September 15, Oxford to York

Sunny skies greeted us this morning. It was even too warm for a jacket by mid morning. Last evening we suffered the smell of very strong perfume in our room. Man, you felt like you were eating it. We decided it was coming from the room above. I opened our window for a while and put the bathroom fan on but it didn’t go away. Next morning we discovered the “night light that didn’t work” was a room deoderizer doing its job! Our host, Richard served us a delicious breakfast that his wife had cooked. They manage the property with the help of staff. Richard has a broken shoulder from a fall downstairs and is very tattooed, even inside his ears. He and Roy share the same taste in reading so they had a grand old chat about Bernard Cornwell and others. We set out for the York Museum where they trace Yorks history back to the Romans. We had a good morning there tracing the history of York through Vikings, Celts, Romans, Saxons etc. Fascinating, if only I retained all I learned. None the less, I enjoyed seeing things so very old. Pubs have been very convenient but we are tired of them so we decided to go to a tea shop for lunch. All the tea shops inside the walled York were very busy. HMS York was given the freedom of the city today. The sailors, with their band paraded through the streets. Very stirring. We decided to head over the bridge and go to a place closer to Linden Lodge. We had seen one with a Tetley sign - that would be good, it turned out to be a pub. Lunch was eventually purchased from a bakery and eaten on a bench outside a church on Scarcroft Street.. Back to the car and off we go. Richard has given us more direct driving instructions to get to the A64. Andromeda brought us in on a very winding out of the way route, but she got us where we needed to go. Traffic was stopped dead at the on ramp to the highway. We had to pull to the side to let an ambulance through. In a short time we were on the highway and traffic was moving. The trip to Scarbourgh was uneventful. Found Pine Lodge and Denise got us settled. Carol and Harry stayed here two years ago and had told us the story of the black towels. This is a small apartment. We have a front room/dining room, kitchenette/shower and sink (shower and sink are part of kitchen), toilet room and bedroom. Very comfy. Anyway most people who stay here are from England and they bring their own towels. Too bulky if you are coming from North America.. Harry and Carol had to ask for towels and they were given brand new black towels. New towels shed so they were covered in black lint after a shower. It was hard to keep a straight face when Denise brought us the famous black towels. We are grateful for the towels as otherwise we’d have to go buy some. Next we hit Tesco for some groceries and then we called Michael and Shirley. They gave us a great welcome. The view out their front window is of their beautiful garden and a golf course beyond. They moved into the house 18 months ago and have done extensive renovations as well as building on. The house is 56 years old (they have been married) 56 years Shirley had a delicious dinner for us. There was a lot of food and it was all so good. They are going to show us around town tomorrow and we will go for lunch at a pub with them tomorrow. After Skpying the Caines we came back to Pine Lodge before it got dark. Michael and Harry were in the National Service together. I am off to watch Midsommer Murders (there really is a Midsommer) and have a drink of Scotch to salute the end of another good day. God Bless, good night Just a quick note. We turned on the TV and there was Oliver Stone and his show Vikings which starts out in York.