Europe

It was another relaxed start to the day, today. We met Earl and Sue for breakfast at about 10:30 am. We decided to have breakfast indoors this morning, since it was a little cooler today than it was yesterday.

Over a very enjoyable breakfast, we settled on the idea of attending the Ripon races today. Known as Yorkshire’s Garden Racecourse, Ripon has hosted horse racing for more than 300 years.

The plan was to set off the races at about 1:00 pm. However, there was some confusion about the location of the car keys, after they could not be located by the hotel doorman. Despite Keith being reasonably sure that he had returned the keys to the doorman last night, he was still the suspect in the disappearance of the keys. However, the hotel security footage showed that they keys were returned, and they were eventually located, and we set off for the races.

When we got to the course, we were all quite surprised by the number of buses and cars in the car park, and the resulting number of people on course. Clearly, this was a very popular event.

When we got inside, we noticed a man in the winner’s circle, resplendently dressed and holding a large horn. This man was one of the appointed Ripon Hornblowers. The blowing of the horn in Ripon is an ancient nightly ceremony, believed to be the longest unbroken daily tradition in the world, dating back to the reign of King Alfred the Great in 886 AD. Every night at 9:00 pm, a horn is blown at all four corners of the obelisk in Ripon Market Place, and then outside the Mayor’s house. This act set the “watch” for the city, a signal that someone is safeguarding the townsfolk.

While not a successful day on the punt, we nonetheless had a lovely day at the races. We finished off the day at the champagne bar, before heading back to Grantley Hall to get ready for dinner.

We had booked dinner for the evening at the hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant, Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall. We had heard great things about the restaurant and were really looking forward to having dinner there.

We started dinner in the reception lounge of the restaurant, before going inside to the restaurant proper for what turned out to be an incredible meal.

After a beautiful meal over nearly four hours, we said goodnight and headed back to our rooms. Tomorrow, we’re checking out and travelling about 300 kilometres north to Edinburgh, where we’ll be spending one night.