York, England 26 October - 1 November

Clifford's Tower - much beloved by the local geese.

After a fairly wide ranging adventure with Josh and Helen we decided to find somewhere we could stay put for a few days and decided on York.

What a contrast! The weather picked up, the city itself was crowded and busy and the campground we wanted to stay at was fully booked! We found another one quite close by, which was an easy bike/stroll along the river.

Clifford's Tower also had a mirrorball in the middle - if you look carefully you can see  torches hanging from the handrails. 

Going for a walk around the walls.

The River Ouse.

We also went on the world's most boring brewery tour - the guide (sitting) spoke in a monotone and somehow didn't use any punctuation. Or conjunctions (joining words, to everyone who did irrelevant stuff at school like science or maths).

The York Minster. This door is about halfway along the length, it's pretty big.

Looking up inside the tower.

The Chapter House - perfectly circular and quite spectacular.

The gargoyles and little carvings are always the best bit.

The view from the top of the tower, it has been a while since we went up one. They have set times for the tours to make sure that people are not going up and down the stairs at the same time as there is nowhere to pass. I had to turn sideways to get through one bit.

The world's largest digital photo 'of its kind' (whatever that means) according to the information panel. 

Look at those angry, angry eyes. I banged her on the head a bit putting the helmet on, and it got a bit stuck getting it off. Anyone who has owned a cat knows that eyes like that mean you are about to scratched in the face.

Out for a drink at the Kuja Lounge. Normally an Old Fashioned has a couple of measures of bourbon in it  - not an entire glass.  I gently nursed a pint of mid strength beer for the next hour.

We went out for a lovely steak meal. The service was rubbish, but it was OK because the food was great and they forgot to charge us for the bottle of wine.

'......and then I strangled him to death with my bare hands. Are you listening?'

The ruined abbey in the grounds of the museum.

We had a recent comment from someone, I won't say who, that there were 'too many photos of Josh and Morgan holding hands and not enough photos of Jane. So here we go Barb, this one is especially for you.

We took it pretty easy -  we had a few bits and pieces to do around the van, plus boring admin stuff we had put off doing while we had our mates with us. It was great being able to do this within an easy walk of town.

York was quite bustling, it must have been school holidays for the first few days we were there - and it was weird to see queues at attractions for the first time in ages. The main attractions in York are the old city walls, which almost completely encircle the city, and the York Minster - one of the largest Gothic Cathedrals in Europe.

We also went to the movies (Tintin! It was ace), went to the markets, and went out for various meals and drinkies.  An excellent stop, and we enjoyed ourselves a great deal (we did catch ourselves saying Josh/Helen would like......sigh)

Is it going to be as good as that picture on the wall?

Yes, yes it is.

And for desert, a pork roll with crackling and apple sauce. 

Crepes with Nutella! Eeeeeeeeeee!

We found a pub that only served craft beer and ale - and had about 15 kinds on tap. Josh would have loved it!

This place was called 'Evil Eye' and was a very studenty bar that did great cocktails and really, really good asian food. We felt old. 

Jane's secret, Bile Beans.

This is not York, it is a village called Barnard Castle where stayed for a night. It is such a cool photo I thought I would put it in.