

Then it was back to York after another day of exercise for legs and eyes. 

Remembering Sebastian's Teddy

It's Easter Monday

This day needed serious planning. Lyn wanted "an adventure". I wanted to see Castle Howard because it is one of the greatest of England's great houses and because I loved the great Brideshead Revisited (1981) television series. (I spent the day trying to remember the name of Sebastian's teddy bear.) However, Easter Monday meant no local bus, so it was train from York to Malton, then taxi to Castle Howard.

All went well except the weather. It was cool, grey and wet underfoot. 

Inside, next to a vast cabinet of 18th Century crockery, we encountered our first volunteer guide. There was one in every room. As discussed in blog posts from previous years, these people are the UK's national treasure.

Above is the dome. The painting is of Phaeton in his chariot who crashed, burned, and fell from the sky. It is a typical Greek myth about pride coming before a fall. The dome of Castle Howard made it unique. Then it burned and crashed down into the great hall beneath. Ironic, no? So, with a new dome, restoration continues year after year.

There were lots of fascinating furnishings of mixed taste but this "vase" was something else!

The house had its own Chapel.

On a brighter day the views would have been even more striking. 

The grounds of Castle Howard are thousands of acres. We spent time exploring the walled gardens, fountains, follies, lakes, avenues, woods and paths. All we lacked was a sunny day, some servants to carry a picnic, and Jane Austen to record it all.

Every so often there were loud explosions from the country roundabouts. On the way home through Malton, the foodie capital of Yorkshire, we may have discovered the reason. 

Sunday Worship

Lyn wanted to go to mass because it was Easter Sunday. On the way we saw an ornate clock hanging off an old church wall

We walked to the York Oratory, a local Catholic Church that Lyn described as "ornate but not very interesting". Outside a homeless gentleman was harassing those who entered and muttering to himself.

I walked to the nearby York Museum Gardens which were lovely and very interesting. There were the now very familiar rampant daffodils etc as well as the architectural debris of the last two millennia. The ruins included some of the walls of the great Roman settlement of Eburacum with medieval additions, a ruined Abbey, hospitium and church, a 19th century observatory and an Italian cafe.

I decided against visiting the local York museum and instead visited the York tourist information centre to plan tomorrow's adventure. Mission accomplished, I returned to the church via McDonalds where I stole 6 sugar sachets. The homeless gentleman was still there. He grizzled at everybody and made two forays into the church and was gently escorted out again. The parishioners seemed to know him well. The only person he seemed to avoid was me. Perhaps he instinctively recognised the sort of moral reprobate who would steal sugar. I stuck my head inside and dimly saw a packed church through clouds of incense. Eventually Lyn emerged smelling very holy but rather unimpressed by the cold formality of the service.

We adjourned to the Italian cafe to debrief and drink coffee. Then I gave Lyn a highlights tour of my discoveries.

Next adventure was another place of worship, the National Rail Museum. This incredible place is to railroads what the Vatican museums are to art. Housed in huge old rail sheds, the place is full of wonders, from Stephenson's Rocket to the Mallard, Flying Scotsman and Eurostar. Every imaginable sort of rail memorabilia can be found.

I thought we might finally escape and then Lyn found the huge model train display. We watched toy trains for some time. Lyn's face was lit, "I could watch this for hours." Apparently this was ornate and interesting.

this sun of York

Our bodies are still jet laggy so we got ourselves out into the sunshine walking along part of York's ye olde walls. Everywhere, growing wild, were great banks of daffodils, interspersed with snowdrops and even hyacinths. Spring is sprung.

There were huge Easter holiday crowds at York Minster so we booked for later in the day and explored the Shambles and other sights in town.

Then we took ourselves to York Castle Museum which is well done. An old prison has various exhibitions, the most remarkable of which is a recreation of a Victorian shopping street.

We walked back along another part of wall to lunch and a nap at our apartment. Then we hurried to York Minster for the last public entry time of the day. It is hugely impressive and quite beautiful and then ... the organ sounded. Evensong had begun. The acoustics are stunning. What an experience! Out came the red-robed choir and let rip too. All in all, quite a climax to the day.

Easter Friday

 We had the morning free this Easter Friday so we walked up through Russell Square to the Brunswick Centre, bought cold tablets and sandwiches at Sainsburys, ate breakfast, walked to the British Museum and lined up to get in. It turns out thousands of people were headed to the BM. Maybe not much else was open. 

We spent some time with old clocks, Sumerians and Lewis chess pieces but we were pretty tired already. 

A cabbie en route to King's Cross told Lyn all about "The Knowledge", the gruelling process of getting a cab licence in London. It turns out that all London cabbies are self employed.  Lyn said, "So you get to decide when you work." He replied, "No, the wife does!"

Then we caught the train to York. We walked from the station, past the city walls and through the Micklegate, to our apartment. 

The last task for two very tired travellers was grocery shopping. We'll properly explore tomorrow. 

London Squalling

 Our day began in Bangkok with a 12.00 am wake up to be ready for a 3.00 am flight. We left a muggy warm Bangkok and 7 hours later arrived in muggy warm Dubai. Three hours later we left Dubai for the 7 hour flight to London. As the plane dropped altitude over the channel we entered rain and wind. Visibility was zero. Watching the approach to Heathrow on the forward-facing camera was scary stuff. The aircraft was battling a crosswind. In order to fly straight the nose of the plane was aimed 20 degrees to the left of the line of the runway. Somehow our giant flying crab landed beautifully. London was 7 degrees at 3.30 pm. Then the tube and a taxi and we are finally here.

We wore scarves and puffy jackets on a short walk to a nearby restaurant tonight. After travelling for 22 hours we are ready to sleep.