Up, shower, breakfast, bus into town at 0830.  At the Minster (Cathedral) at 0900, very few people around, wandered around and took photos.  Couldn’t do the climb to the tower until 1000.  Climbed the tower…245 steps in a steep narrow spiral stone staircase, they were only just a little wider than my shoulders.  On the way up we walked along the edge of the roof of the South Transept, then up the final set of steps.  At the top of the tower there are magnificent views in all directions across the relatively flat landscape.  Going down was much easier, but by the time we got to the bottom we were both staggering a bit.  We popped out to a café and had some morning tea and a rest then went back for a guided tour.

One of the things that comes out is that the first building on the site was probably about 3,000 years old.  A religious building has stood here for about 1,400 years.  Probably firstly built of wood then a succession of the 3 or 4 stone Minsters.  The current building was started in about 1,200 and took about 350 years to build.  Since then it has undergone almost continual extension and refurbishment that continues to today.  They are in the middle of a £21M refurbishment now and have stone masons and glaziers working on the building.

The current Dean is a woman.

There are graves of many (important) people as well as deans, bishops and archbishops within the building.  Some of the headstones tell quite a story.  Some how wonderful the people were and some a brief family tree.

There is a clock where two, almost life size figures strike the chimes of the quarter hour.

Evidently the Nave (which is very large is used (and has been since it was built) for all sorts of function, music recitals, concerts, etc.  Tonight there is the graduations ceremony for the University of York.  The area seats about 1,800 people!

After the guided tour we went done into the under croft.  An area excavated to underpin the central tower because it was sinking into the ground an in danger of collapsing.  During the excavations the found artifacts going back before the Romans in AD64.  It is now a museum area.

We finished in the Minster about 1430 and headed off to get some lunch in a little café in Parliament Square and headed home about 1530 for a well earned rest and to prepare for tomorrows drive to Newcastle Upon Tyne.