In February, we returned to London for another 6 months of work. On one weekend, we decided to try something a little different - we took our folding bikes for a ride through the solar system!
A few kilometres from York, they've repurposed an old rail line into a cycle path with a scale model of the
solar system (https://www.york.ac.uk/solar/index.html). What a neat idea!
Every 100m of the trail corresponds to 57 million kilometres in space, so we started at the Sun and arrived at Mercury 101m later. Doesn't sound like much of a bike ride, but at this scale, the distance between the Sun
and Pluto is nearly 10.3km :). Apparently if you were to walk the trail, your scaled speed would be equivalent to around 3 times the speed of light.. since we biked, we flew through the solar system at around 10 times the speed to light!
After our little jaunt through space, we returned to York to check into a really lovely B&B called the Dovecote House. The rooms were super cozy and we were served really delicious, freshly baked (still warm!), croissants for breakfast!
We spent the rest of the day wandering the walls and many pedestrian streets of York's fortified old town.
And, of course, when in Yorkshire.. eat Yorkshire Pudding! They were plentiful and super-sized!
When it started to rain, we found ourselves at Stonegate Yard Bar & Brasserie, a local pub with a really charming atmosphere. We discovered our new favorite pub drink (for those of us who don't drink beer) - Rekorderlig Wild Berries Cider (and on tap to boot)! Yum!
Speaking of yummy things, we discovered that Rowntree, the company that brought us Kit Kat, Aero, Jelly Tots, and Smarties, originated in York. They were bought out by Nestle in the 80's, but Kit-Kat factories continue to operate in York... evidenced by the rich, mouth-watering aroma of warm chocolate that blankets the entire town when the factories are running.
On Sunday afternoon we met up with Mark and Trish, our coworker and his girlfriend, for a couple of hours since they also happened to plan a trip in the area on the same weekend! We explored the Rambles, walked along the river to Millennium bridge, and checked out the museum gardens.
By Sunday evening it was pouring rain, so we checked out the Railway Museum and then watched Logan at the local theatre.
Despite so much rain, it was a perfect weekend getaway. We both really enjoyed and recommend York!