York, United Kingdom

Raining again when we woke, and around 12 degrees. As we left I asked Vern if we could try the circles again so I could get a good photo hoping for less people as the street seemed quieter being a Monday and the weather may put them off. Although the later hope was probably being a bit optimistic as people here appear well used to the weather. Other guests at the B&B were decked up and off with their walking/hiking sticks and packs regardless. We are so soft in NZ! My hunch was right and there were only a couple of photogs at the stones and I merrily skipped around on the spongy wet grass and got some lovely people free shots in the misty atmosphere and peace.

The drive to York is only 2 hrs and carriage way (motorway) most of the journey. After we left the circle the sun came out for a bit illuminating the green hills around Keswick making a pretty sight as the mist rolled back briefly. It is a most pretty town and I can see the attraction for the lakes district when the sun is out. The best way to describe it is like big series of kaimai ranges and (bigger hills) rising very steeply on either side with narrow valleys similar to the view you get of the Waikato from the lookout point, except you see valleys, not a plain. I really enjoyed Keswick and could have spent another day there exploring.

Our York B&B is run by a mother and daughter and the door was opened by mum who must be in her 70’s and then the daughter, Kim approximately in her 40’s promptly came and looked after the check in. Kim reminds us of the character Mary in Coronation street. They are the same build, age, and voice. Kim has blonde hair and glasses and looks different but if you shut your eyes you could be fooled. It is a late Victorian house built in 1885 that has been lovingly restored with 3 guest rooms and 3 levels. It still has many original features like marble and iron fireplaces in the rooms and a grand stair case, decorative ceiling features etc and Anne and her Mum are very eclectic in style and its crammed full to bursting with antiques and other treasures. We are on the first level up which is nice not to have to climb with bags too far.

Our room is called ‘The Kirkham’ and along with great deco and every amenity you could imagine plus more we have a huge separate bathroom with a standing tub as well as a shower. Every need and desire has been thought of such as robe, full sized scented bath creme, powder, sparkling water and glasses in bathroom, cotton wool, shampoos, full size body moisturisers – and that is just the bathroom. In the bedroom was the usual tea and coffees, packets of quality biscuits, tin of home made cake slices, Sherry decanter (full) with crystal glasses, lollies and snack chocolates and mini bars, welcome basket iwth emery boards, shaver, toothbrush and paste (travel) strip of panadol, a postcard, a welcome note, books, dvd’s – oh gosh probably more I forgot!

We settled in quickly and set off on foot to the National Railway museum which was well recommended. I offered to stay home and blog, but Vern cajoled me to join him, saying I would enjoy it. The weather was light spitting so we took an umbrella for the 15 minute walk. The museum is free, but they encourage a donation which is great as things here are quite expensive to visit. There is a ‘great hall’ with engines dating back to the late 1700’s to the first high speed Japanese train – the later you could go inside and sit down and watch a movie about it. That one was about 20 years old. Of note Vern said was ‘The Mallard’ engine in all its blue glory. There were HUGE old steam work horses with wheels taller than us. It was actually good to see. Next door a big hall crammed with Rail junk – treasures of every description – signal boxes, tables, glasses any memorabilia you can think of that relates to trains. Model rail ways, also, but they were not working as they were being cleaned. Another hall housed the royal collection which looked like a Harry Potter movie set. Carriages on display belonged to the royals including Queen Victoria, King George and more.

After a couple of hours there we walked over into old town to find dinner. On the way was a busy road and a family of geese very casually played stop the traffic at a busy intersection. It was full of suspense watching to see if a tragedy would occur and thankfully it didn’t. The English are very much into their animals and wildlife. I think they would rather crash their car than run over a duck or goose. For dinner we hunted out a place recommended by Rick Steves called ‘York pork’ which is a carvery sandwich joint or you can have a few spuds, Yorkshire puds, gravy and vege with your pork or beef. It was very forgettable – Vern has a roll, I had the bread-less option. As we went further down the road we came across the old town section and there are a few nice buildings but not as medieval as I expected. There is one short street, formally the one the butchers used to work and sell from called ‘The Shambles’ and that was the most interesting.

We hadn’t had quite a full dinner and felt we deserved dessert so we kept our eyes peeled for somewhere to finish our dinning and chose a French cafe called ‘Cafe Rouge’. We ordered a cheese board (£7.95) and a Chocolate and Banana Praline cake with salted caramel ice cream and chocolate sauce (£5.95). Wow – one set of happy diners. I didnt get to take a picture of the cheeseboard, just got carried away eating, but there were 5 different wedges of about 60-100 grams each. A comte style nutty hard cheese, a brie/camembert, a goat, a soft camembert style blue, and another just devine soft one. All were genuine French and they were served with pickled baby figs, celery and a few water crackers. The chocolate cake was one of the best I have had and delivered in all departments. It was very soft and fudgey in texture with the praline being a cross between a ganache and praline chocolate and was meltingly smooth without being too sweet. The salted caramel ice cream and dark chocolate sauce were also excellent and complementary, also the right balance of sweet and sour. It was really too good to share, but we did on both parts.

As usual we strolled home, enjoying the evening ambience with full and satisfied bellies with a detour to a local superette for another cider bottle to relax and blog with.