Thirsk, England

Can you see the roads that Jim drove us all over the Yorkshire moors on?. Can you believe, one day we met a truck on one of these roads? The sheep kind of free range so you always have to be on alert for crossing sheep.

You can see that with the hedgerows there is really no place to pull over.

This is a huge hardware store we ran across. It is 3 floors and almost a city block long.

Parish Church of Saint Mary, Thirsk
This perpendicular Gothic church architecture id over 500 years old. It was begun about the year 1430 and probably took half a century or more to reach its present form.

While we're on the subject of churches let me relay to you the differences between a church, a minster, and a cathedral.

Church: simply a place of worship

Minster: comes from the Latin word Monasterium. Priests live there communally. Cathedral: is the most important church in a bishop's diocese.

This is a baptismal font.

All Creatures large and small - James Harriot

This Veterinary office is still in operation.

Lots of small butcher shoppes and bakeries.

Jim just picked up a bag of "cracklings". Very tasty- crispy pork skin.

If I remember right this is Byland Abbey.

You can be going down one of those narrow roads seeing nothing but sheep and cows and all of a sudden something like this appears.

This place sits out in the middle of no where. I guess that's one way to keep college kids out of trouble.

We went back to the Blacksmith Arms Pub for dinner that night. Jim had the best fish and chips he's ever had!!

We leave to go back to Sulihull for a couple of days and then it's off to London.

Whitby, England

Whitby taken at top of walkway to abbey
Yorkshire moors surrounding city.
The above 2 pictures are out of sequence and it takes me forever to move them so bear with me.

These are the beautiful Yorkshire moors that Jim drives us through to get to the villages and towns.





We stopped at this tiny village along the way, Goathland,I believe. It's claim to fame is that a BBC police series was filmed there. We put office Jim Rankin by the car.



Now there's a tour bus!!

Whitby, England

Catholic church in the area

At the end of this touring day we had fish and chips at a restaurant to the far left.

This steep walkway you see people going up leads to the Whitby Abbey. Once again my knee replacement did a great job.

Looking back on the town of Whitby.

It was one of those days when the sun was out and then it looked like showers, and then it did rain and then the sun came out again.

This is the Whitby Abbey.

Jane looking up at the boys coming down the steps.

Beautiful beach front property.

Through the moors again to go back to the cottage.

Doesn't that just take your breath away?

Doesn't it look like this pheasant is standing on the sheep's back? He's really just behind him.

The famous dry stone walls that are the fences for the pastures all over the moors. They've stood for so many years and Lee is just so fascinated with them.

Yesterday I forgot to mention that we visited the Railroad Museum in York.

Tomorrow it is off to Thrisk. There are so many small villages we went through if I do not get them right please forgive me Jim.

York, England and village of Lastingham

Every family has their black sheep of the family--I guess every country does too!!
This is the Parish church of St. Mary in Lastingham
As you stroll around the church property you do so with the sheep who are grazing all around the church among the gravestones.


Each church seems to have something different that identifies it as unique. For this church it was the brickwork.

This is the Blacksmiths Arms Pub just across the street from the church, which seems to be where the pubs are often located.

Here is the telephone booth and post office box. You see, we have a church, a pub, and post office, so we now have a village. Remember those are the 3 things needed to make a village.

This plaque found on the church we should all take seriously.

Here we are in the city of York and Jane has found a few shoppes to explore.

This is so often the sight we see. We are standing in a small village and looming above it is a church or cathedral. You turn the corner and see a sight like this and it just takes you so by surprise. It is so nice to have the shopping areas totally cut off from all vehicle traffic. It makes for a much more relaxing event.

These are some shots taken inside the York Minster. The detail is incredible and there is no way to capture it on film there is just so much.

By the time you leave the inside of the church, your neck is killing you!!!

The detail on the ceiling is something to behold.

These are ceiling tacks and if you zoom in on them you can see the detail that goes into hundreds of these on the ceiling.

In the catacombs.

For those of you interested in the history of England a good read is Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd. It's fictional and follows several families through time. It really makes history come alive.

York Minster is huge, these photos only show a small part of it.

The Treasure's House

Jane pointed out that the initials indicate who was reigning at the time the post office box was put in. In this case George reigns.

Sights in downtown York

Then you come across a church like this and it can get totally overlooked when the York Minster is right behind it.

We toured the city and the York Minster one day and then returned another day so Lee could walk the wall around the city.

Jane and Jim following Lee the stone wall enthusiast.

Lee and Jim probably waiting for Jane and I to check out a vendor.

Pretty historic spot to stand

On the way home from York, we stopped at the Lavender farm. Earlier in the week the four of us had tried out some Lavender scones. You know, there are some things that lavender doesn't go well with--scones is one of them. I think it's better if they stick to sachets, perfumes etc.

I'd like to sign off for today with a picture of what's called a "Kissing Gate".

York was a beautiful city to visit and the York Minster almost too much to take in. The ride there was beautiful and Jim continues to amaze us with his driving skills.