To York via Ripon

Sunday 14 September was a travel day. Our time in Durham was brief, and Sunday saw us on the road again. As we left the city, I asked Chris to put on Roger Whittaker’s ‘I’m gonna leave old Durham town’ which he did, and the catchy little tune stayed with me for a while until we decided we would take it turns to choose a song each for the remainder of the journey. That was fun. A road-trip, easy-going, straight-forward.

Our first stop was Ripon, there to meet up again with Chris’ folks who were staying in the town. In fact, it was their last day there. We met up at the Ripon Inn and had lunch together and caught up on the news since London and shared some of our travels and thoughts. The meal was fine and the company better, but we had to meet our induction host at the next gig at 3pm so we headed off just after 2pm to arrive in York by 3pm.

Susan was a delight. She showed us through the 18th century building, a former hospital, and through our extensively renovated apartment. It’s always good to get an induction to a new place if you can get one as it makes things a little easier in that you don’t have to read instruction manuals for everything. A pain, I’m sure you would agree.

It’s a beautiful apartment. Nicely painted and decorated and they have spared no effort in trying to make the welcome and the stay personalised. We even have a back garden. Now, we are just hoping that the rain will stay off for a day or two as we are staying here for a week.

Today, Monday 14 September, we arose, breakfasted and walked in light rain to York Minster, the giant cathedral, a quarter of a mile long, there to line up for an early tour. The Cathedral volunteers take the tours, as they do in Durham, and they are very knowledgeable about their sacred space. Elisabeth moved about fifty of us around the cathedral floor deftly as we listened to her commentary about the great west door, the west window, the heart of Yorkshire, the southern transept fire, the screen of kings, the five sisters window, the chapter house and its doors (the oldest doors continuously used in all of the UK), the choir, the organ, the fire in the choir, and the great east window). It was a really interesting tour, and we learned lots of things we would not have known had we just had a poke through ourselves. The crypt below had remnants of the first Norman cathedral that William the Conqueror had ordered built on the site, as well as even deeper, part of the remains of the original Roman fort,

It was raining fairly consistently by the time we got outside, but we braved the rickety streets of old York and found a Café Nero for a coffee and a little something scrumptious. Home in the rain afterwards and we have stayed put ever since, resting, reading and a little nap each. It’s been a good day despite the wet, and tomorrow we will try again.Read more