2018-04 -- Walking the City Walls of York

York has a long and fascinating history. It has been around since at least the Roman invasion into England in 43 AD. In fact, while we were here, there was an article in the local newspaper about builders finding several Roman skeletons dating from 60 AD while excavating to renovate a hotel.

Roman East Tower ruins

While the Romans began the York City Walls, the sections that remain to walk upon today started as earthenworks by William the Conqueror. He was a Norman who invaded England in 1066. Today, only 2 miles of walls remain standing. However, the entire loop, including the walking between wall sections is a 5K (3.1 miles).

City Walls of York

Our hotel (Premiere Inn on Blossom Street) was less than a block from Mickelgate Bar. This is a proper gate, with insignia and the sculptures of men standing on the top of the turrets. At this gate, stone steps lead up to the city walls. There's the option to either go toward York Castle or toward York Minster. Let’s check out the sights going counter clockwise, starting toward York Castle.

The first stop along the wall is Baile Hill, a tower built in the “motte and baile” manner of erecting towers from earthworks and timbers in a short 6 days in the time of William the Conqueror. Today, it is a circular, flat stone section at the corner of the wall.

Ducks and ducklings on the path between Skeldergate Bridge and Clifford's tower

Walking on, the walls end just before Skeldergate Bridge. You’ll need to cross over this bridge, with plaques listing that it was erected in the mid 1800s and another from the 1940s abolishing the toll to cross the bridge. There was a four-person skulling team in the water as I walked down the stairs on the other side. Their coach was riding his bike along the paved bike path and shouting encouragement while checking his watch for their splits.

Clifford's Tower

A short walk through a park with a couple of duck familes and their ducklings leads to the back of a city wall that is now just the edge of the backyard for a few homes. Crossing Tower Street, look straight up the hill to see Clifford’s Tower, originally a baile and motte structure that was updated in the mid-1200s to the current stone structure still standing today.

Fishergate Tower placard

To continue to the walls, follow the sidewalk around to the right around York Castle and enter the City Walls at the next gate, Fishergate. Fishergate Tower is the latest instantiation on this site, built in 1505. It has a more modern convenience, the “garderobe”, or toilet for the guards to use. There is a little section built out from the tower with a hole opening for a drop to the ground below. From here, you can walk the stairs up to get on the walls again.

The next stop is Fishergate Bar. “Bar” in these instances means a gateway. It also means stairs to go up and down. The runners who passed us on the way down on the steps barely missed being hit by two cycles that zoomed through this gate.

The next stop was Walmgate Bar. Before there were stone walls running around the city, the ramparts were made of earth. There is still part of an arch here from the 12th century, although today’s gate has had additions from the 14th and 15th centuries. In this gateway, there is a tiny coffeeshop. A very interesting place to have a cup of tea. It also meant that we had to take the stairs down on one side of the street, cross over the street and then take the stairs back up to continue along the walls.

Red Tower

Our final stop on this section of the walls was the Red Tower. “Tower” seems to be a bit of a misnomer. It looks more like a small square house. However, the ground level now is higher than when it was built in 1490.  This is the end of the city walls because William of Normandy dammed up the Ouse River so that a lake could be formed. That lake, the King’s Fishpool, provided a defense of the city from Red Tower to Layerthorpe Bridge.

Layerthorpe Tower

We walked along Foss Islands Road until we arrived at Layerthrope Bridge, then climbed back onto the city walls. Layerthorpe was built in the 13th century. Just before the next “bar”, there is scaffolding and construction. However, the metal grated scaffolding stairs might be even safer to walk down with the constant driizzle and rain in York!

The door and stairway up to Monkgate bar

Monkgate Bar

The next stop is Monkgate Bar. This gate hosts the Richard III Experience. It was built in the early 14th century but has had expansions in the 15th century. In the 17th century, stone figures appearing to throw down boulders were added to the very top of the gate. It is the tallest bar in York. To get back on the wall in the gate, we had to squeeze past an old wooden door with metal buttons on it and walk up a narrow wooden stairway. It is defintely only one person wide!

York Minster from the city walls

The next section of the wall highlights a tower (the east tower) of the original Roman Wall. It is such an interesting experience to look down at the remains of a tower from almost 2000 years ago on the edge of a residential neighborhood. This section of wall also has the best views of York Minster.

Portcullis in Bootham bar

It ends at Bootham Bar, just across from the York Art Gallery. Inside the bar, you can see the wooden portcullis. We descended the street here and continued walking along St. Leonard’s Street until we came to some interesting ruins just outside the York Library. This is the old St. Leonard’s hospital, built in the 1200s AD.

Lendal Tower

Continue along Museum Street, and, you’ll see Lendal Tower on this side of the river. It is from the 13th century and was used to as one of two towers to anchor a chain across the River Ouse at night to prevent people from boating into York without paying a toll.

Barker Tower

Crossing over the river, we stopped at Barker Tower, the tower that the chain was stretched to. This tower is from the 14th century. It is also the start of the city walls on the south side of the river. From here, we walked all the way back to Micklegate Bar.

Hope that you enjoyed the tour of the York City Walls!

2018-04 - York Minster (York, UK)

On the way to the side chapel

Today, I had the chance to visit the interior of York Minster to attend the 7:50 am Communion service. To be honest, I didn't leave the hotel until after 7:30, spent a little time getting lost within the downtown area as it started sprinkling and then circled the entire York Minster before finally finding the side door to enter. The was a security guard looked through my rain drop covered glasses questioningly but did lead me to the Communion service. Sad to say, there were only seven other attendees at the service (and, one was a priest, dressed in a long, flowing black robe with wide red band around the waist).

Peaking into the altar area

The service was held in a small side chapel of York Minster. The pews were wooden; and, the kneeling benches were wide with what looked like hand cross-stitched covers. The only part of the service that I knew was the Lord's Prayer. I skipped going forward for communion, even though the priest attending kindly asked if I would like to participate. At the very end of the service, I picked up the red and black books in the back of the pew behind of me. Both were books of common prayer. Underneath them was a piece of paper titled "Eucharist in the Easter Season". (Eucharist is another word for Communion.) It was the entire service, word for word! I folded up the piece of paper and stuffed it in my coat pocket. Only now looking at it do I see at the bottom of the sheet, in all caps: "PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE".

Beautiful stained glass window on the side of York Minster

Old churches, while beautiful, are definitely not handicapped accessible. One of the elderly attendees was slowly working his walker up the four stairs to get out of the chapel into the main church. I and two other women waited behind him. Then, the three of us ladies snuck past an open door into the main altar area where I took a quick photo before slowly sauntering back toward the door that I'd entered. Suddenly, the guard walked around the corner. Without many words, he escorted me to the door, unlocked it and locked it behind me. The elderly gentleman had made his way down the stairs to the sidewalk level and asked me where I was visiting from. He told me that he had retired to York from the US because York is the best place to live in England.

View of York Minster from the city walls

The sprinkling had stopped by this point; and, I hopped back on the city walls at the Layerthorpe Bridge. From Layerthorpe Bridge to Monk Bar and then Bootham Bar, there are great views of York Minster.

View of York Minster from the city walls

View of York Minster from the city walls

View of York Minster from the city walls

2018-04 - High tea at Betty's Tea Shop (York, UK)

My friends recommended that we visit Betty's Tea in York for High Tea. We stumbled across the shop while wondering around looking for The Shambles the previous evening. Since they do not take reservations, the cashier suggested that we arrive before 11 am in order to avoid the lines. We happily obliged and made Betty's Tea our morning breakfast at 10 am.

The view from Betty's Tea

Betty's Tea is a big, beautiful shop with stained glass windows on the intersection of two streets. The location that we had stumbled upon is wedged between two pubs on a pedestrian street. We were the second through seventh people in line at 9:55 am waiting for Betty's to open at 10 am. The man in front of us was a local who told us a bit about Betty's tea shop. The original is actually in a different town called Harrogate. The location that we visited sells tea and scones on the first floor and serves high tea on the second. We were seated just in front of a picture window facing the street.

Tea sandwiches, scone and cakes

For 20 pounds each, we received our own personal pots of tea (with one free refill), four sandwiches, a sweet scone and three cakes. The tea came with a side of milk and above average sized sugar cubes made with large sugar crystals. It also arrived with a strainer to remove any loose leaf tea when pouring into the tea cups. The sandwiches included egg salad, chicken salad and salmon. The scone came with generous servings of clotted cream and strawberry jam. The cakes for the day were a mini chocolate extravagance, a mini fruit tart and a lemon macaroon. 

2018-04 - Bath to York (UK)

Looking down on Bath

It was our last morning in Bath; and, we enjoyed it by jogging upward from our AirBnB to try to get photos of the city sprawled below. We caught glimpses of views. However, then, it started to sprinkle and then rain; and, our sight-seeing ended in favor of getting home and dry.

Looking down on Bath

Our two trains from Bath to York only took 4.5 total hours. It was a pretty uneventful time of reading, naps, and light eats (sandwiches, chips, hot chocolate/tea/coffee all sold on the train). We were even able to snag one of the four seats facing a table for a bit to play Bananagrams.

View of the train station from the York city walls

York is further north than Bath and at least 5 degrees cooler. I've been wearing my fleece jacket since we've arrived. Our hotel is only a short distance from the train station. It's just outside the walls. Plus, it's a short walk everywhere. 

Barker Tower

After we checked in, we walked the city walls from Mickelgate Bar all the way to Barker Tower, just before the Ouse River. Then, we popped off to walk over the river and get our first glimpse of York Minster.

First glimpse of York Minster

Afterward, we walked over to the Shambles, which seems to be narrow streets with buildings defying gravity. Unfortunately, we were too late to enjoy any of these sites, as everything in York closes at 5 pm. However, we were able to scope out what we wanted to see for tomorrow.

Looking down Shambles

2018-04 - Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock, Castle Combe

Our day started off with a walk back to our new favorite bakery in Bath, the Cornish Bakery, right across from the entrance to the Roman Baths. They sell pasties, a take on empanadas, usually stuffed with some type of meat, as well as delicious croissants and chocolate torsades, a twist of croissant dough with chocolate and sugar and dusted with powdered sugar. Then, we navigated the directions on the Mad Max tour site to get to the front of the Abbey Hotel. Everything that we’ve seen in Bath has been a five minute walk from our AirBnB. It’s been quite convenient!

Can you spot the white horse on the hill in the background?

There was some construction going on at the bridge over the Avon River in Bath; and, our tour driver was delayed 45 minutes getting to us. However, Kevin finally arrived; and, he had us quickly up into the shuttle and on our way to Stonehenge. One of the interesting items that he pointed out along the way were white horses on the sides of hills. These are built out of chalk by the different villages. It's a bit of a competition of who has the best; and, the chalk is replaced in 12-18 month intervals to keep the horses looking bright white.

Stonehenge!

The day was cloudy and overcast, threatening to rain. The benefit was that there were no lines to get on the shuttle from the parking lot to the stones, approximately 1.5 miles from the parking lot. Just like the Roman Baths, the Stonehenge Visitor Center includes an audio guide in multiple languages with the price of the entrance ticket. The shuttle to the stones is also included.

Fields of rapeseed (canola) along the highway that runs by Stonehenge

Our guide explained how Stonehenge actually went up for auction in 1915 as part of several lots of land being auctioned. A local, Sir Cecil Chubb of Shrewton, remembered playing in the ruins as a boy and bought them at the auction for what would be ~700,000 pounds in today’s rate. After three years, he gifted the lot to the English Heritage Organisation to care for, with the stipulation that locals would always be able to enter the park for free, which continues to this day.

Stonehenge!

Once the shuttle dropped us at the top, we started walking around the roped path far from the pyramids. For ~60 extra pounds, you can actually stand inside Stonehenge either before the park opens or after it closes. For the rest of us visiting during park hours, we are restricted to a path far from the stones. Along the path, there are markers letting us know which number to play on the audio guides.

Heel stone

The stones were erected approximately 3500 years ago. There are no written records around Stonehenge. Therefore, everything is speculation about why these stones were erected. The stones do align with the summer and winter solstices. Other than that, they are a mystery, as are the way that the very heavy stones (up to 40 tons) were moved to the site. Scientists hypothesize that the stones could have been moved on barges pulled around the coastline and up the rivers, then rolled up the grassy knoll on logs. You can even attempt moving a stone on timbers set just outside the visitor center.

Rope for visitors to attempt moving this stone slab

From Stonehenge, two parallel covered ditches stretch to the river Avon. These are actual “henges”. A henge is a covered ditch. Stonehenge is a complete misnomer. In addition, there are various mounds around the Stonehenge site. These are ancient burial mounds. Some have been excavated, including a skeleton in the small museum of a man from ~100 km away who stood 5’8”.

The museum itself is a great visit, because it gives you a chance to experience standing inside the stones. There is a round room with the stones in video on the wall; and, the videos play through the seasons, including the summer and winter solstice.

Avebury

Back on the shuttle, our tour guide took us to a site that stretches across an even larger area than Stonehenge. This is Avebury. It is a small village with the stones at the edge of and around it. Our guide Kevin had brought with some copper rods to show us how the stones attract the rods. However, it was just too windy of a day to see the effect of the stones on the rods properly

Avebury

It was more calming, though, to walk through half of the circle of Avebury stones, with hardly anyone else around, just a few tourists and locals on about their daily business. There was a small rise with wooden stairs going up that would have given a good view if it hadn’t been closed due to mud. Have I mentioned the grass yet? It was so lush and green! Our guide said that since it was getting longer, the sheep would probably be brought in to graze.

Avebury church

We walked around the little village, entering the very old church with a baptismal fount from ~1100 AD. The church door stands open to all. There are postcards and requests for donations, all on the honor system with an envelope sitting ready. The old fount isn't even roped off. There is simply a handwritten sign asking you to replace the chair next to it if you move the chair to take a photo.

Baptismal fount in Avebury church

While the cafe in town had been closed since the weekend with -6 C temperatures causing burst pipes and flooding, the industrious cafe management had set up a pop-up cafe in a building next door to feed the locals and those tourists visiting the Avebury stones. They were running out of their golden brown quiche and thick tomato soup as we arrived. Instead, I ate my first cheese and chutney sandwich (shredded mozzarella cheeses + what tasted like sweet tamarind sauce) and my first sausage roll (croissant type bread rolled around ground up sausage). The Australian lady on our tour recommended eating the sausage roll with tomato sauce (ketchup) which nicely accentuated
the flavors.

Wooden houses were a sign of wealth in Lacock

Our next stop was to Lacock, another small village that has been made popular by being filmed in various films, including some portions of Harry Potter movies as well as an episode in the last season of Downton Abbey.

Inside the tithe barn. It's built like an upside-down ship

 Our shuttle parked behind the Red Lion pub. Our guide Kevin walked us around the town, showing off the oldest bar, the tithe barn (built by a shipbuilder -- it looks like the upside down hull of a ship) and the home of the richest man in LaCock. His home was made of wood, a sign of affluence, since wood was so much more expensive as a building material back in the day than brick was.

The abbey of Lacock

Interestingly, Lacock Abbey was granted to a family by King Henry VIII with the stipulation that the abbey be decommissioned. The new land owner, happily complied. The land was then in the family for the next 400 years. It included the manor house, the tenant farmers and the village.

A guinea fowl and cat greet us outside the former poorhouse, now a potter's studio

In the 1940s, many men had gone off to WWI and lost their lives and now men were going off to WWII and losing their lives. The inheritance taxes on these lands were in the 60-70%. Generally, the large land owners were going broke. Therefore, the lady of the house at that time made a deal with the National Trust to donate all of Lacock with the stipulation that her family could continue to live in the Manor house.

The benefit of this arrangement is that the National Trust gives first right to rent within Lacock to people who have a family history within the manor and village. It has kept more local businesses continuing within their families. Plus, since none of the properties can be purchased, it prevents developers from coming in and gentrifying the land.

Cream tea and scones at Sign of the Angel

At Lacock, I experienced my first British tea service. At the Sign of the Angel, for only 7.50 pounds, we received a pot of tea, cream, and two scones (either sweet or savory). The sweet scones came with jam and clotted cream, a creamier butter. Per our guide, some people put the clotted cream on before the jam. However, he always puts on the jam before the clotted cream. Either way is a delicious combination on fresh, warm scones. Two of us ordered the same tea, which came out in a teapot so heavy full of tea, that I had to balance it on the table and tip it to fill my cup. Quick reminder to put in the tea screens, since the teas are loose leaf.

Like so many other establishments, even the Sign of the Angel had rooms to rent. Inside, there were rough wooden beams and whitewashed walls. We sat in front of a large fireplace, at least 5’ tall. On the walls were old looking paintings. Our waiter was also the receptionist for the rooms to let and was serving tables and escorting people through a little side door and up stairs to their rooms.

Castle Combe Manor House

Our final stop on our Mad Max tour was Castle Combe, another abby/manor village. This village had not been sold to the National Trust. The old manor house has been turned into a hotel. In the old church lies the remains of a Sir Walter de Dunstanville who died in his second crusade. We know this only because his legs are crossed, a sign that he survived his first crusade. The grave is from 1270. Like the other village church, this one is also just open for anyone to walk in. The stone tomb is not protected in any way.

After returning to Bath, we ate dinner at a Nepalese restaurant near our AirBnB, Yak Yeti Yak. We ate momos, lamb, chicken and lots and lots of rice. The food was fragrant and flavorful, although all of our bodies were not so comfortable sitting on the floor for the entire meal. Afterward, a couple of us went on the Bizarre Bath walking tour. It’s a combination comedy / magical illusions tour.

2018-04 - Bath (UK)

The Avo sandwich at the Italian Gardens Cafe

What a difference a full night of sleep can make! We started this morning with a leisurely jog around Hyde Park. We saw several other runners but mostly pedestrians and many bicycle commuters. Afterward, we enjoyed breakfast inside the park at The Italian Gardens Cafe. I tried "The Avo", which is an avocado smashed on top of a large piece of sourdough bread, crowned with a poached egg with the orangest egg yolk I've ever seen. The side salad was rocket (arugula).

Before heading out to Bath today, we made a few quick stops, exchanging money and hitting up a pharmacy, which especially looked very old and well-used on the outside but clean, bright and well-organized on the inside.

Passing Swindon Station. Check out all the bikes on the racks.

Our walk back to Paddington Station was much quicker today. We arrived at 11:25, got our train tickets validated and just made it on the 11:30 train before it pulled out. Over the 1.5 hour ride to Bath, we passed by the towns of Chippenham and Swindon. For those who elect to take the train, you will need your ticket handy when you exit your arrival station in order to get out of the building.

Our AirBnB was a short walk from the train station. It's an amazing five-story, 250+ year home that runs all of it's radiators from a Nest thermostat. Plus, it's a short walk to the main attraction of this city, the Roman Baths!

Looking down on the Roman bath from the Victorian built terrace

On a Monday in April around 2 pm, there are no lines to get into the Roman Baths. We walked right in and purchased combo tickets for the Roman Baths and for the Fashion Museum (for those Jane Austen enthusiasts). The museum provides audio guides to everyone, in multiple languages for no additional charge. In English, there was even an option to listen to Bill Bryson's musings on the baths. While there weren't any lines, there were many people visiting the museum. It's a one way path through the museum with large arrows marking the flow.

The sculptures on the terrace above the Roman Bath

We began by walking around the terrace that had been built around the baths when they had been re-discovered in the 1800s. At that time, homeowners were complaining that there was hot water pooling in their cellars. Upon investigation, the authorities decided to purchase all of the homes over the bath and restore the baths.  On the terrace, the Scottish sculptor G.A. Lawrence recreated Roman era sculptures, including one of Julius Caesar (which has subsequently been replaced due to accidentally toppling into the baths in the 1980s).

Following the arrows, we learned about the source of the springs (vents deep inside the earth), how hot the water is (not boiling -- only 46 C / 115 F) and why the green color (algae).

Originally, these springs were discovered by the Celtic or Briton (depending on what you read) Prince Bladud who was banished from his father's kingdom when he contracted leprosy. Banished to the middle of nowhere marsh to raise pigs, he made the serendipitous discovery of the hot spring, which he bathed in and miraculously recovered from his disease.

At the main bath level

When the Romans invaded in 43 AD, the Dobboni people lived by the Sacred Spring, worshiping the goddess Sulis, of healing. The Romans quickly took over the area and were beginning to build structures here the year after, dedicated the goddess that they were now calling Sulis Minerva, a combination of the Dobboni goddess and the Roman goddess Minerva.

Lead curses inscribed in Latin recovered from the Sacred Spring

Curse transcriptions

At each level, there are videos of people dressed in Roman era dress performing their assumed normal daily routines. We circled downward in the museum, looking at artifacts along the way. There was even a full skeleton of a man buried in a lead lined coffin. He was from Syria. Lead appeared to be a favorite material of the Romans: even the curses that people wrote to the goddesses were inscribed in lead and thrown into the sacred spring.

Gemstones with intricate inscriptions used as wax signet rings

At the level just before exiting to the original Roman era pool, there are pulleys demonstrating how the Romans lifted the stones for the bath, a variety of bricks used within the bath and a collection of petite gems with intricate designs that could have been part of signet rings for sealing documents with wax.

Tepidarium with video holograph recreation of Roman bathers

We stepped out to the main pool and the tour meet-up point. Each hour, there is a docent led tour through the main and east baths. It is completely worth it! The tour guide took us through the three rooms on the East Bath, which are thought to have been for the women. The first room is the apodyterium, or changing room, where the bathers left their clothes. The second room was the tepidarium, where oils were rubbed on the bathers and all their hair was plucked. The third room was the caldarium, or sauna, were the bathers sweated out the oils. The room was heated by fires built at the corners of the room underneath the floor. The heat of the fires spread in between the stacks of bricks holding up the floor and heated the entire room. Only after the bathers passed through all of the rooms were they finally allowed to bath in the hot spring bath.

Lead pipe around the Roman bath

As our tour guide walked us out of the East Bath and back to the main bath area, she pointed out a portion of lead pipe still lying in the drain. She said that while the Romans knew that lead was bad for them, they continued to use it for plumbing, since it was such an ideal material for pipes. The pipe today is actually shorter than when originally rediscovered in the 1800s since people would snip off bits to sell.

After the entire, wonderful Roman bath experience, we were hungry! We stopped over at The Cornish Bakery and discovered delicious pastries. My recommendation is the chocolate torsade, a twist of croissant pastry dough with chocolate and sugar, suffused in powdered sugar. We ate our snacks as we walked the five minutes over to the Art Gallery.

Inside the gallery, the Bath Society of Artists Annual Exhibition is going on. The walls of the room are lined floor to ceiling with a variety of artworks by local artists. We were even given voting cards to vote for our favorite piece in the room. Upstairs, there is a room dedicated to pottery and china ware and a larger room of all the different art pieces that have been donated to the gallery over the years. The one piece I recognized was a 16th century recreation of Hans Holbein's King Henry VIII, which is just inside the door to the right.