Last Two Days in Ripon

After the day out at Newby, we remained in Ripon for all of Thursday. It was a cool day of grey skies, but no rain. We went round the shops for some last bits and bobs, visited the friendly lady at the Tourist Information to tell her that we'd been to Newby following her suggestions, and had one last lunch at Oliver's Pantry.

In the afternoon, we went to say good-bye to Mary, knowing we would not have time for that tomorrow. Leaving Mary's, one can start on river walks this or that side of the river Skell. We've done the walk on the opposite side of the river several times in the past and decided to stay on this side now, knowing the path would take us near the village of Sharow and back into town.

When walking around Ripon, one has several views of the cathedral from various directions, such as here:

Can you spot the cathedral?

River Skell

 

Ripon Clock Tower

I always enjoy those "surprise" views. We came back by the clock tower and spent a quiet evening in, watching an episode of "Vera" on TV.

The next day, Friday, a second visit to York was planned. My sister-in-law picked us up at 9:30 so that we would be in the city nice and early, and we arrived at the Jorvik (Viking Centre/Museum; click here to learn more and see a short video introduction) just in time for the time slot my sister-in-law had booked online. About 15 years ago, I had been to the Jorvik with my husband, but it has had a make-over since. 

Everything is so well done there! One rides through a viking village with very life-like animated figures, down to a dog barking when you go past and a man on the toilet (including the smell!). After that, there are rooms where the real exhibits that were found on-site are displayed and explained, and of course there is a shop for any kind of Viking souvenir you could want (we didn't).

We were all hungry by now and went to The Forest, a restaurant where we found seats in their cosy back garden. My niece joined us for the meal, and we had a good long chat and a little walk around the surrounding streets before she went back home.

One of the many shopping streets in York

Last walk across Ripon's market square

Just as my sister-in-law dropped us off at the cottage, our landlady was walking up the road with a shopping back. She waited for us to get off the car and said she had just bought a bottle of wine, and did we want to share? You bet we did! And so we spent a very lovely early evening with her in their garden, sipping wine and talking, with her husband joining us after a while. They are lovely people, and we are happy to know "our" cottage is again in such good hands.

We said our good-bye eventually and grabbed pizzas at Domino's, half-watching an episode of Father Brown with it. Then it was finally time for packing; quickly done, of course, as you don't need to decide what to take - everything you brought and bought needs to go in your suitcase.

The next day, Saturday, was our trip home; that will be my next post.