Tuesday 24th July

Another beautiful morning. We had planned to go to Pickering on the bus and then onto the North York Moors Railway but it was too hot to leave Millie for the whole day so took ourselves off on a guided tour round York.

We met our guide, James, at the gates of Museum Gardens. There were four other group members, three from San Francisco and a Dutchman. James studied history here in York at St. John’s College and certainly appeared to know his stuff. He explained how the Romans founded Eboracum in 71AD and how clever they were with their building skills. The invented concrete almost 2000 years ago – amazing! How the soldiers cheated with their brickwork and how they were punished when they were found out! How they lived in the city but everyone else, families and retired soldiers, lived across the river in Colonia . How the soldiers average life expectancy was 50+ years
whereas the local men lived to about 22 years! We walked part of the city walls, round the outside of the Minster, down Stonegate and finished up on the Shambles. I have certainly learnt a lot about York today and also about how the Romans lived.

We had a sandwich in the garden of the Lion and Lamb at Bootham Bar and then returned to Mary H to cool Millie down!

It was an extremely hot afternoon and much too hot to sit either in or beside the boat so I took my chair up the bank and under the trees to read my book.