We had set an alarm for 07:00 just in case. However, from 06:00 onwards, there were numerous announcements. The initial announcement was that breakfast was now served. The one that amused me no end was that the casino was about to close. Once our alarm went off, I had a quick shower and then I put the few odds and ends that we had out into the hand luggage. Then we headed downstairs. There were announcements that foot passengers should wait in the show lounge. We headed there and found some seats. Once we saw that there was movement, we headed out.
There was a huge line at immigration. There was a huge German school group ahead of us. They also only had two immigration officers on duty. Shortly after we arrived, they called people for the shuttle into Hull city centre. This made sense as their shuttle was due to leave at 08:15. Shortly afterwards somebody asked if there was somebody for the York shuttle. This was us. I was not unduly concerned as the information that we had received from P&O Ferries stated that the shuttle was due to leave at 09:00 and we had nearly an hour until then. It was nearly our turn to take care of immigration when they called our shuttle again. It was still nowhere near 09:00. Still, I did indicate that we were using this shuttle. The person who had called the shuttles said that we should have said something the first time round and they would have taken us to the front. This seemed to be a completely pointless exercise. Still at this stage, we were second in line for immigration. She took us to the waiting area once we were through immigration and handed us over to the driver. At that stage, it was still only about 30 minutes before we were due to leave. I really did not get what the rush was about. It turned out that we were the only people heading to York that day. The company that operated the shuttle was from Beverley, which made me smile.
Traffic around the port was very busy. Once we got to the city centre of Hull, it then flowed smoothly all the way to York. We arrived there about 10:00. We got dropped off near the station. We had booked a left luggage facility at a hostel that was not too far from where we were dropped off. We headed there and dropped off our luggage. I had brought a mystery guide for York and once we had dropped off our luggage, we went to find the starting point. That was easier said than done. There were plenty of maps around, but even though the starting point was pretty central, it was a while until it turned up on any of the maps. We headed into the general direction of York Minster. Once we got close to this, our destination finally showed up on a map.
All Mystery Guides that we had done up to that point had a couple of refreshment stops included. The York Mystery Guide had four refreshment stops. Indeed, the first clue was at a pub called The Hole in the Wall. We had figured we may be able to get a late breakfast/ early lunch there, but they were not due to serve food until later. We solved the clue, which was actually on a house opposite the pub. Then we checked out a coffee shop opposite. This was called Bean & Gone Coffee. We had a bacon roll each. Graham had an Americano and I had an iced pistachio matcha latte. We also had a piece of cake each. Graham had a cherry caramel cake, and I had a vegan almond and peach cake. Breakfast definitely hit the spot.
Once we had finished our late breakfast, we continued the trail. We did not have far to go to get to the next clue. We just had to go through Bootham Bar, which is one of the historical city gates, and cross the road to get to Exhibition Square. This is home to York Art Gallery. The outside of this building helped us to solve the next clue, even though the clue as actually called King’s Manor, which is adjacent to the square. King’s Manor was originally built to house the abbots of St Mary’s Abbey. When the abbey was dissolved in 1539, Henry VIII instructed that it be used as the seat of the Council of the North. It was used for this purpose until the council as abolished in 1641. Since then, it had a variety of uses. It is now part of York St John University.
After this, we went up in the world. We climbed up to the city wall. I had expected something similar to what we had found in Chester, where the city wall is essentially just an elevated walkway that is quite wide. The city wall in York is quite narrow. It was also more of a city staircase rather than a city wall. There were a few viewpoints with benches. We sat down for a while where we had a great view at York Minster. We were both somewhat bemused by how many people were speedwalking along the city wall and did never stop to enjoy their surroundings.
One of the reasons I like doing the Mystery Guides so much is that without fail, you discover something new even when you think you know a place reasonably well. We had to solve clues in the Minster Yard and in a beautiful little park called Dean‘s Park, which is behind minster. Both are beautiful places which feel far removed from the hustle and bustle of the minster.
I discovered something else that was completely new to me. One of the clues was on a statue of the Roman emperor Constantine. I was familiar with emperor Constantine who introduced Christianity to the Roman Empire. What I did not know was that his coronation took place in York adjacent to where the minster is today.
After this, we moved away from the minster. We weaved in and out of historical streets. There were clues at pubs and outside shops. A number of the buildings I have been past any number of times, but I never noticed some of the details on those buildings.
One building that was completely new to me was Barley Hall. This is a beautiful restored medieval town house which is home to a museum about medieval life. There was a window to a room that had a display of medieval food. This was a bit strange. The building however was absolutely beautiful. It is down a small alley, and you would never happen upon this unless you knew it was there.
We solved some more clues around some more of the historical streets and squares. We also explored the famous Shambles. Then we headed back in the general direction of the minster. The final reveal was on the other end of the street where we had started the treasure hunt at the Guy Fawkes Inn. According to tradition, the building is the birthplace of Guy Fawkes. I tend to take claims like this with a pinch of salt. However, the building is a gorgeous Georgian building with wooden beams, gas lamps and fireplaces. The final reveal was a huge painting above one of the fireplaces. This was somewhat unusual. Normally Mystery Guide places some kind of prop at the location of the final reveal to complete the story. However, I rather suspect that the painting was there first and Mystery Guide worked around this for the final reveal.
Whenever we do a Mystery Guide, Graham tends to leave me to it when it comes to the final reveal. This time initially was more of the same. However, we then decided to get some lunch there. This proved to be a smart idea. Graham had the Guy Fawkes Famous Steak & Ale Pie with chips, buttered kale, red wine gravy, and mushy peas. He had some lemonade with this. I had ‘Bonfire’ Beef Burger with Monterey Jack cheese, streaky bacon, chipotle mayo, dill pickles, brioche bun, and truffle parmesan fries. This was delicious. I had some orange juice and lemonade with this.
I had woken up with a sore throat that morning. Initially, I was not sure if I had just got dehydrated the day before or if this was the beginning of a cold. Sadly, as the day went on, it became all too clear that it was a cold. By the time we finished lunch, I started to feel pretty rough. We retraced our steps to where we had left our luggage. We picked up our luggage. Then we headed to the station. We had just missed a train, but thankfully the next train was not far behind. Graham got us some drinks while we waited. He had an Americano and he got something that was supposed to be an iced tea for me, but it suspiciously tasted like cold brew coffee. It was nice though.
Not long before our train was due, there was a platform alteration. This was not exactly a joy with our luggage. Our train pulled shortly after we got to the new platform. We had a smooth run home, and I spent most of it asleep. When we arrived home, we put our luggage in the living room and then we settled down with a movie.
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