Overnight we had parked the car in the carpark across the road from the hotel. The cheap overnight rate finished at 8am and so I fetched the car and did a U-turn and parked it back in the carpark. After breakfast, I fetched it again so we could load up the car with our bags outside the hotel.
We manoeuvred our way through the Edinburgh traffic to pick up Steph and headed off south-west along the A1. At Berwick, we stopped to admire their bridges and the walled town. They have three bridges in close proximity - two of them are stone structures and one is a modern structure.
The next stop was at Holy Island which is a small island off the coast and accessible by a causeway which floods at high tide. Suzy had checked the tides on the web site to ensure that would be able to get across.
Holy Island has a long Christian tradition dating back to about 600AD. It has a castle and a priory. We had decided to just visit the priory.
On approaching the priory, we saw small crowds standing around in the street carrying English and British flags. It looked as though they were waiting for someone. They hadn't started cheering when we arrived and so we concluded that they weren't waiting for us.
We asked a couple of policemen what was going on. They said that Prince Edward (the Queen's youngest son) was currently touring the island. About ten minutes later, he emerged from one of the buildings and walked through the admiring crowd to the priory.
He was impressive with his demeanour and the way he chatted with people. We took a few photos and had lunch in the tea rooms (without the prince). By the time we finished lunch, he was leaving the priory and so we were now able to go inside to have a look at the priory for ourselves.
They had a museum giving a very informative history of the site. Then, we toured the ruins and took photos - including photos of the castle in the distance. It is a fascinating site and well worth the visit.
One of the staff we spoke to at Holy Island suggested that we visit Durham Cathedral and so we turned off the A1 at Durham and walked up the hill to the cathedral.
Durham is a delightful town - a beautiful setting next to the river, narrow cobblestone streets, plenty of activity and truly spectacular cathedral.
One reason for all the activity in the area was that there were university graduations ceremonies. When we entered the cathedral, the attendants told us we couldn't walk through the cathedral because a graduation ceremony was in progress.
We stood at the back of the ceremony and were gobsmacked by the spectacular hall of the cathedral with its huge columns and magnificent roof. Out in the courtyard, we saw school boys in elaborate uniforms going from class to class.
This turned out to be a must-see.
We headed south on the A1 until the Darlington area where we turned off the A1 to visit a town called Gatenby (Suzy's grandfather's family came from this area). The town consists of the sign, a few houses and some cattle.
Back on the A1, we headed towards York. When we reached the turn-off to York, two policemen were setting up a roadblock. They explained that the A59 was blocked in both directions because of a serious accident. They told us to continue along the A1 to the next exit.
This was a minor road leading to York and was choked with bumper-to-bumper traffic trying to find an alternative to the closed road. It was by far the worst traffic we'd seen in the UK. The radio not only kept us informed about the road delay but also announced that the trains in the area had been suspended because a train had been struck by lightning.
Once we got close to York, the Tom Tom told us to turn left whereas the street signs said to turn right. We decided to ignore her and to follow the signs into York.
Our B&B (Elliotts Hotel) was a nice old house not far from the walled part of the city. Our room was on the top floor up several flights of stairs. The owner recommended that we go to a pub outside the walls for dinner. This proved to be a good choice because of the food, wine, ambiance and the opportunity to talk to the locals at nearby tables.
This B&B was WiFi but the signal strength was inadequate and so I used the USB modem.
Click here to see my photos for this day.
We manoeuvred our way through the Edinburgh traffic to pick up Steph and headed off south-west along the A1. At Berwick, we stopped to admire their bridges and the walled town. They have three bridges in close proximity - two of them are stone structures and one is a modern structure.
The next stop was at Holy Island which is a small island off the coast and accessible by a causeway which floods at high tide. Suzy had checked the tides on the web site to ensure that would be able to get across.
Holy Island has a long Christian tradition dating back to about 600AD. It has a castle and a priory. We had decided to just visit the priory.
On approaching the priory, we saw small crowds standing around in the street carrying English and British flags. It looked as though they were waiting for someone. They hadn't started cheering when we arrived and so we concluded that they weren't waiting for us.
We asked a couple of policemen what was going on. They said that Prince Edward (the Queen's youngest son) was currently touring the island. About ten minutes later, he emerged from one of the buildings and walked through the admiring crowd to the priory.
He was impressive with his demeanour and the way he chatted with people. We took a few photos and had lunch in the tea rooms (without the prince). By the time we finished lunch, he was leaving the priory and so we were now able to go inside to have a look at the priory for ourselves.
They had a museum giving a very informative history of the site. Then, we toured the ruins and took photos - including photos of the castle in the distance. It is a fascinating site and well worth the visit.
One of the staff we spoke to at Holy Island suggested that we visit Durham Cathedral and so we turned off the A1 at Durham and walked up the hill to the cathedral.
Durham is a delightful town - a beautiful setting next to the river, narrow cobblestone streets, plenty of activity and truly spectacular cathedral.
One reason for all the activity in the area was that there were university graduations ceremonies. When we entered the cathedral, the attendants told us we couldn't walk through the cathedral because a graduation ceremony was in progress.
We stood at the back of the ceremony and were gobsmacked by the spectacular hall of the cathedral with its huge columns and magnificent roof. Out in the courtyard, we saw school boys in elaborate uniforms going from class to class.
This turned out to be a must-see.
We headed south on the A1 until the Darlington area where we turned off the A1 to visit a town called Gatenby (Suzy's grandfather's family came from this area). The town consists of the sign, a few houses and some cattle.
Back on the A1, we headed towards York. When we reached the turn-off to York, two policemen were setting up a roadblock. They explained that the A59 was blocked in both directions because of a serious accident. They told us to continue along the A1 to the next exit.
This was a minor road leading to York and was choked with bumper-to-bumper traffic trying to find an alternative to the closed road. It was by far the worst traffic we'd seen in the UK. The radio not only kept us informed about the road delay but also announced that the trains in the area had been suspended because a train had been struck by lightning.
Once we got close to York, the Tom Tom told us to turn left whereas the street signs said to turn right. We decided to ignore her and to follow the signs into York.
Our B&B (Elliotts Hotel) was a nice old house not far from the walled part of the city. Our room was on the top floor up several flights of stairs. The owner recommended that we go to a pub outside the walls for dinner. This proved to be a good choice because of the food, wine, ambiance and the opportunity to talk to the locals at nearby tables.
This B&B was WiFi but the signal strength was inadequate and so I used the USB modem.
Click here to see my photos for this day.
No comments:
Post a Comment