UK Day 1: Travels, Exhaustion and Exploring York

ell I have made it to York, England! The trip was a breeze, though exhausting. Easy transfers from BUF --> PHL --> Manchester. Overnight plane rides are no fun and managed to leave you completely exhausted despite just sitting for hours on end!

​I am here as part of a trip organized by the National Lincoln Sheep Breeder's Association to visit and tour Lincoln flocks in the UK and learn about their sheep and wool production. In total there are 18 of us from New York to Washington who are a part of this trip.

Upon arrival, and making it through customs (the agent was extremely grumpy this morning!) we met at a small cafe at the train station to wait for the others to land. After meeting up with the rest of the group of Lincoln breeders in Manchester we took the train to York. I unfortunately was completely exhausted and fell asleep on the train and missed all the scenery and farmland between the two cities. It's ok- I really needed the sleep!

Waiting at the train station for the rest of group to arrive.

We spent several hours catching up before our train to York.

 When we arrived in York, we all took taxis to our bed and breakfast, B+B York. Taxi drivers are terrifying to begin with, but add the element of driving on the wrong side of the road and it's even worse! My roommate for the week is Debbie of Locust Grove Lincolns and we have an bright little room with twin beds. The b+b is comprised of three old brick buildings on a shady, tree lined side street. I'm already looking forward to coming back every evening to enjoy some peace and quite.

Upon settling in, Debbie and I needed to move a little to stay awake and decided to find a yarn shop. Of course our first stop in the UK would be a yarn shop... :) The shop is called Ramshambles and has several beautiful Yorkshire yarns made by West Yorkshire Spinners, but I couldn't bring myself to buy anything at the first stop. I will probably be back! We then made our way to several bookstores before happening upon the York Minster Cathedral. On our way back to the B+B we met up with some of the rest of the group and headed to a delicious British dinner together. Now time to try to catch up on some sleep and prepare for the week ahead!