We like to walk the full circuit of the medieval city walls of York when the daffodils are out and today we found the perfect latte (and orange carrot cake) stop half way around at Gatehouse Coffee, Walmgate Bar. Two of the windows in the upper room are medieval style cross-shaped arrow slits but this later leaded casement window looks out onto the impressive barbican, a pre-gatehouse obstacle that any attacker would have to negotiate if they were determined to storm Walmgate Bar.
Kings & queens, knights and bishops, have entered York through the four main medieval ‘bars’ or gatehouses in the walls of York and they’re still doing battle today as a couple finish a tense chess game at the table by the window.
‘I could have taken your rook,’ the woman suggests.
‘You could have taken the rook, but you’d still have lost the game!’ the man retorts.
An onlooker, a woman who has been reclining on a bench in the corner, walks over to inspect the board:
‘If you don’t mind me saying, what I would have done is . . . ‘
Luckily the inquest on the game doesn’t escalate and the couple leave, still the best of friends.
Roe Deer
On our outward train journey from Leeds the trees are still bare but crows are building. Gorse is in blossom on a south-facing rocky embankment in Leeds.
On the return journey at four o’clock a little to the east of Church Fenton, I spot a roe deer on farmland close to a belt of trees. It’s years, probably ten or fifteen years, since I’ve seen one.
Link: Gatehouse Coffee