York to Norwich

So today was all about me. And by that I mean I did all the driving, Lorraine napped, possibly the biggest driving day we had in terms of no points of interest along the way, just York to Norwich, roughly 5 1/2 hours of driving in good weather and bad.

Today was totally unplanned, until last week. York was a stopover that surprised us and came about because we needed a stopping point between Edinburgh and The Cotswolds. But we also had a spare day up our sleeve, due to flight changes. In Pembroke prior to entering the castle I did a heraldry search. The lady there was a fountain of knowledge. I now have my coat arms for Harrison and a history. And it turns out we originate from near Norwich and the ancestral homelands (if I can believe what I am being told) are the Burgh Castle region. We are Anglo Saxons that defended the eastern coastline against Scots, Picts and other invaders (sorry Andy, you are now a mortal enemy 😄). Our base was Burgh Castle, a former Roman Fort from the 300AD period, and as per the records, the best preserved Roman Fort in the UK.

We arrived and toured the chapel and graveyard first, then went to the fort, Lorraine finally got to see some ruins, and it was raining, but it only added to the atmosphere. It was glorious.

From here we went to the local Village Hall for tea and cake, browsed through the bric-a-brac and then back in the car again to reach our accommodation, Brasted's.  We have "The Playroom", check out the photos, awesome room. They are a very chilled bunch, no real check in, just turn up, casual chat, show us the room, they only have 5, all named, and we decided to just say screw it, and took the 2nd most expensive room that was available (1st was already booked), even then the rate was really reasonable by our standards. It is was worth it.  Lorraine just said this is our third four poster bed on this trip and third in our 30 year marriage by coincidence. The hosts of Brasted's are in their 20th year and pioneered this private village made up of accommodation, restaurants, small businesses, and local farming. They do not own it but convinced the owner to created the private village, it is awesome. We walked the grounds simply being told, stay on the manicured grass, anything else could have traps in it, set by the farmer next door, so we did.

We have decided we are just exhausted and will have a quiet night relaxing, we will do the Norwich sights on the way to The Cotswolds tomorrow.

All in all, a very good day seeing some family history.

2019-09-25 - York to Norwich

PS The UCI World Champs are happening in the York area, we were fortunate to escape before any road closures took effect thankfully. Something to check in future, sporting events and how they affect your holiday. Different if you are planning your holiday around them, such as we did for TdF and The Giro, but never thought to research the Tour of Britain and UCI world champs.