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Tuesday 30 August, to York and the east coast

Great Britain 2005 - part XI

Elisabeth & Teije
2006-08-27 12:26:16

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The night was pretty cold, but since the sky was so clear, I have sit outside for hours yesterday night, to watch the stars. A hobby I used to have as a kid, although I am surprised about all the names of the starsigns that I have forgotten. But the Milky Way was clearly recognisable, really a picture!

But in the morning it is cloudy again and a light rain falls. We leave the campsite early since we want to see and do a lot today.

First we drive to Sutton Bank over, again, very steep hills (25%) to a visitors centre. When we later take a turn to the south we suddenly see The Kilburn White Horse. In certain areas throughout England white horses like this one can be found, figures carved in the white limestone rocks. This particular figure was made in 1857 by Taylor and since 1920 a group of people take care for it.

Then we go further south, to the city of York, the historical capital of northern England. We find a parking garage just outside the town centre and walk to the castle and Cilfford's Tower, while the sun starts to shine. The tower once was part of a much larger stronghold and replaces a wooden tower that was burnt to the ground in 1190 with almost 200 jews in it. There were anti-jewish riots and they rather let themselves burn than to surrender to the wild crowd outside.

York is a considered a city since the year 71 AD when Romans fortified the old Celtic settlement. And still a lot of old buildings can be seen here, but most date back to medieval times. Constantine the Great was pronounced emporor here in 306, so York certainly has its place in history. Only in the 18th and 19th century it started to loose power when the industrial revolution favoured cities like Manchester and Birmingham more. Maybe that is part of the reason that we skip those cities...

First of all we sit down at a terrace on a square for a coffee, then we visit the Jorvik Viking Centre, a Viking museum which has been ...