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Monday 2nd May 2005
   
So, today, trying to get away from all the paint fumes, we headed north along the A61, passing through Harrogate, then Ripon, then Thirsk, vrmmmmmmmm. Then . . . finally, or was it just the beginning? . . . we reached Venice, beautiful Venice. Beautiful city, fantastic sites to see. Actually, that's a lie, but hey . . .
     
Venice, Sutton-Under-Whitestonecliffe . . . what's the difference? Eh? Hmmmmm. I've a feeling sea-level may come into it. And water in general.
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So, yes . . . after a quick stop at the visitor centre at Sutton Bank, we headed on for Rievaulx Abbey. Erm . . . something about Cistercian, 11th century, north of England, first monastery . . . blah, blah, blah, with some verbs and a sentence or two constructed around it all. You get the idea. These pictures were taken at about five to four, when the weather was still okay. We walked up a grassy bank behind the abbey and settled down for lunch. Note the people ruining what would otherwise be half-decent pictures, damn them.
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. . . and then the clouds started to roll in. It was still fairly warm, like, but it looked like something ominous was on the way. "Didn't you check the weather forecast, dear?" "No, I thought you had. I packed the bag, remember?" "Yes, but I made the lunch, and I just assumed . . . "
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Still, when the rain started, we had well and truly finished lunch and were all set on exploring the abbey. Kirkstall Abbey could learn a lot from this place, were it not a pile of rocks without any kind of recognisable central nervous system. Erm . . . see, there was loads of exploring to do and when the rain got a bit too heavy, we just ran under one of the many arches or inside what would have once been some kind of fireplace, I guess. Some of these pictures are taken from such arches. We had a proper wander around, and the abbey had many weird little nooks and crannies. I think I'm kind of repeating myself here. And then we explored the abbey. There was lots of exploring to do. Nooks and crannies.
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