Weekend Wander to York

York is one of my favourite places to visit. I love the history and character, and discovering new parts of the city I haven’t seen before. I’m always keen to add in a new weekend wander to York.

In the Christmas holidays we took a day trip there. The plan was to walk around the city walls, which is something I’ve never done before. We set off from home at around 9.30am ish, meaning we got to York for about 11am. We parked in the Railway Museum car park (cost £10 for the day), which meant we could use the loos there before we set off on our walk. Luckily for us it was a beautiful day for a walk.

The walls are so narrow, and in parts there is nothing to stop you falling down the grass banking – especially when people coming the other way don’t make space! There are a few passing places though, and a few benches to have a quick rest on.

You can pop on and off the walls to explore other parts of the city, as we did when we got to these beautiful Victorian terraces. I love walking on streets like this 🙂

We stopped off for lunch at a tiny cafe (I mean tiny!) by the river called Dyls, just off Skeldergate. Dyls is set in a converted bridge motor house and serves up delicious sandwiches and coffee. Service was a little slow, but it was a nice spot to stay a while.

After lunch we carried on our walk past York Castle, then headed to The Shambles as Holly wanted to go to The Shop That Must Not Be Named – like every time we come to York. On the way we passed Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, the smallest street in York. It looks like it hasn’t changed since it was built!

The Shambles itself is just round the corner from here, and is ridiculous with all the Harry Potter tourists now. When Holly and I visited a year ago it was busy, and people were queuing to get into The Shop That Must Not Be Named (queuing, to shop?!) but this time it was awful. People were barging us out of the way, knocking into us and it was awful.

We walked up The Shambles then headed out into some other nearby streets, heading back in the general direction of the Railway Museum.

When we got back to the Railway Museum, Holly wanted to have a look around (she loves a train) so we spent an hour in there, looking at the trains and having a very expensive piece of cake.

We had a lovely day in York, and if you’re into geocaching at all there are loads to find there. There’s a series along the city walls which takes you to some less touristy spots. We didn’t manage to find them all, but it’s a great excuse to go for another visit!