York over for a while

Seventh of January and we have already been to York for a couple of days, only three weeks since our last visit.

On the first trip we arrived at York's Rowntree Park (on the 18th December) and for the first time ever, I was not allowed to pitch, where I wanted. I was only allocated a choice of small pitches as I am only 6m long and didn't have a car or awning. We have been asked to leave certain pitches free for larger units but never been told that three quarters of the site were not available to us. No amount of complaining made any difference, so we asked to pitch in the riverside part of the site.

When we arrived on the 2nd of January, we were informed we could pitch where we wanted, as it was less than half full, but also informed that when they reopen in August, we will definitely be allocated a smaller pith.

On the 3rd of January, the last night before the closure, there were about 20 vans on site.

The first trip, the last of 2011, was mainly walking around the markets and drinking Sam Smiths beers. We didn't even need presents, it was just a mater of soaking up the festive spirit (if you don't count the CC warden).

The second trip, the first of 2012, was very similar to every other time we have been to York. In the Kings on the first night though, we didn't like some of the clientele in there that night, so we moved on to the Postern Gate and had three Christmas beers in there.

Next day it had been very windy and raining overnight and still wasn't very nice out, so we spent the morning clearing out some of the overhead lockers. Where we found an annual ticket for the York museum, a ticket we thought was lost, bit of luck, now we had somewhere to go, out of the bad weather.

By the time we came out of the museum the weather had cleared up enough for a walk around the centre. The river was getting very high, the pub had been flooded the week before our last visit and it was looking likely to happen again. As we left the pub the landlord was checking to see if the pub should close, it was flooded next morning.

We didn't manage to get a photo but two photos of the blue bridge should show how high the river level was. The riverside path we had used to walk back the night before, was underwater.