A Day in York
In April 2017 I was giving my friend Cecil a whirlwind tour of England from our base in a London hotel, an obvious choice of location to visit was York. Steeped in history the city still has huge stretches of city wall in tact and you are able to walk along the tops of these to various historic locations.
Our day began at London Kings Cross station where we took the west coast main line train to York. We got a direct express service that was 'first stop York' and enjoyed 1 hour and 50 minutes of first class comfort as we were whisked through the beautiful English countryside at 125mph.
Our day began at London Kings Cross station where we took the west coast main line train to York. We got a direct express service that was 'first stop York' and enjoyed 1 hour and 50 minutes of first class comfort as we were whisked through the beautiful English countryside at 125mph.
The train was on time and we were soon stepping out of the station at York and being greeted by some spectacular spring blossoms as we made the very short walk around to Micklegate to photograph the city gate and ascend onto the wall to walk the first stretch around to the river Ouse.
As soon as we crossed the river we turned into the (free to enter) Yorkshire Museum Gardens and made a circuit of the gardens, observatory and the ruins of St Marys Abbey before grabbing a coffee and cake at the little cafe beside the museum.
After leaving the museum gardens we walked along museum street heading north to York Minster. Even though the skies were not really great for photography today we took advantage of the blossoms in the Deans Park beside the building to cover the skies and surround the Minster with a natural frame, but the one shot of the gothic frontage held on to some cloud which helped capture the feel of this incredible structure.
From the Minster we cut into the city through the myriad of tiny twisting streets that crowd you on all sides, the masses of tourists that are always present further add to the claustrophobic feel of the narrow streets; finally when they open out into the market square there's an audible breath from most people. The shops are squeezed in and sell all kinds of everything from tourist trinkets to dazzling dresses for attendance at York races. The gallery below shows the streets and market area as we made our way across the city.
The time flashed by in York and before we knew it 6 hours had passed and we had to return to the train station to make the 16:05 back to London. We walked back a different way taking in Clifford's Tower along the way and rejoining the city walls at Skeldergate. From Skeldergate we walked the city walls round to Station Rise where we exited the city wall and crossed to the train station with 10 minutes to spare
York is one of Englands great cities (though we do have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to medieval towns and cities) As a day trip from almost anywhere in the country it is a great place to visit. We only saw a small portion of the city due to time constraints but it was enough for Cec to get a feel for it and want to return. As someone who worked from an office in York for years, for me it was like a welcoming hug from an old friend.