Travelog - UK 2006

Friends in distant places (UK trip 1/9)

It feels good to be in England once again, and away from the heat and humidity of Florida!

We left Florida yesterday around midday, to temperatures in the mid 80F's and 90% humidity. Here, it's in the mid 50s and it feels much nicer.

Our flight over was mostly uneventful. We hit some turbulence on the JFK-to-Manchester leg, but at 6 hours it was the shortest transatlantic flight I've ever taken. I may have slept, but if so, it was in 10-minute increments.

We arrived in Manchester around 9am, and after the usual long wait at Passport Control, we were officially in the UK. Baggage claim was very quick, however, and all of our luggage arrived safely. The arrival snafu this trip was with the rental car...

We had reserved an automatic sedan, but when we went to pick it up, there were none available. Apparently there has been a string of automatics being returned with tire damage, so none were available. A few calls and an hour later, we did get an automatic, but in a minivan.

Having acquired transport, we drove to a hotel in Warrington, since we don't check-in at Hawes until tomorrow. The hotel has lavender, and pink tea roses in the landscaping. A small green area on the grounds has some sort of bramble berry in bloom, and yellow primroses and some sort of purple flower. The clover is in bloom, and with a less intense sun than at home, it's delightful to be outside.

We met my friend Allie for dinner - she had come up from around Birmingham. We drove into town, and ate at a pub called the Dog and Partridge. I had a yorkshire pudding with pork+leek sausage, and mash - very good! I also had a pint of cider. The pub was full, so we ate outside since the weather was so beautiful. It will be so difficult returning to Florida after this trip...

Hawes, Saturday 24 June 2006

We awoke to a slight drizzle and overcast skies. After breakfast in Warrington, we drove through the countryside to Leeds, to my friend Karoline's house, where I met a number of fellow stitchers. There were Pat, Allie, Paula, Lindsay and her DH Russ, Kate, Rachel, Scully, Angela, Michelle, and Gina as well as Karoline and myself. We spent several hours talking and comparing stitching while DD, DH, and DsS went with Karoline's DH over to the Royal Armouries. Karoline has a very lovely house and a garden with herbs and roses, and I think we all had a good time, especially once the sun came out and the garden was a lovely place to be in. [Ed: Karoline has a nice entry on the get-together]

After leaving Karoline's, we picked up some basic groceries at Tesco, then drove up the A1, then on a narrow country road through the Yorkshire Dales to Hawes. We saw a lot of livestock, including a number of lambs, as we drove through a series of very small towns. We arrived in Hawes around 7pm, and checked into the cottage. The hills are sparsely populated (except by sheep), and the air smells more clean and earthy than back home. I can't wait to see what the surrounding environs look like during the brighter sunlight of midday.

Lords of the North (UK trip 2/9)

Dawn broke around 5am, but most of us didn't arise until after 10. Our family friend M, his new wife J, and their friends JA and BA arrived in Hawes after we did, and had had a horrific flight over so everyone needed the rest. And today was a good day to sleep in.

There's been a steady drizzle all day.

This afternoon we drove to Middleham, the Neville castle that was the favorite of Richard III. Much of the exterior is extant, and one could get a good feel for what it must have once been like. There were also reenactors set up this weekend, including someone portraying Richard (while he was still Duke of Gloucester), and Lords Stanley and Percy. They had a question and answer session with the crowd which was quite amusing. And the views from the tower were quite breathtaking, offering a splendid view of the surrounding countryside.

After Middleham, we drove to Richmond. After stopping to do some quick shopping for jackets (since the wet weather was chilling some of our party) we went into the castle. There was somewhat less of the interior than at Middleham, but there were beautiful views into a garden and out over the river - Richmond stands at the top of a cliff. It was rather peaceful there, as our party were the only visitors and it was rather quiet. We sat and looked out over the Great Court for a while, taking in the crisp, clean air and the serenity of the setting.

After a quick stop at a fish'n'chip shop, we hit the road again and drove to Bowes Castle. The only thing there is the shell of a keep, and it's tucked away behind residences and is unstaffed. However, it was M's 400th castle, so we stayed for a few. Then back on the road to Brough Castle. Like Bowes, there isn't much left - just the outer wall and a few bits of inner structure. There was, however, a prodigious amount of sheep dip (prompting some of our party to nickname it Sheepsh*t Castle) and we had to tread carefully.

On the way back to Hawes via a B-road, we saw the ruins of Pendragon Castle, and a warning sign that read "Red squirrels". I guess the castle must be under siege or something.

We arrived back in Hawes around 8pm, and our only options at that point were pizza, or Indian takeaway, so we had some of both. The streets were busy, however, with folks celebrating England's win over Ecuador today in the World Cup.

You are in a maze of twisty little backroads, all alike (UK trip 3/9)

Yesterday was a rather long day.

At around 7am, we left Hawes for North Wales. After a bit of a traffic delay on the M6, we arrived at Flint Castle, a 13th century Edwardian castle on the north coast of Wales. The castle was once on the coast, but the passage of time has seen the water recede somewhat, and there are several hundred yards between the castle and the waterfront now. Only erosion on the towers serves to remind one of the former watermark.

After Flint, we tried to see what was left at Mold, but not finding anything, we went on to Harlech. Harlech is the most intact of the castles we have seen thus far, a rather imposing fortress on the west coast. We spent a while there, exploring the towers and walls. The tallest tower had 143 stairs, but the view was well worth the climb. We stopped for tea, then drove to Dolwyddelan.

The third time must indeed be a charm, for at long last we were able to actually get *in* to Dolwyddelan, one of the few native Welsh castles, and the reputed birthplace of Llewelyn Fawr. Dolwyddelan is situated at the top of a hill, affording a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside. The keep and only a bit of the wall still stand, and it takes a steep climb to reach the castle. There, like Brough, was also a rather large amount of sheep dung.

By the time we left Dolwyddelan, it had started to drizzle. We drove to Conwy to eat at Alfredo's - practically a tradition whenever we're in North Wales. The food was good, as usual, then we headed back to Hawes through the rain. We got a bit turned about at some of the motorway changes, but by the time we got past Lancaster on the M6 the rain had stopped. The sky was a bit lighter than one would expect at 11pm, streaked with swaths of white and rose. Driving down the A684 at nearly midnight was almost too much of an adventure. The road is very narrow and winding, and rather a large number of rabbits nearly became one with the road. But by midnight we'd arrived safely back at the cottage.

Everyone slept in late today, with no plans beyond walking into Hawes for Market Day.

This afternoon, we walked to the Wensleydale Creamery right here in Hawes, and sampled all their lovely cheeses. We bought several for group consumption, then walked back home. It was a nice day to be out walking - the sky has been clear and it was a bit warmer than yesterday.

Late this afternoon some of us made the drive to Crackpot, hoping to take pictures and acquire postcards, but after a somewhat unnerving drive through narrow roads with steep drops to the side, we found Crackpot to be nothing more than a handful of houses - no town sign or anything. We did get pictures by a sign *to* Crackpot, and DsS and I discovered that nettles are No Fun. The drive home was slightly easier, along a road we christened Flat Bunny Pass for the sheer amound of roadkill! We also ran into traffic obstacles in the form of stray sheep (several times) and a herd of cattle (once).

We hit the grocer in Hawes on the way home, and got ingredients for spaghetti and some wine. Dinner was wonderful, courtesy of JA and BA, and between the wine and the cider, all were in good spirits.

Shadows of the past (UK trip 4/9)

This morning was cool and overcast, but brightened up into a beautiful day for a drive...

We left Hawes around 9:30 and drove to Fountains Abbey, a large Cistercian abbey outside of Ripon. The abbey is in ruins, but the remaining skeleton shows how very large and wealthy it once was. We spent a good 2 hours just exploring all of the old stonework. The abbey ruins are on a large estate that also has a water garden and manor, so the grounds are well kept.

There is also a deer park on the grounds, but the area around the abbey is free of large animals, so I enjoyed walking barefoot in the grass and clover without fear of either fire ants or sheep mines.

I thought Tintern Abbey in Wales was nice, but Fountains is even better! One certainly has to hand it to the Cistercians...

Near Fountains is the tiny town of Studley Roger, another place for an amusing photo op with the guys.

After Fountains, we drove into York. DD got carsick on the way over, to her embarrassment, but we got everything cleaned up without too much trouble. Half of our purpose of going to York was to find Internet access, but a remembered location had gone out of business. We had lunch at a tavern in the Shambles, then got clued in to another Internet café. After a quick check to reduce the amount of spam in our inboxen, we proceeding to York Minster, which we'd seen before. This time we saw the undercroft, which had a museum, as well as the rest of the cathedral. It seemed much more commercialized than the last time I was there, so that was actually a little off-putting. Still, it is an impressive and beautiful place, and very rich in history.

We left York and drove to Knaresborough, a small ruin sitting in a little park overlooking the River Nidd. The keep was fairly well kept, but for a castle that once had 12 towers, very little remains. The siting was truly beautiful, though, atop a cliff overlooking the river, and with the surrounding garden park, it was a very peaceful place to relax for a bit.

Stopping to smell the roses (UK trip 5/9)

Here I am, doing something I haven't in years - sitting under a tree. Barefoot.

Today has been a beautiful sunny day! We decided to stay here for the day and just relax and enjoy the quiet life. It's a bit warmer, perhaps in the 70s. A soft breeze is rustling the trees and tangling my hair, and since there are no sheep in the immediate vicinity the air smells fresh. I'm looking out over the dale, wide swaths of green dotted by the occasional collection of houses, a stone barn, or grey lines of stone fences. Directly to my front is an overgrown field, streaked with the yellow of buttercups and the muted reds and purples of grasses gone to seed. I'm sitting under a young oak tree, and the grass beneath my feet is soft and cool, sprinkled liberally with clover. An exposed root provides a handy place to rest my teacup. It is quiet here, save for the twitter of birds and the occasional bleating of sheep. Once in a while, we've been hearing the roar of aircraft at mach 1, courtesy of RAF Leeming.

There is a lot of small wildlife. We've seen rather a lot of rabbits and various birds, and I saw a hedgehog when I stepped outside near midnight last night. I'd stepped outside to view the sky because it was not fully dark even at so late an hour, and there are no large cities to artificially illuminate the atmosphere.

This morning, J, BA, DD and I went into the town to have a 'ladies morning out'. We did a little shopping and had breakfast at a lovely little tea shop. Hawes is a small market town, and besides the shops there are many small cottages with beautiful little gardens in front. I'm impressed with how efficiently the folks over here use their limited space to beautify their homes.

This down day has been a good opportunity to stop and savor the beauty around me. It's also provided a chance for DH to recover! The price paid for the loveliness around me has been a hard toll exacted on him in allergy-eyes.

Later that day...

Earlier this evening I went for a walk and saw a pair of pheasants in the field.

The outing for the evening was to a nearby farm for a sheepdog demonstration. The shepherd talked a bit about sheep farming, the breeds of sheep, and why the sheep were pastured in the various areas. He then demonstrated herding with several of his dogs. He used both whistle and voice commands, and we were rather impressed with the dogs - border collies all. Border collies are very intelligent, sheep are dumb, and as the saying goes, "You can always tell a Yorkshireman, but you can't tell him much". Several times we heard "they call it x but we call it y and we're in Yorkshire so we're right." All in all, it was an enjoyable demo.

I've been wearing my pedometer on outings, and so far I've walked 20 miles on this trip.

The road to nowhere (UK trip 6/9)

Every vacation seems to have at least one day that does not go to plan.

Today was that day.

Our plan was to drive out to Pickering Castle, then hit Helmsley Castle and Rievaulx Abbey on the way back. Unfortunately, we never made it due to some confusion at the petrol station.

We took the A6108 back toward the A684 and Hawes. We passed Jervaulx Abbey along the way, so we stopped, partly to do some actual sightseeing, and partly so the day was not completely without merit.

Jervaulx was a Cistercian abbey that fared rather worse than most in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Very little of it is now standing, but the ruins that remain give an idea of the size of the abbey. Apparently the abbot ticked off Henry VIII enough that the entire monastery (building and inhabitants) was terminated with extreme prejudice. Quite a shame, really - it must once have been quite lovely. [Ed: I also got a slight bit of a creepy feeling in the cloister area, and I'm not normally sensitive to such things. M has said he felt something similar when he visited it in the past. Wonder if there's something to that...]

Tomorrow we check out of Hawes and head for London. I will hate having to leave Yorkshire.

Adventures along the A1(M) (UK trip 7/9)

We left Hawes bright and early this morning, bound for London by way of Cambridge.

Our first stop was at Pontefract Castle, the ruins of a Norman motte-and-bailey. There's not much left, but there was a lovely little herb garden set along some stairs. I could only identify about half of the herbs, but it looked quite nice and smelled wonderful. The caretaker gave me a diagram of the garden indicating the various herbs and what their medieval uses were.

Our next stop was Fotheringhay, once the site of a royal castle that has since been practically obliterated. The parish church is still there, a beautiful but small gothic edifice, and this was our intended destination for the stop. Buried within are Richard, Duke of York, and his wife Cecily Neville, the parents of Edward IV and Richard III.

Then on to Cambridge, where we met up with my friends P + J L. We had a lovely picnic in the park under a very old chestnut tree, then wandered around for a while. We saw the outside of the college chapel, but since a degree ceremony was taking place, we didn't go in. We did, however, stop for pints at The Eagle. Across the street from the Eagle was a very old church, St. Benet, which dates to the early 11th century - before the Norman Conquest.

After pints at The Eagle, we went over to the L's house, which was quite nice and had a lovely garden. We had a good visit before heading to London.

That was when an otherwise pleasant day took a downturn. After arriving in London, we ended up driving around for half an hour trying to reach the street with the hotel - the front desk was rather unhelpful with directions. When we did arrive, we found that the hotel had overbooked us, and there were no rooms available. After much hassle, we were given rooms at another hotel. Honestly, I don't even know where in London I am, but at 11pm all we wanted was food and bed. So far London has not been a pleasant leg of the journey.

London Calling (UK trip 8/9)

Today London has been a bit better for us. We finally got checked into our original hotel, the Best Western Swiss Cottage. The room is pretty nice, and DsS and DD are sharing a huge one, but I'm not sure it quite makes up for the debacle yesterday.

But we did do some sightseeing today. We hopped on the Tube and headed out to see the Tower of London. We'd been before, but I'd not seen the upper floors of the White Tower, which is the original Norman keep. We also saw the crown jewels and other impressive (if ostentatious) artifacts. After seeing some rather elaborate gold plate, I honestly wonder if maybe some of the reigning monarchs have ever desired to just use normal china or even stoneware like normal people. Has the Queen ever used paper plates?

After the Tower, we went to Westminster Abbey. Being Sunday, it was closed to tourists, but we were able to get in for Evensong. The service was quite nice, and Westminster has a top-notch choir. We didn't get to see much - we were pretty much ushered in and ushered out, but we did get to see a few things. I would like to go back when I can see more of it.

I liked Westminster more than York Minster, although it still feels a bit lifeless to me and I'm not sure why. I don't think it's all the crypts - I've been places with more dead people that felt more living.

This evening, the four of us and JA and BA went to a Thai place for dinner. M had eaten something that seriously disagreed with him, so he and J didn't join us. The four of them fly out tomorrow, so the last day is ours alone.

Loyaulte me lie (UK trip 9/9)

England is in the middle of a heatwave, and the hotel didn't have A/C (none of them do) so we awoke to a sweltering morning. We checked out and hit the road.

On the way to Manchester, we stopped at Bosworth Battlefield, the last stand of Richard III. The battlefield itself hasn't changed, but the visitor center has really improved their exhibit over the past ten years. There were several hands-on arms and armour displays, allowing one to try on chainmail or fire a longbow.

I also noticed more white roses planted on the grounds, and I laid one on the stone marking the spot where King Richard fell.

After leaving the battlefield, we stopped at St. James Church in nearby Sutton Cheney, a small church traditionally held to be where Richard heard his last Mass before the battle. The church chouldn't have held more than maybe 50 people, but it had a lovely stained glass window, and a memorial to Richard in the back.

After Sutton Cheney, we drove to Manchester. We lost about 45 minutes due to a navigational error on my part - the M60 ring road around Mancs intersects the A57 at two points, and I got confused. Still, we arrived safely and are relaxing during our last night here. Tomorrow we take the long flight back to the States.