Well, neither of us are technically ‘real’ New Yorkers, but we’re close enough.
Before leaving the Cotswolds area yesterday we stopped by a lavender farm in Snowshill for a bit of pre-roadtrip frolicking (pictures below), then made our way up to The North (as all the road sides so aptly put it) with a quick stop in Stratford-upon-Avon for lunch. We got into York in the early evening and went for a stroll around town. Most of the old medieval city walls are still standing, and you can walk along many sections – which of course we did.
Today we took a lengthy free city-run tour of the City which ended up running over two hours (but was very interesting – there’s a lot of history in the city). Next stop: the National Rail Museum (free admission). To end the day, we attended Evensong at York Minster, an amazing old cathedral rivaled only by Westminster in scale. Also, Eddie Izzard is totally right about the Anglican Church. With all that music and singing, you’d think things could be a little more upbeat. I guess the Church of England is the emo scene of the religious world.
Tomorrow we head up to Edinburgh, with stops at Hadrian’s Wall and wherever else strikes our fancy!

Welcome to the “Midlands” of England: rolling forests and pastureland dotted with tiny towns that seem to have been lost in time, where the houses have names instead of street numbers and only one car at a time can fit on the road. Josh is driving our rental car – and doing quite well – and we’re glad we have it to explore (or at least drive through) as many of these hamlets as possible. We took a walking tour of Chipping Campden today, and braved the rain so Meg could see the ancient yew trees that (supposedly) inspired Tolkien’s doors of Moria. We finished the day with a leisurely half-hour stroll down a quiet footpath to a pub serving excellent local beer…and managed to walk it off on the return trip to the car to drive back to our quaint B&B.

We spent a rather care-free (though I suppose this whole trip is care-free, really…) day in Bath today. It’s a small city, packed in tight with beautiful Georgian-age buildings, and of course, several baths – including a Roman bath dating from around 70 AD. As if we hadn’t gotten in enough walking the past two days, we took two walking tours – a free city-run tour, heavy on Georgian-age history, but very well led by a volunteer named Jack; and a ‘tour’ in the evening put on by a company called Bizarre Bath, which is really more of a walking stage/comedy/magic show, which was a ton of fun and a great way to end the day. Tomorrow we pick up our rental car and see how well I fare driving in Britain…

Today we finished our 2-day hike on the Ridgeway – and sore legs and tired feet aside, this was quite an adventure! The westernmost part of the trail runs through miles of gorgeous farmland, through the Iron-Age Barbury Castle, and across wild Downs strewn with sarsen stones and burial barrows. Our journey ended in Avebury among circles of massive standing-stones (like Stonehenge, but older and bigger), where there were more people than we had seen in both days of our hike put together! From Avebury we caught a bus and a train to majestic Bath, which we’re excited to explore. A dip in the spa sounds like a fantastic idea after the Ridgeway…

An absolutely amazing (though thoroughly exhausting) day! We hiked 16 miles, almost 7.5 hours from Sparsholt Firs to Ogbourne St George along The Ridge Way (or Ridgeway Trail), a pre-historic path through southern England. It passes by beautiful open country and farmland, rolling hills, and a few Iron and Stone Age monuments. We had the trail almost entirely to ourselves except around the monuments and a cyclist here and there… our feet, legs and shoulders are achy and tired, but what an experience! And there’s more tomorrow, stay tuned…