Post It from Rowntree Park CC site, York, North Yorkshire, England. Thursday 24th October, 2013.

We left Old Hartley in light rain and set off down to Whitley Bay and to join the A19 south through the Tyne Tunnel and all the way to York. The road was excellent dual carriageway almost all the way into the heart of York from where I had selected to follow the inner ring road, by the large railway station, and on to the camp site. The journey was good and as we arrived at the site around 1240 I commented to the Wardens what a good journey through York we had encountered. It was then that I was asked if we had crossed Lendal Bridge because it now has access restrictions from 1030 to 1700 each day and crossing it would entail a £60 fine from the Council. They said the local public were in uproar with many fines being issued since the introduction in August of this traffic reducing measure and there were claims of inadequate and misleading signage. Well I am not sure which bridge we had crossed but upon checking my route it will have been the ‘unsigned’ Lendal Bridge which is art of the inner ring road.

Not a good start to our visit to York and the second poor thing was that the camp site had no internet connection. Once again it was not a problem for me connecting to the sites Wi-Fi it was AirAngel having no network access. The site is very much one that caters for people who are visiting the big tourist attraction of York City. All the pitches are hard standing and give the appearance of running from one to another down each avenue. There is partial low beech hedging separation between the pitches which are quite spacious and like on our first visit here the site was full. All the facilities were excellent, as you would expect, but the information room had been closed due to demands on separate storage space for cleaning materials but attempts were in hand to relocate it into the laundry. For the time being there was some information available in the reception during opening hours. Not the kind of place to expect to have a scenic view from the van but a fantastic location on the bank of the River Ouse and a short walk into the centre of York with all its attractions and shops, just what we wanted. This was our second visit here this year and this time we had managed to secure three nights which was very lucky for us.

Whilst there we did all the shops, this time there was also a French market in the centre of the city, and we visited the National Railway Museum where we were able to get inside the Japanese Bullet Train and watch a short video of a journey on it. The museum had become larger since our last visit, probably 16 years ago, and now there was a warehouse where you could see all manner of rail items that were in storage.

We also visited the Treasurers House, the first complete house and contents given to the NT. It was adjacent the Minster and there had been a property on the site since the Roman times. The current house had originally been a run of 5 separate ones but at the end of the 19^th century a wealthy engineer from Wakefield bought three of the slum houses and started to alter and renovate them to form what it is today. He did so making each of the rooms appear like a period in time to fit the collection of furniture he had so we actually had the central house forming a great hall where he had removed the middle floor. He had left it complete with all the contents to the Trust in 1930 when he moved to Somerset to live. We could have also visited another NT property in the city which was the home of the Terry family of Terry’s chocolate fame, but we saved that for another time. We even avoided much of the rain which was a big bonus but the Ouse did overflow whilst we were there but not seriously and the camp site was fine.

Once again a thoroughly enjoyable visit and we can return again in the knowledge that there are still many things to do here, particularly on our bikes. Sharon, surprisingly, did not buy any shoes whilst she was here this time. But then again she had bought two pairs at other places we had visited! We also managed to access the internet from the site on the very last evening so we could post our recent stories at last before going home tomorrow.

Regards, Roy