Day #8..Off To York

 August 16th

Las night when we got back to Caernarfon.  Michael and I grabbed our cameras and rain jackets  to enter the Castle. As we arrived there it stopped raining and we had great weather to check out the interior which was really neat.  This is the castle where Charles was invested  as Prince of Wales. I took some photos of the video so you could see how young he and the Queen  were. 

From there we met Fishers, Pam and Russell from Kansas at the Black Boy Pub for dinner. We all chose: hamburger, chicken burger, lamb shank, fish and chips, welsh meat pie and chicken in pastry. We drank beer and wine.  It was very tasty however my hamburger was dry.  I will send a photo of us at the table.  We had a fun time

 On our way to Chester today we drove through Conway to see another of Longshank's castle. Very much  larger but much is covered with scaffold.  I will Google Conway Castle when I get home. Longshanks built the ring of castles in Wales and there were many.  

We just stopped in Chester  which was a wonderful 15th century  Tudor village.  The shopping was mostly high priced clothes, coffee shops, jewelry, and cafes.  We walked the streets which are two levels to see the wonderful clock put up during Queen Victoria's time.  We then made our way to the cathedral, which was huge!  Before there we visits the  cafe in the church which was where the monks used to be.  There we enjoyed some masterful stained glass and tapestry and ok lunch.....I wish I had gone back to Cote's for their delicious French Onion Soup. 

On our way to York leaving Wales                                           Victoria's clock on upper wall walk
                                                                                                          in Chester where we walked after

15th century Chester with 21st century shoppers

Inside the cathedral refractory where we ate                                        Tappestry in the refractory

 
       Main cathedral

 

All done with small tiles and there were many.                                                  Organ and organless
Think 8'x10' in size!
 

In back if the low alter                                                Around the back. Such a shame no one sees it
                                                                                                                                                during the mass

We visited the cathedral to see more stained glass and some wonderful mosaic pictures depicting biblical stories. 

                             The cathedral

An elephant gifted to the city

After. Walk on the upper level we started for the bus.  Of course with 20 minutes to spare we stopped for a small gelato.  I had Bounty which is essentially Mounds bar ice cream and Michael had a Hazelnut candy bar flavor.  They had really packed the gelato in the cup and as fast as we could eat we did.  We were able to arrive to catch the bus right on time.  We boarded the bus and took off for York where we will be staying the next three days.

We are now in York which is quite impressive.  Our hotel is along the river and yesterday we crossed the bridge to view the minister.  We will take a better look in the morning. We enjoyed dinner at a table with Mike, Michael, Marla, Mary, Mila, and Grove.  I sang, " one of the things is not like the other..." from Sesame Street.  At the end of the evening after a great  salmon dinner, lemon tart or rhubarb crumble, I agreed they could call me Meadows to be part of the group.

We took a chance to be early to bed as we start again early in the morning. 

Good night,  Grovey

Day #9... A day in York

 August 17th

We woke up to another great English breakfast buffet and were soon off on a walk with Laura. She walked us all over the place until I was totally lost. Luckily I had my map-minded Hubby with me so we could revisit it all later.

In the morning we ended our walk at The Minster and a lady docent gave us the tour.  It was the best tour ever!  She had so many interesting stories.  She gave us the history of the castle and of course when it was built it was Catholic.  She said "We Protestants.....and she meant The Church of England...... STOLE the church from the Catholics. I think by the third or fourth time it was rankling the Episcopalians a bit.  We have quite a few of them on the trip.  

It is a magnificent minster (they don't like to call it a cathedral even though it technically is one).  I have never seen such amazing stained glass....yes even at Chartres!

The west wall of the quire (not choir) has just had the cleaning and re-glazing done at the cost of over a million pounds.  Pictures are the only way to show what true works of art they are.

After the tour we did another walk and then Laura let us explore on our own.  Vic and Leona wanted to have high tea at Betty's but Michael, Russell, Pam, Mila and I wanted something else so we went to House of The Trembling Madness!  I had a wonderful cheesy, tomato basil soup that had a little zing with some yummy bread.  Michael had beef stew and bread and a beer.  Russ had a hamburger and Pam had beef pie and mushy peas.  Every time I see mushy peas it looks like mashed peas with green food color!  I won't EVER be ordering those!

We tried to go for the Viking Experience but the line was way to long. We found the Shambles Market where they have the Harry Potter store and there was a long line there...not at other stores though.  We turned down a little ally to the outdoor shambles which has every thing you can think of from antiques to watches.  I bought a Wales flag strap to hold my phone from getting lost and a fun paperweight to go with Dianne's spoon.  The last thing I picked up was a horse brass with a pheasant to put on my memory wall.

After a while Russell and Michael watched the street performers while Pam and I had little sweet treats like we got at the cathedral in Portugal. I had a beautiful hot chocolate with it and she had a huge mocha.  I wished I'd taken a picture of my hot chocolate but my phone battery was dead.

We then found a place to get up on the walk on the wall and walked for a half hour taking pictures of beautiful gardens of the rich homes.  With the price of land on York I imagine these houses cost millions of pounds. 

Inside part of the old wall. We walked on the part still standing. The lower part is Roman made.
 

We finished up at the Minster where we got in line for Evensong. We got to sit in the choir loft and see the kids sing up close.  They had a visiting girls choir who sang with some of the ladies and men from here who weren't still on vacation.  It was marvelous and our seats were posh. 

The Fishers, Russell, Pamela and I in front of our Italian dinner that night

For dinner I suggested a pizza place I knew that had salads, pizza and pasta,  the others had pizza but I ordered cannelonni and a Pino Grigio.   Yum!,  now I'm stuffed, lying in bed , trying to type this before I fall asleep!

Speaking of that,,,,,,,,goodnight!   Love, Grove, aka: Mom, Nana, hey you, etc.

Day #9 1/2... Saint Mary's Abby 

In 1534 King Henry The Eighth became the head of the Church of England and had many Catholic Churches destroyed or pillaged. Heads and hands of statues were broken off.  Between 1536 to 1540 over 800  nunneries and monasteries were destroyed in England and Ireland. One of these was the magnificent Saint Mary's Abby.  At one time it was as large or larger than the Ministry and had huge grounds.  It brought to the Catholics so much money, the king wanted it destroyed.  This is the ruins of that Abby and of course was a very very tiny part of it.  The grounds it was on is now gardens and museums.

Many statues in the Ministry had heads and hands broken off and had to be replaced.  Friends of the king did talk them to not destroy the stained glass windows of the Ministry. During the second and first world wars some windows were removed for safe keeping. 

Day #10... Off To Whitby and Return To York By Evening

August 18th

Well we are on our way to the coast and it promises to be dry but cold and windy. ........ACTUALLY IT TURNED OUT WARM AND BEAUTIFUL AND I WAS DRESSED FOR COLDER WEATHER .....It is a Saturday but maybe  the traffic will be busy or not.  Kathy commented that there seemed to be a lot of tourists.  Well, at popular places like the Hogwarts Shop, around a street musician, in line for the evensong or the like you will see lots of people otherwise not so much. 

Of course there are more people than at Caernarfon as our hotel was the only place large enough for busses of people and I believe we were the only bus.

As we left York  we passed Laura's cousin's Maize Maze.  Her cousin first had a dairy farm, then raised beef and finally changed to plant crops.  One year as a whim he planted a corn maze.  He charged a quid to enter and it was quite successful. Every year his place got more and more elaborate and now it is like the Pumpkin Farm in Wheatland. It's lots of activities , animals to pet, rides, bounce houses, food, pig races, etc.  Now it costs £15 each adult and less for children.  Unlike us the maze goes from July 31st to September 1st, while kids are on school holiday.  Now he makes so much money with the tourism that he rents out the other fields.  All year he gets ready for the next.  He changes the theme every year.  This one is Jurassic Park and last year was Star Wars.

Laura says there are lots of stores in Whitby and that all jet in Whitby comes from the fossilized Monkey Puzzle tree.  In 1861 Queen Victoria started wearing jet along with her black clothes that she wore for forty years after Albert died.  A carved model of a bot fly larvae in many years BC was found.  At first it is was easy to find but now not so much.   It is a precursor to coal and being  compressed in salt water makes it extra hard....in fresh water not so much.  Jet is found all over, but because of the salt water Whitby has the best.

Around here was a prisoner of war camp for Italians were allowed to work at the farms. They ended up enjoying their stay and many chose to stay here indefinitely.   With their input a part was decided to be set up as a WWII War Museum and it has been very successful.  Thank God it is too far for Michael to go to or we would miss the bus tomorrow to Scotland!!! 

The area here is beautiful with small crop areas, divided by windrows  and trees.  Here and there are small farms with its brick barns.  We just passed a B and B called Toffee Butts!  Certainly that is not what I envision as a proper B and B name.  This road seems pretty narrow for our big  bus and there are several cars behind us with no way to peel off.  We seem to be going as fast as this huge thing can safely go?

We are now at Pickering.  They have the Wartime Weekend and everyone dresses in 1940's , uniforms and nurses outfits, with parades and dancing and the Second World War is the theme.  This happens every October here.  I  wonder if their dinners are rationed. It still sounds more fun than a kiwi festival!

We are coming up to a National Park  that has more heather than any place in this country.  It has morelands which is an acetic soil with small plants and peat.....heathlands is  used as a less scientific term.  They shoot grouse here; it is popular here because grouse fly so fast and crooked that they are hard to hit.  They charge a thousand pounds a day to hunt there!  They burn the heather in winter so the young shoots of heather are growing for the grouse.  When hunting they use beaters....people beating sticks to scare the grouse I guess.....rather than using dogs.

We saw the hole of Horkum. The unscientific  story is that a giant got mad at his wife so he scooped up a huge handful of dirt to throw at her.  It is a really big hole!  The more scientific is something about after run off.

We are going through the heather now, before it was farther away.  The purple blossoms are beautiful. There are two varieties...one lacy and one more compact.  There is a smattering of sheep grazing among the heather and their bright white is stark against the purple and green. The heather bloomed early this year so it isn't as bright as it usually is.

We see the North Sea now. I don't believe I'll be peeing in this sea...much too cold to swim!!  I can't tick that one off my bucket list. Whitby is famous for the inspiration of the ruins of Whitby Island where Dracula was written.  There will be lots of Goth stories because of the Dracula theme.

It is also known as the home of Captain Cook who died in Hawaii while trying to kidnap an Hawaiian Chief.  He realized that scurvy could be avoided by fresh food and managed to circumvent the world several times without losing a single sailor to scurvy.

This was also a very famous fishing and Whaling port.  In early times at the time of whaling, the ships would leave on their whaling journey and were gone for long periods.  When they returned the families would line up at the beach to see them return hoping all were safe.  To show they were successful the captains would put the whale jaw at the front of their  boat. 

Endeavor

This is also the first plane crash area from an enemy plane during the WWII.  Evidentially the handsome hero of the show about the queen.   The real man of show was the bloat who shot the plane down,  I did not see the series so have no idea, but I am getting the English jargon.  

I can see the Whitby Abby across the way with its 199 steps from the sea. 

I do not fancy climbing those and will stick with Malcolm and the bus.  It is indeed a sight with its ruins looking somewhat ominous.  I think it would inspire spooky stories if not tales of Dracula himself.  At one time it was an enormous Abby but first the Normans and Vikings came to pillage and all of those in the Abby abandon it.  After time it simply rotted away.  Others came to restore it but then the reformation came and again it was not good news for the Abby.  I bought the book to understand its history better.  I know many rich families sent their children to live at the Abby as they would be able to learn there.  There were not many books available to the normal folks.  Girls were sent there to be nuns which was an admirable career and not nearly so back breaking as house and farm work!

We went from the Abby to Trenches for some prize winning fish and chips.  We watched some folk dancers and then boarded the bus for Castle Howard .  I am writing about that later as this already far too long.

Take a break. You don't have to read all this at once...or just look at the photos.  

Nuff said,   Grove

 Day #11  Castle Howard

August 19th

This place is where Brideshead Revisited.   It was first built n 1700 and is one  of the most beautiful homes, as was Downton Abby.  For miles around it has been the most incredibly beautiful Sta.  I first woke up when we were going through the neighboring village and every home was fabulous .  The Howard's not only still own this place but several properties nearby and rent them.  

We start in the stable block.   Then we are on our way to visit this incredible home. .  

I took  a million pictures but even they can't show how beautiful and over the top.  A famous opera singer will be singing here tonight for this prom.  There were many people laying out their blankets for the show... There had to be at least fifty loos in the trees.

I just have to see the movie that was filmed at this place.  Have any of you seen Brideshead Revisited?  It is probably a lot like Downton Abby.

We walked through the rose garden and got a little ride back to the bus at the stables.

And now you just need to see the many photos and you will have Castle Howard in a nutshell.

By the time we got back to York I was bone tired and Michael was off to mass. I stayed home to pack as everything had been stuffed in the suitcase.  We needed to charge the camera battery as we have chargers for the phone and iPad by our seats in the bus.  We didn't want to go out tonight as it is Saturday and all the "stags and hens" are out bar hopping and getting wasted and LOUD.  We opted to eat at the bar.  I had soup and Pino Grigio and Michael had steak, beer and red wine.  

And that does it!   Grove

Day #12  On Our Way To The Lake District

August 20th

We will go to a working Dam in a few hours but in the meantime we ride through this incredible green patchwork landscape.  I know we always were amazed by the green of Ireland, but this is a very serious contender!  I am totally in love with it.  There are patchwork of little farms ....each patch divided by dry. stone walls which means there is no mortar...much like the Chinese rock walls we see at home.  These are really well built and look very much like they are mortared.  Tonight we will meet a skilled dry-stone builder called Robert.  He will teach us about it and tell us about life in the lakes.  A great learning and discovery like we get on these trips.

This is the area of Wordsworth, Beatrix Potter, and some famous artists I don't know.  They are no doubt painted landscapes.

One of the poets was the twentieth century English poet, writer and broadcaster named Sir John Betjeman.  He was born here and attended Oxford.  He was awarded Poet Laureate by the queen when he died.  He penned a poem that Laura gave us called THE LICORICE FIELDS AT PONTEFRACT and I liked it as much as any Wordsworth...at least I understood it better.  You can google it if you want to hear about his redheaded love who captivated him in the licorice fields!  He had me at "sturdy legs"!

There are many words in this area that come from the Vikings.  They were pirate raiders from the Scandinavian  countries. In fact Viking is the old English word for Pirate.  They used longships and were excellent navigators.  They left roonstones around which had letters on them.....Even though they were illiterate and left no written history they still must have had an alphabet.  They traded goose down, wool and slaves among the many other things I can't remember.  They used silver and gold but not in coins....but jewelry and ingots.  In the eleventh century England had three Viking Kings.

Viking words however are still influencing this area:

Stream is a beck, a word ending in "by" is a settlement.  A waterfall is a force, a mere is a lake and a dale ( like Dahl in Swedish) is a valley.

In Harrogate we saw a stray which is an enormous green space that was protected by law hundreds of years ago...much like New York's Central Park.  Only this one is left green and no paths or structures are built in it.  

The next story I dedicate to Aaron and Lucas, my metal detecting wonders.  Once a man and his son were using their metal detectors in a field here and dug up the Harrogate Viking Hoards....great masses or hoard of foreign gold coins the Vikings had stolen.  In the courts it was decided it was a treasure which allowed it to be sold.  The money was divided equally by the metal detecting duo and the owner of the land.  Wow guys!  There is still hope for you!

This area is where Agatha Christie went missing for so long.  She was eventually recognized in a hotel here in Harrogate.  She knew that her husband Archibald was having an affair with Nancy Neal.  Agatha evidentially had a great time even signed  in with the mistress's last name.  She later divorced Archibald and married someone many years her junior.  So now you know Agatha as a cougar! 

The sheep we are seeing now are black faced with black feet. In Wales all the sheep we saw were pure white.  Evidentally there is a breed that is very, very, old and are grey when they are born but lighten with age.  Laura has a " sheep book for dummies" but I don't think I'll ask her for it.  I already have too much to write about as it is.  I hope Michael is taking photos on his phone so I can send you some .  My phone is being charged in the bus as we go.   

I understand that all these farmers are having a hard time making a go with it so they have tea houses, B&bs, and rentals to supplement their earnings.  It would be fun to go to a VRBO in this area.  

I just saw an amazing house.  It was a stone two story house covered with hanging pots and in each was a beautiful orange hanging begonia.  It was overkill with begonias the size of your hand, but all the same color.  They must be big fans of orange.

We are now taking a short break at Settle, a small 17th century village.  There  is a flower pot  festival going on.  I'll be anxious  to see them.  There were so many different ones, scarecrows, horses, llamas, tractors.....but my favorite was the spider!  I missed the flower pot shepherd and is herd of flowerpot sheep.  

Michael and I had sweets at our stop in the Old Naked Man Cafe.  We ate salted licorice ice cream. And Michael had a shortbread and I had coconut biscuits.  When he went to pay his bill he got a lovely loaf of bread.  We may eat it with cheese, but there is so much food on this trip ;maybe we will wind up giving it to a homeless person.

There are so many villages with weird names in the UK.  Some are : Loose bottom.,Rest and Be Thankful, Pity me, Blubber House, Fattiehead,  Spunkle, Gigglleswick , Stranagalwilly, Crackpot, and my personal favorite that I would NOT want to have as my town......drum roll??.........Crapstone!!!

Roger and Kathleen  Wilkerson own the fame we are visiting.  Roger just turned 60 so his son Sam is slowly taking over the reins.  It is just a normal farm, neither rich nor than poor. Before we get out we must put on booties or foot co ears so we don't have to go through the red tape at the airport.  They always ask you if you have ever walked in your shoes at an English farm.

    The Farmer's Wife                                Sheppard Waiting For The Farmer To Send Her In                          Owns The Donkey                                                   To Get The Sheep. She Can Hardly Wait              

The Milking Stanchions For The Cows

Where We Ate Our Plowman's Lunch                                          The Farmer.

His Dad Started the Farming, He Has Farmed and Now He Is Gradually Turning It Over To His Son.
 

Well that was quite an experience.  We watched the dog do her stuff and then went into cow barn to see how automation has taken over.  It isn't all stainless steal and polish here as it was in Gustine , California, but the testing of the milk is still as rigorous.  Boy are they careful about not letting any "farm stuff" get on your shoes or in the bus!  We went upstairs before we boarded the bus for our plowman's lunch.  There was sausage pie, roll, ham slice, coleslaw, green salad with balsamic dressing, cheese and a little container of chutney.  I gave a goodly amount to Michael and some I didn't eat.  We had the cookies and ice cream at the last place so I wasn't very hungry anyway.    

We will be going up along all the lakes to our next home in Grasmere.  At our left is Lake Windermere. This the largest National Park in the Lake District.  There are trees, moss and ferns everywhere.  So pretty!

Next we saw the actual town of Windemere....very quaint, lots of shops and lots of people.  There are many Beatrix Potter books.   She married first, but her parents didn't like him.  She married him any way and just a few months later her husband died of TB.  She was devastate and moved here.  After some time she married again although her parents didn't approve of him either.  At that time her brother confided that he was secretly married and had been for eleven years.  I guess her parents really didn't think anyone was good enough for their children.   Beatrix became a real conservationist and through her influence and that of her friends, this World Heritage has been able to survive.

It is only four miles to our hotel in Grasmere so I'll wrap up this long, long day.  I would be quite surprised it you were able to read to the end.  

So that's it!   Grove