York, Bath and Beyond

It's been quite a while since my last blog. I apologize profusely for that. I could say that I was busy, but that wouldn't be entirely true. I was in part busy, with work, traveling, etc., but I also had many a time when I could've sat down on my comfortable couch and written about the past few weeks. Now I intend to make up for the recent communication blackout. . .

. . .we begin on a fine fall evening, a little overcast, promising rain, however holding at the moment the right balance between breeze, moisture and cloud. I leave work, heading towards the meeting place - the International Youth Hostel. We meet there and just as we (the 30 or so Bunacers on the tour) are loading up the vans to embark, the rain comes. A nice ride (as far as group van rides go) for four hours finally brings us to our destination - the ancient city of York. We check in to our hostel. A backpacker friendly, clean, and well situated place. My five Bunac friends (Richard, Ryan, Whitney, Autumn and Camille) go downstairs to the in house pub for a drink or two and after wandering the streets of York a little, scavenging for food, we all go to sleep. Bright and early the next morning, well early at least, we get up, dressed and ready to head out to take a walking tour of the city. We walk along the ancient city walls, first built by the Romans as part of their northern outpost, then maintained by the Victorians as a piece of national history. Along the way we see an Abbey, or ruins of it; an ancient Roman tower; the Minster (cathedral); medieval housing; modern shopping centres (Starbucks included) and an early British tower. The afternoon is spent walking around the old city and in book shopping. (I bought James Joyce's Dubliners for only 99 pence!)

Another two hour bus ride later we find ourselves in Wensedale Vale, a valley known for fantastic cheese and superb waterfalls. We go to the creamery and sample a few choice cheeses before heading off to the waterfalls featured in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (where Kevin Costner's character fought Little John and later bathed naked). Two of my friends, Whitney and Autumn, take the tour guide's bait and dive into the little pool at the bottom of the falls (video recording included). We then warm up a bit in the nearby pub/hotel and pile back into the vans. Finally we arrive at Bolton Castle. A half-ruined 13th century castle, turned tourist trap by the current Lord Bolton (not related to Micheal, as far as I know) who spends his weekends cooking up meals and ghost stories for young American tourists. We are escorted into a hall and told to don the "medieval clothing" provided for the banquet. (See previous picture post of us looking silly.) We are then shown into the lesser great hall, the larger hall having been destroyed over the years and various wars, where a feast of sorts awaits the famished travelers. There is wine and beer in jugs and the requisite bottled water. Two kinds of soup, stew and rice-based; a few different kinds of meat including chicken and roast beef; bread; cheese and wonderful apple pie.
After the dinner, we have an medieval scavenger hunt around the ruined castle. My team comes in 3rd and have a wonderful time running around the castle with only one lantern for five people. To top off the games portion of the evening we go out to the garden maze, where one person from each team is placed in the center, then another team member is supposed to work their way to the center and lead them both out of the maze. The best part about the maze game is that the member placed in the center has a pitcher of beer, and once both members make it safely out of the maze, the entire team has to chug the pitcher and the team who manages this feat first (not a terrible challenge among college students) wins the game. After this the six of us (my five friends and I) decide that rather than staying in the lesser hall with the rest of the group, we would go to the upper floor and stay in the one remaining bedroom. After setting up our air mattresses, sleeping bags, etc., we six go back to the main room and head out on a ghost tour of the castle.

-- As it is now almost midnight in London and the polls are just beginning to be called in the US, I’m afraid I must close for the night. I’m sure more of you will be far more interested in the election than my trip to York, as in truth so am I. So good night, good luck to all parties, though I will be praying that Kerry wins. More on castles and ghosts later. . .