Believe it or not: That's It!

Yes, that's it, the last post about our week in Yorkshire.

Of course, there would be plenty more to tell (there always is - usually, my blog posts only skim the surface of all the things I want to tell you about and show you), but I've been writing a lot more already than what you'll ever want to know, and so I shall leave it at this.

Returning from Thirsk mid-afternoon, we retreated to our room at the B&B for a while to warm up with steaming mugs of tea. Not very long until I grew restless and wanted to be out again, and so I went for a walk, exploring a part of Ripon I had not seen before but only read about in one of the leaflets at the B&B.

This is the leper chapel, or, to be more precise, St. Mary Magdalen, built in the year 1115 and still looking pretty much as it was back then (no additions or alterations).

You can find out about its history and look at more pictures on their website.

When I was there, the chapel was locked, and I didn't know of the possibility to ask for the key at one of the nearby houses; anyway, I enjoyed the walk there and the peace and quiet surrounding the chapel before I headed back into town.

The Saturday was spent with the family - a big gathering of around 25 people, some of which I met for the first time. We had a meal at Pastures Lodge, and we all greatly enjoyed it - this time, not for a funeral, as had been the case too many times in the past two years, but simply to be together.

Sunday morning at breakfast - it was to be our last Full English for the time being! - we chatted to the two couples who were at the table with us. It turned out they were in Ripon for the classic cars show, and were going to exhibit their cars as well. One of the proud owners kindly went out with us to the car park and showed us their beauties:

Don't ask me about models and year of build and all that - Graham knows!
The red car, the owner told us, is sometimes used in film or TV productions; it appears for instance in the Agatha Christie TV adaption of "The Moving Finger".

The rest of Sunday was spent travelling. My sister-in-law kindly took us to Harrogate station, where we boarded the train to Leeds. There, we got onto the Transpennine "Express" (as usual, it was packed, and once again, I spent the journey sat on my suitcase, just like I have done before.) Our flight was punctual, even landed in Stuttgart a bit early, and almost precisely at 7.30 pm, I unlocked my front door and was back home.
On flying in, for the first time ever, my sister and I were able to identify our home town! It was a beautiful and welcome sight.

(This is not my picture; I shamelessly nicked this one from somewhere on the internet.)

It had been a very good week. Yes, the weather could have been better (mainly warmer!), but I still think we were lucky compared to other parts of England where apparently it never stopped raining at that time.

Mary gave me so many presents (it was my birthday parcel, actually) that I had to enlist my sister's help and she put some of my things in her suitcase to fit it all in:

Books and choccies and a necklace and more choccies and small gifts for my parents and more books and more choccies... Just what I like!

Well, that's it, as I said. No more England travelling posts for about a year, I guess.

My next trip will be on Monday morning: RJ and I are going to spend 10 days in Italy, Lake Garda. For me, it will be the first time since 1998 for my feet to touch Italian soil again, after I used to spend almost every summer on Sicily for 10 years (you can read about my first trip to Sicily on my blog, simply put "Sicily" in the search box on the top left corner).
We are both very much looking forward to our holiday, and I am sure some pictures will find their way on here in due time.