Castlerigg Stone Circle, Thirsk, and York

When we left Grasmere, we started out for York, on the opposite side of the island, almost directly south of Edinburgh. We drove north, through Keswick (whose ale we had enjoyed thoroughly), and made our first stop to look around the Castlerigg Stone Circle. Some say it’s the oldest stone circle in Europe, and it is an impressive one. The site is more impressive because of the surrounding hills, one of which is the How, at whose foot lies the How Foot Lodge we had called home for two nights.

We made a stop at Thirsk so we could visit the office of the vet who wrote under the name James Herriot. The town is larger than we expected, and we also enjoyed visiting St. Mary’s and getting a chance to learn a little about York by talking to some local people here.

York itself is a major city and an interesting tourist destination, not least because of Yorkminster. Both the city and the Minster have long histories, with Roman ruins under the church itself. I walked the top of the surviving city walls with great views of different parts of the old city. Taking the tour of the Roman city under the Minster was a real highlight.

One of the most memorable elements for us was the weather: a record-setting heat wave. We enjoyed the “faded elegance” of the Elbank Hotel, but it had no air conditioning at all. Two good things happened: Judy made a deal with the bartender to take his large fan to our room when he closed up for the night, and the huge wood pigeon that spent hours on our window ledge never really made it inside the room.