York Trip

I have been incredibly negligent of this blog. So here is a much delayed first trip post, should have posted this over a month ago.

This week I went on a wonderful road trip with an old friend from boarding school. We visited our old campus at Queen Ethelburgas which has changed immensely from when I lived there way back in 1997.

After a lovely day on campus, we took a drive up to the North Yorkshire Moors. What a place! Vast and stunning, rolling hills, deep valleys and barely any greenery over a few feet tall. Very much like Tundra the vegetation was dwarfed, however for a very different reason. The area known as the Yorkshire Moors was once a low lying sea, which means the area is characterized with a top layer of Corallian Limestone. As this particular kind of limestone erodes, it produces a highly acidic environment which does not lend itself well to growing conditions. The area is mostly covered in heather, which thrives well in these geologic and climatic conditions, and has a beautiful purple colour.

I stayed in an adorable Bed and Breakfast in Goathland called the Heatherdene Hotel. Affordable and an amazing breakfast in the morning.

Aside from an apparent 100 to 1 ratio of sheep to people, Goathland is mostly known for it’s steam train and station which made a cameo in the first of the Harry Potter movie as Hogsmeade.

The trip then took us east to Whitby on the coast of the North Sea. We visited the ruins of St. Hilda, and enjoyed the coast where Bram Stocker based his famous novel, Dracula.

Here we enjoyed the freshest and most delicious fish and chips at Mister Chips, a must eat if you ever find yourself in Whitby.

After a decent sunday roast with real yorkshire pudding, and a drive back to the train, we took a quick stroll through York and visited the largest gothic cathedral in Europe, York Minster.

The narrow streets of York were featured on the Tour de France 2014.

Stay tuned for more adventures. I have been eating my way through London, looking for the best pizza and pho, feel free to share if you have any tips!