Ring Around the Country, Part 8

Saturday June 9, 2018

 Saturday we left Epping and London behind, heading north to York. I thought we would spend 2 days there, but we were so tired of crowds that one afternoon was all we could stand to do. 

 We decided to camp, for the first time this trip.  The weather was great, so we started looking for a campground about 1 pm and by 2:30 we were set up and ready to head into York.  Check out the tent, we bought it in Wales earlier in our trip.  We have been looking for one with more room to store our gear while MC camping and this one looks like it will fit the bill.  Look, it's bigger than our rental car, weighs about 6 lbs and packs up smaller than our current tent.

 We started by walking through a medieval gate

 First view of York

 This owl was part of a Raptor display

 This is the York Minster

 Constantine was proclaimed Emperor in York

 Another shot of the church

 Are these muggles or wizards, if you are a Harry Potter fan you will recognized the Shambles as part of Diagon Alley

 Check out the sag in this building

We walked down to the Tower and the Castle Museum, but it was closing.  York was so crowded and we were so tired of people that we called it a day found dinner and then headed back to camp.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

We ditched York and headed out to the sea.

 We stopped in Scarborough at the Cats Pajamas for breakfast

 Then we walked to the Castle.  This is the view from the top

 The castle

 View of town, with St Mary's in the foreground.

 After touring the castle grounds we headed down to the harbor

 This was a herring port, and the herring girls have this art piece and explanation 

 Scarborough Fair was made famous in our lifetime by Simon and Garfunkel.  The promenade is full of arcades and seems more like Coney Island than anything else.

 Then we drove to Whitby, to see the Abbey.  It was a 7th Century monastery, then became a Benedictine Abbey, and then good old Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and eventually the land was sold and a manor house was built on part of it.

 It is very impressive

 The view of the sea

 Cliffs just south of the Abbey

 Had to stop...

 We then continued on towards our next stop. We decided to stop in Durham for the night and will continue on tomorrow.  We walked into town for dinner and they were having races on the river.

View of Durham castle, which is also getting a face lift!  Typical of our timing!!