Heading South

Well, we finally managed to drag ourselves away from Glentress and began the slow traipse south. First stop was North Berwick where Linda's Dad's family are from. Great little fishing village now trendy Edinburgh retirement town. We saw an excellent sunset on the beach here and actually managed to get breaded fish & chips for the first time. The Brits love their batter, but they don't do it very well IMHO... 

 

 North Berwick Beach

North Berwick Sunset

 North Berwick Law, from the SW

Leaving North Berwick, we were now on our way to York.

We had a nice trip over the border and had a great chat with a piper who welcomes all the tourist buses on their way to Edinburgh. Nice bloke, great sense of humour.

York. The old capital of the Brigantes which became home to the 9th Legion... then the Brits, then the Angles, then the Danes, then the Normans... fascinating history and remains going back thousands (and thousands) of years.

York has the second most preserved Roman City Wall besides Chester. And you're not allowed to ride a bicycle on it either. We were a bit disappointed with York in some ways, 'cos it's a bit like Edinburgh. On the tourist trail. 

York was voted as European Tourism City of the Year by European Cities Marketing in June 2007, and market it they have.

There were thousands of Germans and Dutch checking out how their Viking relatives had taken over Britain. In addition to all the other nationalities of course. As a result, the city is used as a modern day gold mine to extract tourist dollars and you have to pay to see just about anything. Not the usual 3 or 4 pounds either. 9 - 15 pounds, each.... You could spend $200 before morning tea. You get charged just to look out a window in some places. Great place, but some tourists have more money than sense and it's giving the Brits an exaggerated idea of their self importance. Or maybe it's just a payback for the Viking experience!

Anyway, we had a good time just looking at the things we could afford and we brought a cut lunch. 

 

Clifford's Tower, or York Castle

York City Wall

 The Princess at her leisure

The centre of York these days centres around York Minster (click here for another great panorama), which is the second biggest cathedral in Britain. It's very large and beautifully decorated with carvings of Saints and Gargoyles.

Flying Pig

"you know, I haf you up to here!"

One thing the Brits are doing well is their cycling infrastructure. It's even being put in up in the highlands of Scotland between towns in many places. They're using the old river paths and Canal paths, as well as obsolete railway lines. Because they're all engineered, it's becoming a bit like Holland, where the gradient (or lack of) means you can ride and ride long distances without raising much of a sweat. Great for commuting. Often there's more than one or two different routes you can take as well. In the older towns, often you find that the auto traffic is excluded completely, except for handicapped, shop delivery, postal etc.

On the other roads, there is often a bus lane to use or when the road is smaller, the traffic goes much slower than Oz and they're all very courteous. It's been a great experience to get away from the incredibly aggressive Australian driving mindset. More on this topic later.

Here is another video experience for our readers. This is the path home to our campsite, from the centre of York. You'll see what I mean...

 

We've just come down to Leicester now to see our friends Bob, Gillian and their two boys Jake and Oscar.

Everyone has been very hospitable and welcoming and we love you guys!