|
With my bike packed I set off at 6:30 & arrived at Blackburn
Rail Station around 07:30. Through the manned barriers I wheeled
my bike up to the platform and called at the ticket office to
buy a single advance to York. The departure time is 08:03 and as
I'm 15 mins before departure time I qualify for the £7:55
advance price. The train was on time & a man with a bike turned
up so I was concerned about the 2 bike limit on the train and if
a bike would already be on when it arrived. |
Blackburn Railway Staion. |
|
Fortunately there were no bikes on but the bike area has 3 three
flip up seats & some were occupied & we had to wait till Burnley
to stow our bikes. The other cyclist was getting off in Leeds to
change for Lincoln. We chatted during the journey & he was quite
knowledgeable on train journeys. I arrived in York around 10am
and had to use the lift down to the underpass to get to the exit
platform. Once out of the station & on the road outside I spent
a few moments sorting my gear before riding into York. |
On the train. |
York Railway Station. |
|
It stopped at all the st |
Across from York Minster. |
Constantine the Great. |
York cobbles, not good for cycling. |
York. |
|
My first call was York Minster which is incredibly impressive
but lots of tourists (including me). I didn't attempt to go
inside as I expected there's a large entrance charge. I part
walked & part cycled through the cobbled streets to emerge by a
green & grubby looking river Foss by a large car park and the
crumbling tower on top of a huge mound. I soon managed to find
the cycle track by the River Ouse and enjoyed an easy ride to
the Millenium Bridge where I crossed over to continue south by
the river before leaving it to join the road. Further south I
turned right along a lane then path across the York Racecourse.
I met a cyclist coming the other way and we had a short chat. He
said resurfacing repair works had been done on the cycle track
to Selby. |
|
I was looking forward to revisiting the track and the scale
model of the solar system along the way. I reached the model
globe of the sun and the adjacent information board.
Unfortunately part of it was unreadable due to spray paint. As I
rode south along the path I stopped briefly at each planet on a
pedestal to scale. The last one was Pluto but I had to go up a
ramp to see it. I didn't know it had a moon so even more
surprising it was demoted from planet status. |
Lazaretto Point War Memorial. |
The scale model of the Solar System is spread out along 10.2 km
(6.4 miles) of the old East Coast main railway line. The scale
of the model is 575 872 239:1
Cycle the Solar System -
University of York.
www.york.ac.uk/solar |
Selby at the swing bridge. |
Selby Abbey |
Selby Abbey |
Selby. |
Selby Abbey |
|
At the end of the cycle track is the busy road but thankfully I
was able to follow a cycle track at the side to reach the minor
roads into Selby. I stopped at the swing bridge over the River
Ouse to take some photos then on to Selby Abbey. I reached the
car park at the real & a lady told me the main entrance was
further round & it was open to visitors. I parked my bike in by
the main doors & went in. It was rather nice & I was able to
fill my water containers from a tap in the toilets. On my way
out I put £5 in the donation box and was relieved to see my bike
was sheltered from a passing heavy downpour. |
|
As the rain passed over the sun came out for a while. I rode on
to the supermarket to buy a pack of 5 jam doughnuts for lunch. I
ate 3 then continued on the flat straight roads for another few
miles to Bishop Wood. Beyond a parking area & barrier I wheeled
my bike along a track but the whole area was brambles & not
suitable for a tent. Fortunately a pile of stacked logs had some
removed recently leaving a patch of vegetation free. It was just
big enough for my tent. |
Camp 01 |
|
|
|
