We were expecting to get Gus back on Thursday but due to a few small niggly repairs we didn’t get him back until Friday lunchtime.

We had to quickly load him and then get on the road as we were expected at George and Lech’s in York for dinner.

There were a few traffic jams on a busy Friday before a bank holiday weekend. Luckily most of the traffic was going in the opposite direction towards Cornwall. We enjoyed the views across the Severn to Wales. 

We didn’t stop and made the journey in around 6.5 hours. We got parked up in the Rowntree camp site on the side of the Ouse River. We quickly got organised and walked down the river to George and Lechs place.

We then enjoyed catching up and George’s version of Chicken Stroganoff – with leeks this time. Also delicious but different from Grant’s. After a late arrival we left not long before midnight. We had a good first night in Gus.

Next morning we had a lot of sorting out to do as we had thrown bags on board that had still to be unpacked and put away. George then came to collect us to take us for a day out in York.

We saw a nice coffee shop at the end of a bridge that we had to stop off at before we went anywhere.

After a good heart starter we arrived at the front of the York Minster where there were some good photo opportunities.

We then went to the Treasurers House where Lech is a guide. Unfortunately we didn’t get Lech but we had an informative tour about industrialist Frank Green who had bought 2 of the 5 houses and remodeled them into 1 house with lots of renovations. The houses were built in the 15th century on the foundations of the old house built in the 11th century – and also on a Roman road. There are many ghost sightings in the house including a Roman legion in the basement. We didn’t see any. Frank Green was a collector so had a lot of 17 and 18 century antiques.

We got to the end of the tour and found a complete list of occupants in the kitchen.

We were now ready for lunch so found a very old pub the Old Swan. We had nice pies and bangers and mash. We then did a little bit of shopping seeing a Palestinian protest on the way before heading back to the van for a rest.

I liked the little monument of cocoa rollers from the Rowntree factory marked with flood levels in the entry to the camp site.

Later we headed back to George’s to laugh over old university photos from my trunk which has been in Grants garage for 34 years. We had George’s excellent minestrone soup and were then spoiled with lovely cheeses including our favourite Comte from the Jura in France.

After a few wines we walked back to the van dodging the showers again. We had another late night getting to bed at midnight – probably the latest on the campsite.

The site is a very handy location for York – and George and Lech’s.