I drove into York and to my bed and breakfast with no problems, navigating by the map from my grandmother's 1960's AA atlas. But getting to the train station to return the car was another story. It was only a mile from my B&b, but York has recently closed a bridge in the middle of their one way loop around the town, and I couldn't go directly.

Three laps later, I walked thankfully into the city centre, wandered through the Shambles, and gratefully found one open tea table on the plaza just by the west front of the Minster. Tea, scone, and sketching fortified me for the rest of the lovely afternoon.

I'm mostly planning to play tourist in York instead of painting, but I find that drawing something helps me remember it much more clearly, and I enjoy the process anyway. Always have a sketch pad in my purse for drawing emergencies.