This weekend we took the train from London to York. It’s nice little city/town, very old and medieval, surrounded by a still intact city wall.
We had booked an early train, and the two hour trip north got us into York a bit after 9 am. When we arrived it was raining, as it had been for most of the morning. It wasn’t heavy rain, just enough to be a pain in the arse. We walked into town from the station, not a very long walk at all.
We were looking for somewhere to have some breakfast but ended up deciding to try and find ‘Bettys’ which had been recommended by a work colleague. It was a very fancy place, we felt a little bit out of place when we rocked in wearing snow jackets, carrying a back pack and dripping wet. The food was good though Christine had chocolate and orange pancakes and I had a Fat Rascal, which was like a huge scone filled with fruit and spices.
Our next stop was at the Viking discovery centre which had also been recommended. Sadly, this was closed for renovations. Strangely the ticket box and gift shop were open. We had a bit of a chat to the girl in the ticket box, who was able to give us a few tips on pubs to visit in town.
After dropping our bags at the hotel we were staying at we headed back out for a look around town. We walked past the big gothic cathedral on our way to visit the Museum Gardens and the Art Gallery. The gardens were a park on the outside of the wall which had some ruins from another old church in them. After a big week and a day walking around in the rain we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap!
We had booked an early train, and the two hour trip north got us into York a bit after 9 am. When we arrived it was raining, as it had been for most of the morning. It wasn’t heavy rain, just enough to be a pain in the arse. We walked into town from the station, not a very long walk at all.
We were looking for somewhere to have some breakfast but ended up deciding to try and find ‘Bettys’ which had been recommended by a work colleague. It was a very fancy place, we felt a little bit out of place when we rocked in wearing snow jackets, carrying a back pack and dripping wet. The food was good though Christine had chocolate and orange pancakes and I had a Fat Rascal, which was like a huge scone filled with fruit and spices.Our next stop was at the Viking discovery centre which had also been recommended. Sadly, this was closed for renovations. Strangely the ticket box and gift shop were open. We had a bit of a chat to the girl in the ticket box, who was able to give us a few tips on pubs to visit in town.
After dropping our bags at the hotel we were staying at we headed back out for a look around town. We walked past the big gothic cathedral on our way to visit the Museum Gardens and the Art Gallery. The gardens were a park on the outside of the wall which had some ruins from another old church in them. After a big week and a day walking around in the rain we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap!
We
headed to The Old White Swan for dinner. This is a pub in town that does good local food apparently. We ate massive plates of Toad in a hole, basically a big Yorkshire pudding filled with sausages and veggies.
We had seen an advertised Pub Crawl during the day that was part ghost tour and part pub crawl. The add even said it ran regardless of the weather. For whatever reason, when we arrived at the meeting spot and no one else was there, we called them and found out it wasn’t running tonight! Typical!
Instead we thought we would take ourselves on bit of a pub crawl, which turned out to be a lot easier than we thought. We headed to the Hansom Cab, a pub that had been recommended by the girl at the Viking Centre. According to my slightly sketchy memory, the pub is owned by one of two brothers. One of the brothers runs a number of pubs that serve the Golden Nectar that is Fosters. The second guy, and the guy who owns the Handsome Cab, brews his own beers
, and doesn’t serve anything else. As a result we had a few beers, all different, one was as cheap as 1.50 for a pint, but it wasn’t the best tasting stuff. Real English Ale, flat and warm!
Anyway as it turned out we got chatting to a small group of locals who were having bit of a night out for a birthday. They ended up convincing them to join them as they were headed to a different pub. Over the next 4 hours or so we visited about 3 more bars with them and even got told a few ghost stories on our travels!
headed to The Old White Swan for dinner. This is a pub in town that does good local food apparently. We ate massive plates of Toad in a hole, basically a big Yorkshire pudding filled with sausages and veggies.We had seen an advertised Pub Crawl during the day that was part ghost tour and part pub crawl. The add even said it ran regardless of the weather. For whatever reason, when we arrived at the meeting spot and no one else was there, we called them and found out it wasn’t running tonight! Typical!
Instead we thought we would take ourselves on bit of a pub crawl, which turned out to be a lot easier than we thought. We headed to the Hansom Cab, a pub that had been recommended by the girl at the Viking Centre. According to my slightly sketchy memory, the pub is owned by one of two brothers. One of the brothers runs a number of pubs that serve the Golden Nectar that is Fosters. The second guy, and the guy who owns the Handsome Cab, brews his own beers
, and doesn’t serve anything else. As a result we had a few beers, all different, one was as cheap as 1.50 for a pint, but it wasn’t the best tasting stuff. Real English Ale, flat and warm!Anyway as it turned out we got chatting to a small group of locals who were having bit of a night out for a birthday. They ended up convincing them to join them as they were headed to a different pub. Over the next 4 hours or so we visited about 3 more bars with them and even got told a few ghost stories on our travels!
Sunday morning we had a sleep in and then headed downstairs for a big Cooked English breakfast. The fried toast was rather vulgar, but for the most part the poms can at least cook a decent breakfast!
Sunday was sunny which was exciting as we haven’t seen much sun for the last few months. After getting out of bed, for the second time, and checking out we headed over to the Shambles. This is a narrow old street where all the buildings lean over the road towards each other. We also walked past Clifford’s Tower, which is not that high but very cool. The name comes from a guy that was hung from the top of the tower years ago… Sweet hey!
The rest of the afternoon we spent walking on the city wall and practically did the whole thing! It was then back to the train station and a short visit to the National Rail Museum to kill the last hour or so we had before taking the train back to London.
Sunday was sunny which was exciting as we haven’t seen much sun for the last few months. After getting out of bed, for the second time, and checking out we headed over to the Shambles. This is a narrow old street where all the buildings lean over the road towards each other. We also walked past Clifford’s Tower, which is not that high but very cool. The name comes from a guy that was hung from the top of the tower years ago… Sweet hey!
The rest of the afternoon we spent walking on the city wall and practically did the whole thing! It was then back to the train station and a short visit to the National Rail Museum to kill the last hour or so we had before taking the train back to London.
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