Yorkshire, Puffins and Pilgrims

Saturday, we left the Lake District and traveled into Yorkshire. We went to Fountains Abbey, the ruins of a Cistercian Abbey built around 1130. The Abbey, like other Abbeys in England, was dissolved by Henry VII and went into ruins during the Reformation. Years later, it became part of a large estate and the ruins were incorporated into the estate parklands. Here's the Abbey ruins.



We then drove to the coast and took a cruise to see seabirds nesting on the chalk cliffs of Eastern Yorkshire. Here's a colony of gannets, a yellow headed seabird with a six foot wingspan. Gannets almost went extinct 20 years ago, but have made a great comeback. We also saw puffins, razorbills and guillemots.



Monday, we went to Boston, where the pilgrim fathers were jailed before they finally made their escape for the new land. Here's the Boston Stump, the cathedral in Boston where John Cotton was a vicar.



Then we went to the Ely Cathedral. Here's a stain glass window from Ely.