Day 7 - September 5, 2011

York

This morning we had an early wake-up for an 8am departure for York. We were being met by Marilyn for a walking tour of the downtown area. First we went to the Minster and walked around part of the massive building.

In one updated area of the downtown, the designer's trademark was cats which we would find in various places around the 'tony' residential district. We then walked by the Shambles, a Medieval street with little shops and then finished the tour at the Quilt Museum. The museum was in an old building that had been refurbished and re-opened within the last 5 years. Marion and I then walked back to the Shambles and split up so we could cover all the spots that interested us respectively.

On our way back to The Shambles, we saw this lovely fruit and vegetable garden beside a sidewalk in a very busy area...
and was surprised to see the sign inviting people to help themselves.
Back at the Shambles, I went into Ramshambles, the local yarn shop, where they proudly displayed a photo of Casey and Jess from Ravelry With Ysolda Teague. In an artist's supply shop, I found this cute cross-stitch cushion kit which made me think of my fibre'y friend, Mo, who would have LOVED everything about our tour.For lunch I stopped into The Cornish Pasty Bakery, home of Award Winning Cornish Pasties and had a pork and apple pasty for lunch.After lunch, I walked over to the Minster so I could take a tour. I took a ton of photos but can't
decide which ones to post so encourage any readers to 'google' it and get photos and descriptions for themselves. Here are just a few that demonstrate the enormity of the Minster from the inside.There is a 5-year, £19 million conservancy project underway. Here are the stages in recarving stones that are damaged beyond repair. There is a team of 24 stone carvers and apprentices that are constantly working to maintain the Minster.I found it interesting that on stones that are too eroded to determine the original details, the stone carvers recreate them based on their own research.



In the gift shop I saw this adorable guy, Goswald of Graveney St. George gargoyle (knitted) by Georgina Manvell, and the pattern on display and made note of the URL for the pattern.Walking back to our meeting point outside the walls, I noted this floral display encouraging us to participate in 30 minutes of physical activity a day.Our meeting place was at the war memorial where I saw Vivian working contentedly on her socks whilst waiting for the others of our group.I thought it amusing for the need for this sign to be posted in the war memorial park enclosure.

Day 6 - September 4, 2011

Hadrian's Wall and Harrogate

We got an early start for our first leg of our trip to England. Our first stop was at Chesters Fort at Hadrian's Wall.I took a ton of photos so Skip could see it through my eyes. He taught British history for 30+ years and would have loved to have been with us that day.
Over on the east side, once can see the Wall on the other side of the River Tyne.
Only a small portion of the fort is excavated. Here one can see that only a couple of feet of the pillars are exposed.The museum was amazing. All these antiquities were on display and not behind glass or out of reach.
Skip and I need to go there some day.

Before leaving, we grabbed a quick snack and headed for Harrogate. We needed to get there in plenty of time for us to explore the last afternoon of the first annual British Wool Weekend.Oh, what wonderful things we saw!

This is Pat Osborne's whimsical "The Cat on Grandma's Patchwork".
I had seen bobbin lace at Louisbourg, NS a couple of years ago but that was with 36 bobbins. This woman was working with a mind-boggling 80 bobbins! The thread was like, well, thread!
This artist was demonstrating wet-feltingand was creating these beautiful flowers before our eyes.I really like this 'sheepy' felted picture.This yarnery, Blacker Designs, had a large display of their house brand yarn. These were the natural colours of their Corriedale/Alpaca blends.and some dyed Herdwick, Manx, Ryeland and Jacob/Mohair yarn.
This company, Natural Legacy, makes felted wool caskets including ones for cats and dogs.Ingrid Wagner does things on a large scale.
For a donation of £1 you can knit a couple of stitches using 70mm needles (I did the math - 220mm circumference divided by π) and giant yarn. Here, Linda is giving it a go.
At the end of the row, it took 6 people to turn the swatch.
I just had to have a copy of this limited edition print called 'Gypsy'.A variety of rug-hooked items were for sale in this booth.This was all the loot I acquired at the British Wool Weekend. It was a small wool show but I think it will grow year by year.

We were picked up at 4:30pm and taken to our new hotel - The Old Swan in beautiful Harrogate.
We knew it was swanky when we opened the wardrobe and there were robes and slippers for us.
The tastefully-tiled bathroom with the heated floor was a dead give-away, too.
Back in 1926, Agatha Christie (British crime writer) learned her husband was having an affair. She then disappeared after which a massive manhunt was launched - wooded areas were combed and bodies of water were dragged for her body. Finally after 11 days she was discovered at the Old Swan registered under the name of her husband's mistress. She didn't ever explain her mysterious actions.

Day 5 - Saturday, September 3, 2011

To Edinburgh - Holyroodhouse Palace, Edinburgh Castle, The Royal Mile, Princes Street

We got to sleep in a bit as we were leaving for Edinburgh at 9:30 to arrive at Holyroodhouse Palace at 10:30am. The Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of The Queen (ERII) when she is in Edinburgh.David, our cranky, kilted guide, greeted us and herded us to the front entrance. We got a tour around the second floor which is where state dinners occur. The Royal Family actually lives on the third floor when they are in residence. There are several impressive rooms, many with huge paintings and portraits.

We then rode over to Edinburgh Castle. The first thing we visited was the War Memorial. It reminded me very much of our Peace Tower where the Books of Remembrance are displayed.
However, I felt the Ottawa memorial conveyed a much more reverential tone - probably because the number of people admitted at any one time is limited (due to the narrow elevator that transports people to that area of the Peace Tower). At E’burgh Castle people can just walk in and out of a couple of doors.

We then went into the castle and saw the Scottish Crown Jewels and sceptre. We weren't permitted to take any photos inside the Castle.There were other rooms to explore as well. We then went over to St. Margaret’s Chapel which was closed as a wedding was about to take place.Here is part of the wedding party...
and, of course, the piper.
Nearby is the Dog Cemetery. It was so crowded, I didn't get a good picture, however, when editing the photos I did get of the city below, I noticed I got a shot of a wee bit of the pet cemetery. On close inspection, I noted the names of the honourable dogs: Don, Major, Jess and Scamp. I couldn't read the names on the three right-hand headstones.
The Castle is a wonderful place to get a view of the city and Princes Street. The covered canons (below) are prepared for the finale of the Edinburgh Festival that was going to take place that night. The other silver, cylindrical things are fireworks ready for ignition.
I was intrigued by this stately, sooty, spired, intricate monument over to the east. I later learned it is the monument to Sir Walter Scott. It is the largest monument to a writer in the world.
After our tour, we walked along the Royal Mile
and stopped in at the Jolly Judge for lunch. Marion and Cindy had the ploughman’s lunch and I had a delicious toasted ham and cheese sandwich and a pint of lager and lime.
These bagpiping buskers are located every couple of blocks.
We then walked down to Princes Street and split up to do our individual shopping. On our way down, we spotted the The Writers' Museum with the entrance off an alleyway.We walked past the Scottish National Gallery.On Princes Street, I bought some post cards, a book of embroidery stitches and some microfibre plaid tights.

We met the bus again at 4:30 at St. Andrew's Park for the ride back to Peebles.
Once there, Marion and I headed across the street to The Crown Hotel to use their wifi. Here we're calling Elaine via Skype. We still marvel at the ability to make a TransAtlantic call using my iPod Touch and a $2.99 Skype to phone plan.

Dinner was at 7. Laurie had a couple of fibrey friends she knew from the internet come to the hotel with some of their roving, top and handspun. I bought some lovely BFL hand dyed laceweight from Gilleoin Finlay-Coull and 100g each of Roundesay and Shetland top.

Marion and I went to bed at about 10:30 so we’d get lots of sleep before our early wake-up so we could get on the road to Harrogate by 7.