Yorkshire Walks

Bootham Bar with the towers of York Minster rising behind

The weather had been very wet overnight and there were still some heavy showers about. One was just starting so we went into the art gallery coffee shop and had a very nice coffee whilst the shower got on with its stuff outside. When the sun came out again we set off to climb the steps onto the city walls at Bootham Bar, the gateway through the walls from the north (the A19). Inside the tower above the gate there is the old portcullis still in tact.

I'm still far from fighting fit but Jim, my neighbour, had offered to to tke me out today, so I decided to attempt a circuit of the City Walls in York. We drove the short distance to the York ring road and took advantage of the free parking to get the park & ride service into the city centre. We got off at the Museum Gardens just after 11am and walked round the corner to the City Art Gallery opposite Bootham Bar (Here's where you have to get used to the jargon; bar=gate in York, and gate=street, OK?) I think its all to do with the Vikings!

The portcullis inside the tower of Bootham Bar

Following the wall around the Minster grounds

There were some lovely views of the minster through the fresh green leaves and the spring blossoms. The walkway on the walls took us alongside Lord Mayors Walk to Monk gate.

We were walking clockwise round the walls and this took us round the perimeter of the Minster grounds with the traditional residences and gardens of the Civic and Clerical high officials of York.

Following the wall around the Minster grounds

At Monkgate Bar (translated that's the gate in the wall across Monk Street) the weather was again looking very threatening, so we walked about 100m along Monkgate to the National Trust shop & cafe near the Minster. We stopped there for another coffee and watched the shower outside the window until the sun came out again.

Monkgate Bar

City wall approaching Peasholme Green

River Foss by Foss Islands Road

The Red Tower where the wall restarts

From Monkgate we walked along the top of the wall to its end at Peasholme Green. There never was any wall beyond here because the city was protected by a great marsh where the River Foss was backed up from the river Ouse. The wall starts again at the Red Tower on Foss Islands Road. It's about 400m to walk from Peasholme Green to the Red Tower and we rejoined the wall there.

From Walmgate we continued along the wall to Fishergate Bar. This is a smaller gate into the city and I didn't climb down to street level to take a photo here. Outside the wall here is the York Barbican centre where York's only large swimming pool has been closed (can you believe a city the size of York with no decent public swimming pool?).

This section of the wall ends at Fishergate Tower. Again this is because the city was protected by the water around York Castle where the castle museum now stands.

From the Red Tower we followed the wall to Walmgate Bar. This is the only bar to have its barbican, that's the fortified entrance way that sticks out in front of the wall. A few years ago an archeological dig in Walmgate found the boundaries of the Viking plots where shops and houses had been built in Viking York and amazingly those ancient boundaries coinsided exactly with the present day plot boundaries in Walmgate.

Looking back along the wall to Walmgate Bar

Looking along the wall towards Fishergate Bar

Fishergate Tower

From Fishergate Tower we followed the road round to Clifford's Tower then crossed the road into the gardens by the River Ouse.

Cliford's Tower

Entrance to the wall at the end of Skeldergate

We crossed the river over Skeldergate Bridge and rejoined the walkway along the wall from the little tower at the end of Skeldergate.

The waterlevel in the River Ouse was quite high, lapping over the riverside walk, but not a serious flood in spite of several days of non-stop rain over the entire Yorkshire dales catchment area.

Walkway along the wall above Nunnery Lane

We followed the wall along Nunnery Lane to Micklegate Bar. You can stay at the walkway level through the bar across the road, but I walked down to street level to get a photo of the bar and it's well worth a good look anyway. The plaque gives a good flavour of its gruesome history.

Walkway along the wall above Nunnery Lane

From Micklegate Bar we continued along the wall to the railway station from where we could just see the Yorkshire Wheel over the station roofs. We were nearly at the end of our circuit. The Minster came into view as we approached Lendal Bridge where the wall ends at Barker Tower. The wall restarts across the river at Lendal Tower but this short section up to the museum gardens is not open to the public, so we walked along the road back to the Museum Gardens where we had started.

Lendal Tower

Barker Tower

We crossed the road to a tea shop where we had a very welcome bacon roll and a pot of tea. The whole route had been just under 5km and including our three coffee stops it had taken us almost 3 hours. Well I did say that I'm not fighting fit at present. In fact I was feeling pretty sore by the end but it was so much better that sitting at home. Thanks Jim!