Ike follows the York Cat Trail

After circling the historic centre of York on its walls, Helen & Traff decided it was time for Ike to see some of what was in the middle. Like many of us Helen & Traff have been exploring walks and green spaces close to home in 2020 and they kindly took Ike along so we could all share in their adventures.There are lots of different walking tours and self-guided walks available for this fascinating city, but Helen picked the most appropriate one for Ike – the Cat Trail of York!

The practice of putting sculptures of cats on buildings is believed to have started in 1920 when Sir Stephen Aitchison placed two on a building he owned in York. Then in the 1980s, local architect Tom Adams commissioned sculptor Jonathan Newdick to add cats to buildings he designed and from then on, other homes and businesses decided that a cat would brighten up their walls and windowsills. Whether it is for advertising, amusement or just good old cat worship there are now many felines dotted around town and 2 shops have created leaflets which can be downloaded to help visitors spot them. And as you follow the trails you can also see most of the other sights in York.

Ike doesn’t want to spoil the locations so there are no clues with today’s pictures, but he has given each cat a name – maybe you can match the picture to the name? There are 26 cat statues and one real cat that looked a lot like Geography Cat himself!

And when Ike got back to Helen & Traff’s house he thought he would show them what an Ike sculpture would look like outside their window, he’s not a stunt double for nothing!

Cat trail maps can be downloaded from

https://www.yorkluckycats.co.uk/york-cat-trail/ or

https://thecatgallery.co.uk/pages/the-york-cat-trail

Ike’s names for the cats he saw are listed below, see if you can work out what he was thinking:

• Abstract Cat
• Balcony Cat
• Chinese Year of The Cat
• Climbing Kitten
• Close Up Cat
• Curly Tail Cat
• Diamond Cat
• Drainpipe Cat
• Florists Cat
• Ghost Cat
• Ginger Cat
• Haughty Cat
• Hunting Cat
• Lantern Cat
• Long Distance Cat
• Lounging Cat
• Peering Pub Cat
• Pirate Cat
• Real Cat
• Scaffolding Cat
• Silhouette Cat
• Spider Cat
• Stables Cat
• Tightrope Cat
• Twin Cats
• White Tail Tip Cat