York Day 2

June 2nd.  Sunny and just the right degree of warmth 

Once again up for breakfast at the appointed hour.  At this Guest House breakfast is only between 8am and 9:15.   Then at 9:30 we got a large bucket of soapy water, a brush and an old cloth from Caroline, the West Indian Yorkshire Woman in charge here and cleaned off the bird dirt from the car.  Parking is directly opposite under large old sycamore trees which are home to several pairs of wood pigeons and other birds.

Then at around 10:30 we drove out to Ilkley.  This town had been on My List for decades as one of my favourite uncles used to sing On Ilkley Moor Bar T’at to us when I was a child and it always intrigued me.   Today was a fine and sunny day so if any hat had been necessary it was a sunhat which I conveniently left back at the accommodation.  Through Tadcaster, skirting Leeds to Otley and then on to Ilkley, the trip took around an hour.   Otley was a very old market town with many stone buildings but we didn’t stop there.   At Ilkley we easily found a parking spot behind the station where the Pay and Display machine said “Only coins accepted.  No change given.  Overpayment is accepted”   I had sufficient coin not to overpay so felt good about that!

We asked a lady which direction for the town centre and she pointed out the way then asked us where we were from and “why have you come to Ilkley?” As if it were the last place on earth people would visit.   But the town was buzzing.   It was the monthly farmers market and one street was closed off to cars and filled with all sorts of stalls far better than any other market we’ve seen.  

The man on the cheese stall was an ardent salesman and tried to persuade a young man in front of us to buy 2 kg of Coverdale cheese as he’d then do a special price.  The poor chap only wanted a small wedge!

There was another stall with a huge variety of Scotch Eggs past which we nobly walked without being tempted.  The Bacon Butty stall had a long queue patiently waiting and neither the queue nor the butty were tempting.  Betty’s Tearooms had an even longer queue of mainly older people waiting in the sun.

We were both attracted to a stall selling West Yorkshire Woollen fabric made into scarves, shawls, waistcoats and gilets.   The man was very chatty and informative and seemed impressed when I knew that vertical production did not mean a very tall line of machines but rather that the mill did all processes in house from start to finish.  I surprised him by knowing that the lining fabric on his goods was not just Liberty Cotton but Tana Lawn.  Naturally we left £ with him and came away satisfied with the lovely products we chose.   He wanted to send me the receipt by email but couldn’t spell Stedman correctly, inserting an extra A.   I excused him by saying we’d been told it was a Northumberland name and had its roots back to Richard III.  He thought that probable (ha ha!!) but said there’s many Steadmans in West Yorkshire and he was sure we must have all issued from the same good stock.   I think I like West Yorkshiremen.

Wandering down other streets we came across a cafe called Outside the Box which advertised Ploughman’s Lunch so we decided to attempt a second and hope that this time all the ingredients would be on the plate.  What’s more they had Elderberry Soda too.   Then we found that the cafe was run as a part of a community centre catering for and employing adults with learning difficulties from all round the district.   There seemed to be three supervisors but the waitresses and kitchen staff were all neurodiverse but did a splendid job of taking orders, serving and clearing and the young woman on the till was very conscientious in her role.  They had a fantastic system of allowing the customer to add a donation towards their work to the bill when they paid and taking only card payment made it much simpler for everyone.   I was impressed and wonder if anywhere in New Zealand has a similar enterprise.

For the route home we came through Otley, Knaresborough, Kirk Hammerton and Upper Poppleton and safely back to  Longfield Terrace with Lady Satnav reminding us yet again that we were entering a restricted area.  We both think that it should be restrictive area as although the street is two way, there is permit parking on both sides and barely a one car width in between.   Nerves of steel are needed to drive in the centre of the UK’s big cities.

A short break and a cuppa before we walked up town to go once more to Choral Evensong.   The bells of the Minster were ringing when we left this morning and in the afternoon they were also ringing.   I doubt that it had been all day but I was thrilled to hear them both times.  As we walked up to the great South Door there were once again two policeman at the entrance and several Minster staff ushering those coming in.   Tonight’s service was live streamed and this is a shot from You Tube in which I have circled where Little Sister and I were sitting.   

Afterwards we went to Heavenly Desserts for a Spicy Chai Latte and Tapas (Macaron, Brownie Bites and a Cannoli).   Very nice!

Then on the walk home my little friend played games with me and ate with some relish, the small packet of salted cashew nuts I had in my bag.   He ran up and down the tree playing games and eating one nut at a time.  Charming little fellow.   I enjoyed the Play Date.

We’re having an early night tonight in preparation for a drive further south tomorrow.