Day 142, 23 November 2012. York to London and back to Chelmsford (Essex). Even if we weren't frightfully organised travelling types, we would have known it was travel day today - if for no other reason than there is blue sky and stunning sunshine. In York. In November. Sigh.... We spent our last morning in York walking about the town, taking in the Christmas decorations everywhere, the carousel in the square, walking down Stonegate to find the "Stonegate Devil". (As it turns out we've walked past him several times but never looked up). We even had the opportunity to visit the Guildhall - hadn't really been on our list of things to pay an entry fee for, but they had a Christmas gift and craft fair in there today with free admission. So in we went! We even found something we've never seen before. A stall with handcut coins - pre-decimal currency with the emblems on the coins cut into relief. Mind boggling to come across something entirely new, made in England from an English product. (The artisan also uses Australian and New Zealand coins - have a look www.louis-edwards.co.uk. We found a corner of town that we'd overlooked and discovered a pub with the ruins of a Roman bath in it's basement. That's what we've really enjoyed about York - we've barely needed to scratch the surface to find the history right beneath.
PS. Saw the weather report this morning. Apparently modern-day Noah types should visit the lumber yard. Rain is preparing to drench the British Isles as of today. And we're sitting in a train, basking in the sun, and speeding southward right into it. Yep.