My stay in Cheltenham and the Cotswolds has come to an end and today it was time to head north to York. After yesterday's troubles I checked the train website first thing in the morning. Everything was running on time. My train didn't depart until 1:10pm so I had some time spare. I was still up early - I'm not usually one to lay around in bed. It meant I could have a quiet breakfast in the restaurant before the hordes arrived. Then I stepped out into the beautiful clear crisp morning to take some snaps of Cheltenham. Funny but I found it difficult to find much that I really wanted to photograph. It's not that Cheltenham is an ugly town - quite the opposite - it's just a bit vanilla.

The train arrived more or less on time. But unlike the train from Plymouth a few days ago, this one was packed due to the line damage and maintenance works. When I boarded there was someone already in my seat. It's possible to buy a ticket without reserving a seat. That just means you look for unreserved seats when you get on. Clearly mine was showing as reserved but he thought he'd try his luck. All good though, he was very polite about it and I was in my reserved seat in no time.

I took some photos on the journey just to document the changing landscape but it didn't actually change all that much. We passed through a couple of major cities: Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds. Overall though, I didn't enjoy the journey as much as my last one.

The train arrived in York on time and I hurriedly got my bearings through the very impressive building. I will come back to take photos later. Finding the apartment was quite easy and only about 15min walk. It's basic, but will do for this stay. I'm really looking forward to some simple food and getting heaps of washing done.

After a quick dash to the supermarket for supplies, I headed out to explore before it got too dark. By this time it was already gone 5:00pm. At first I thought it was odd that the city was so quiet but then I realised it's Sunday - I've kind of lost track of days.

I took a few photos. I won't try to post many because I think the wifi here is going to be a bit problematic.

Two impressive features of York are the towering York Minster and the wall that surrounds much of the old city. I walked along some of the wall today. I will visit York Minster tomorrow.

First impressions are that its going to be a very photogenic city.

On my way back to the apartment I passed a little pub tucked away in a side street, so I popped into The Achorne for a pint of "beardo" golden ale.

This morning as I was heading to the train station it occurred to me that it had been only a week ago (last Saturday) that I got back from Scandinavia. It feels so much longer. I guess I've packed an awful lot into the last week. That's a good feeling.

Heading north