York (England)

...
I’ve been to York several times – after all it’s only two hours from Central London by train (and presumably from Edinburgh also, since it’s half-way between the two). Yesterday’s GNER DayPex Return cost us £24 each, not bad for 400 miles travel.

Since you can’t really “do” a city like York anything close to justice on a day trip, I like to combine a nice lunch, one or two attractions that I’ve come to see and a general wander ...
...
For the uninitiated, York is a walled city, bursting with ancient street names, and in many cases, ancient buildings too. For example, this is the city with the famous “Shambles”, the former slaughterhouse cum butcher’s quarter (hence the phrase “What a shambles”). This narrow street really does retain a few of those houses which get wider towards the top, allowing very intimate contact with one’s neighbours, making it very easy to share, ... more

I don’t intend this to be an exhaustive guide to the beautiful city of York, more a kind of “Wot I Dun On My Day Out” whilst it’s still fresh in my mind, having been yesterday.

I’ve been to York several times – after all it’s only two hours from Central London by train (and presumably from Edinburgh also, since it’s half-way between the two). Yesterday’s GNER DayPex Return cost us £24 each, not bad for 400 miles travel.

Since you can’t really “do” a city like York anything close to justice on a day trip, I like to combine a nice lunch, one or two attractions that I’ve come to see and a general wander round in my day. After all, at these prices, you could justify coming more frequently, especially offset against anything you’d be spending money on if left at home!

For the uninitiated, York is a walled city, bursting with ancient street names, and in many cases, ancient buildings too. For example, this is the city with the famous “Shambles”, the former slaughterhouse cum butcher’s quarter (hence the phrase “What a shambles”). This narrow street really does retain a few of those houses which get wider towards the top, allowing very intimate contact with one’s neighbours, making it very easy to share, especially commodities like the Plague!

Of course today, it’s more likely to be plagued with gift shops and hand-made soap establishments – you know, the kind of shop that the locals find SO REALLY useful, but to be fair, you don’t have to look too far to find real market places, selling real goods. Yesterday, York was having a Food Fair, with stalls hawking tit-bits from almost anywhere around the world, even Lancashire!

As an aside, many of York’s street names end in “Gate”, Coppergate being a good example. This does not imply that it leads to a door in the city wall in the modern sense. The word “gate” is related to the modern German verb “gehen”, to go, more specifically on foot. Therefore, a Gate is merely something that you pass along, a way or street for example. Come to think of it, we use the word “gait” to describe how someone walks to this day. Actually, Coppergate has nothing to do with metal either, deriving it’s name from the making of cups, important to your average rapin’, pillagin’, and ale-swillin’ Viking! Apparently, the Vikings preferred beer because, having been boiled, it was more hygienic than drinking water – bloody hell, I’ve heard some excuses…………..however, it’s nice to see young locals carrying on this tradition to the extreme at weekends.

Viking Travel Service Tip No.1: When you can’t trust the water, drink beer – Oh Death, where is Thy sting?

Other tourist magnets include The Minster, The Castle Museum (famous for its indoor “street” of old shops), The National Railway Museum (latest major donation, the prototype Japanese Bullet Train), and in the case of yesterday’s visit, the Jorvik Centre.

Jorvik is the ancient Viking name for York, and the centre, not surprisingly deals with York’s Viking history, a little of which I’ve hinted at already.

“Oh no – cases full of old things!” I hear you moan, and yes, there are showcases full of relics, but for those wanting a somewhat more modern approach, the Centre has a pleasant surprise. This is the Centre’s second “coming”, having recently been heavily revamped. Let me first tell you how it came about, and how it used to run.

Back in the 1970’s, local archaeologists got permission to excavate the foundations of a demolished sweet factory in Coppergate, presumably prior to the site’s redevelopment. Thank God it wasn’t “The Time Team” with a 3-day deadline. This became known as The Coppergate Dig. After clearing away the debris of a 1,000 years building development – cities tend to be built on the rubble of what was already there, the diggers finally got the to Viking bits. Thanks to the centuries of burial in moist anaerobic silt, many artefacts, including leather clothing and socks were found in almost perfect condition, likewise the tools of the trade in the Coppergate area, lathes and other woodworking implements for example. One gem of a find was “The Coppergate Helmet” in near perfect condition. No, it didn’t have horns - leave that to Kirk Douglas. After all, why would a warlike race go into hand-to-hand combat with convenient grab handles on their heads?

Viking Travel Service Tip No.2 - Always take practical head wear with you, with no protrusions likely to set off the metal detectors at airports, as and when they get invented.

One of the major finds was the entire cellar walling of what appeared to have been a two-storey structure, which had burned to the ground but no further. This gave a valuable insight into building methods. Also, latrines were found, giving hints at what the Vikings ate, and more accurately what they couldn’t digest! I’ve glossed over 30 years hard and painstaking work here, and it goes on today. However, to protect the site, for future generations, the buried remains were stabilised and preserved, the burned-out cellar being in its original position. The difference today, is that it is undercover, and part of the Yorvik Centre’s sit-in ride through time, all on the site of that old sweet factory.

I first saw this about 10 years ago. Electric carts would “whisk” you along at a fraction of 1 mph along a smooth track, firstly in reverse, as you passed various tableaux depicting the reverse passage of time, only to turn round after reaching AD975, to wind its way through a typical Viking waterfront settlement based on buildings found during the Coppergate dig. The sights, and it has to be said, smells of all aspects of Viking life, from fish-gutting to straining behind the wattle fence of a Viking public latrine, were represented.

Viking Travel Service Tip No.3 - When siting a latrine, always put it DOWNstream of your water supply – there are some bugs that resist boiling, so even beer isn’t that safe!

You even had the sound of children taunting each other in that “nah-nah, nah-nah-nah” fashion. I noticed that they seemed to have an English northern accent but the words spoken were unintelligible. Of course, a Red Rose supporter in the Wars of the Roses will tell you that that’s just Yorkshire people for you!

One thing the older time-carts couldn’t do was leave the ground, which made your visit to Viking York a bit pedestrian, if you’ll pardon the obvious statement.

Where the new time-carts differ is that they hang from a railway in the ceiling, although the similarity to Alton Towers or other theme parks ends there. These are definitely the “Stannah Stair Lifts” of white-knuckle rides!

Before boarding, the “passage back through time” is handled by seating everyone in an antechamber, which shakes a bit every time a timeline on the projection screen presentation is passed. Frankly, I thought this was a weaker approach to before, but maybe it freed up some valuable floor space for more exhibits – I didn’t have my tape measure with me, I couldn’t say.

The new carts are heavily tiered, so that the back seat passenger gets a front seat view. They also swivel according to the commentary, leaving you in no doubt as to which bit you are supposed to be looking at! The commentary is multi-lingual - I seem to recall that the options were English, English for Kids (?), Spanish, German, French and Japanese.

The ground, freed from the need to be smooth, can now be made more realistically lumpy, and the ride actually takes in a “flight” through that burned-out cellar (yes, the real one). Perhaps it’s just me, but some of the animatronics could do with a bit of updating – mouths moving like a ventriloquist’s dummy and single arms moving up and down are now only seen in shop windows at Christmas.

Rather unfairly, I’ve seen this ride compared, in other opinions, to the likes of theme parks like Alton Towers (I was only joking, others weren’t), and this would seem unfair, as it’s intended to be a taster to the fascinating history of Viking York, not something to cure your constipation.

On the other hand, historians may also pour scorn on attempts to popularise history, but anything that gets, say, one percent of the people passing through more interested, then I feel it’s a valid approach. It just goes to show what a tightrope creating a quality tourist attraction must be. At £6.95 per adult, it’s a bit steeply priced for something lasting almost a set period of 30 minutes, unless you spend a long time perusing static displays, and/or in the gift shop*.

*This could of course lead to its costing somewhat more!

We booked our tickets in advance for a 2:00 pm arrival over the Internet and glided straight to the front of the line like royalty – a manoeuvre definitely worth doing when constrained by a timed-return rail ticket especially on a Saturday!

Actually, we went to lunch first, in a pub called The Maltings, in Tanner’s Row, which is quite close to the station. A sign outside says, “if you like loud music, fast food and crap beer, find another pub”. They’re not wrong, a pint of locally brewed Yorkshire Terrier slid down very nicely, with a delightful “hoppy”, almost flowery aftertaste. An enormous plate of gammon steak, chips and salad was £4.95.

We went back to the station with an hour to spare – this really is one of York’s most unsung attractions. The long graceful ornate twin-arched roof of the train shed is superb, with its gentle curve adding to its sense of perspective. Even today, the fact that all East Coast expresses en route for Scotland stop here gives it an air of an important way-station, and you almost feel like giving the locomotive a lump of sugar and a pat (only that would be silly).

…….and now a personal message for the half-drunk Jack The Lad from Croydon who generously insisted in sharing his cell-phone conversation with the rest of Coach D (the “quiet” non-cell-phones coach) on the way back. I hope:-

a)“the bird you met in the pub last night”, stands you up,

b)you don’t “get your leg-over” and

c)that the “missus finds out”! OK?

Oh well, that’s Old York done for this year I expect. It’s NEW York at New Year next – watch this space!

Incidentally, we got home to West London in 3.5 hours. Not bad for something involving 2 hours on a fast train, two rides on Underground trains and a 5 mile car ride.
 

...less