Today is another cloudy day but, luckily, we only got a couple of sprinkles. Rain is expected later but we had already walked over 12000 steps by early afternoon so we were tired and home by 2pm.
Our first stop was the only remaining part of the medieval York Castle, Clifford’s Tower. The first castle on this site was built by the Normans in 1069. The Tower was completed in the late 13th century.
There were quite a few stairs getting inside but Peter made it like a champ. There are several info boards on the inside telling the story of the castle.
I walked up a couple of flights of the spiral staircase to get to the top.
Then we headed to York Minister, the cathedral. It’s the largest Gothic Cathedral in Britain.
Unfortunately, it was closed for the 10-day period of mourning for the Queen so we weren’t able to get in to visit. It is open for individual prayers so we may go back tomorrow but we won’t be able to wonder around and take pictures. Here are a couple I found online.
After walking the perimeter of the Minster, we headed to the Shambles which is one of the best preserved medieval shopping streets in Europe. If it looks a bit familiar to Harry Potter fans, it’s because this street was used as the vision for Diagon Alley in the HP movie franchise.
Then it was off to St. Mary’s Abbey, a ruined Benedictine Abbey from the mid-11th century. On the way, we stopped in at St. Helen’s Church.
We’d walked quite a long way so we rested for awhile in the York Museum Gardens. Even though it was cloudy it was a beautiful day.
We could have taken a city bus home but we would have had to walk 8 minutes to get to the bus and it was only 15 minutes to walk home….so we walked home. Along the way, we passed part of the city walls. You can actually walk around the city center on the walls. We may do a part of it tomorrow.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day. We thought about driving east to the York Moors National Park, but I would love another drive-free day, so we are going to hang here. There are sightseeing river cruises so we may do that.