Natural Beauty in the UK - Part 1

I have several friends who have taken Road Scholar trips, so I thought that maybe I should try one. I think the principal advantage of going on an organized trip is that they do the work for you—the planning, the logistics, the hotels, the meals, etc. But I like doing those things. I like the planning and I like knowing I can get around on my own even if sometimes plans change and you have to make a right turn. That to me is exhilarating. So I essentially compromised. I decided on a Road Scholar trip and tacked on nine days on my own on the front end. 

Road Scholar is an organization that caters to older adults who like to learn while they are traveling. I chose a trip to the Scottish Highlands which concentrated on the history and geology of Scotland. The places we went were mostly ones I hadn’t been to before, and I wanted to see more of the Highlands.

On Wednesday, June 27 I flew to Heathrow and stayed the first night in Windsor (Thursday). I, along with many other Americans, was enthralled with the wedding of Harry and Meghan, so I wanted to start out where they were married. Of course, I have been to Windsor Castle before, but it’s fun to revisit places also. On the bus ride to my B&B I was feeling very sleepy, but after getting a glimpse of the castle from the Long Walk (which Harry and Meghan rode down in the carriage) I was reinvigorated. I dropped my bag at the very nice B&B on St Leonard’s Rd and set off for town and the castle. Soon enough I saw Victoria with the castle behind her. 

Flags flying in Windsor street left over from the wedding

Street banner near the castle

Queen Victoria with Windsor Castle in the background

It was already past 2:30, so I knew I had to move it. I visited the usual places—Queen Mary’s Dolls House, the Royal Apartments, St George’s Chapel (where the wedding took place—the kneeler was still there but not, alas but of course, the gorgeous flowers that decorated the place.) In the apartments this time I was focused on the royal portraits hanging on the walls, some of them recognizable as the definitive portrait of a particular monarch. No pictures allowed unfortunately. I didn’t know that at first and was chastised by a guard with: “No pictures, madam. This is a royal residence!”

Queen Mary's Dolls House--vintage cars, office and bedroom

Kitchen and Queen's Dressing Room

A few pieces of the royal china--and that's all the pictures I got

Nave of St George's Chapel and the west door that Meghan came in

Chapel quire ceiling

Quire where the wedding was held--you can just see the kneeler

The Queen had just come for the weekend, but I didn’t get a glimpse of her as I did years ago from afar.

South side of St George's Chapel

The royal standard is flying so the Queen is there

Windsor Castle Upper Ward where I once caught a glimpse of the Queen

View of Windsor Castle looking east

There were several gift shops on the grounds and of course many in the town, so I got my fill of royal items for my collection.

I was fading so I decided on an early dinner at the Harte and Garter. It was one of the best meals of the trip.

My royal haul

Grilled Chilean sea bass and vegetables

At breakfast on Friday the lady of the house really bent my ear. She has some royal connections of some sort and so gets all the gossip. She started off with the fact that the bookies are only giving H&M three years! Because of the way Diana was treated, the Brits forgive Harry anything. They let him have his choice, but she said Meghan will never be accepted by the royals and the people around them. After more gossip about the Queen, Philip, the boys, Princess Margaret and Wallace Simpson, she concluded that the Brits are racist (by which I think she meant “not like us”) too but they just cover it up better than we Americans do. Wow!

She would have gone on but I had to get to the train station to get to London. A very nice young woman carried my bag up the stairs and down the other side to cross over the tracks in Slough. That was the first of several experiences of people helping me with my bags. I appreciated it.

I had bought a train pass, so I just hopped on each time and found a seat. This morning it was York. I dropped my bag at the B&B and set off for the historic district. I crossed the River Ouse and came to the castle. 

River Ouse from Skeldergate Bridge

Mike from the B&B was very excited to tell me about the first ever pop-up Shakespeare put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was set up in a tent on the castle grounds; it looks just like the Globe Theatre. My schedule didn’t permit me to go to a performance,  but it would have been fun, I’m sure.

The pop-up Globe Theatre in York

It was 1:30 so I had a cream tea for lunch. Too much to eat with sandwiches and pork rolls and scone and desserts but good.

I passed Clifford’s Tower but didn’t climb the long flight up. It was once a part of the castle but is now noted for being a refuge for Jewish people in 1190 who “chose to die at each other’s hands rather than renounce their faith”.

Clifford's Tower once part of the castle

The remains of the castle (and add-ons) house the York Castle Museum which was terrific. In the former women’s prison there were a series of period rooms, then a display of toys and an exhibition of costume through the ages. 

A 17th century parlour

A 19th century bedroom

Some of the children's toys in the exhibit

An old bike--I don't know how they rode those

The highlight is a wonderful recreation of a Victorian town with lots of shop fronts and some to pop into. They varied the lighting as you walked through so that you got a flavor of what it would have been like by day and night accompanied by the appropriate sounds of industry and town callers and lonely animals. 

The Victorian street from above

A millinery shop

A repairman's shop

An ad making fun of the large hats that Edwardian women wore

In the men’s prison side there was an exhibition on World War I. One interesting fact I learned was that the troops got a ration of rum every day which they had to drink right away so that they wouldn’t horde it and go on a bender. The explanatory signs were great. In fact, most everywhere I went they were—informative without going on so long that you feel you just can’t read it all and walk away frustrated.

A World War I bunker

World War I flak jacket

After popping into the post office to see about mailing my royal treasures home (I knew I wouldn’t have room for them), I visited the Mansion House, the home of the Lord Mayor of York. We got to visit all four floors which was nice; it was quite ornate. Obviously the mayor was an important person.

Mansion House, the Lord Mayor's residence

Mansion House fence with the white York rose as one of the medallions

The large dining room of the Mansion Hosue

Sitting room of the Mansion House

After sitting for a bit (which I did periodically during my 9 days alone), I walked down to the River Ouse for another perspective and then up onto the medieval city walls at Bootham Bar. I walked along the wall to Monk Bar (Bar means city gatehouse), getting great views of York Minster all along the way. These bars are two of the four Roman gates to the city originally built around 71 AD.

The city wall between Bootham and Monk bars

York Minster west front from the wall

Central tower and north side of York Minster

A folly in a backyard from the wall

Looking toward Monk Bar

Coming down at Monk Bar, I walked the streets, in particular down the medieval Shambles, the famous very narrow street where at one point the ladies could reach out of their second story windows and touch one another.

The Shambles, one of York's ancient streets, now an upscale shopping street

The two houses that almost touch

Stonegate with its pretty half-timbered shop

After a good dinner of spaghetti, rocket (English name for arugula) and wine at a modern and well-run restaurant, I walked back to the B&B. This day I had the most steps—14,540.

The first order of business on Saturday (after a very good full English breakfast at the B&B) was to package and mail my royal goods which took quite awhile. I then walked along Stonegate to the Minster. 

York Minster is truly one of the most spectacular of cathedrals and one of my favorites. I took a long time there, reading the brochure and just listening and looking. The undercroft where you can see the foundations of the older Norman church and part of the Roman wall is very interesting also.

York Minster's Great West Window

Rather like an indoor gargoyle

Ceiling of the crossing

The Kings' Screen--the early medieval kings

One of the Romanesque pillars of the earlier church

The quire and altar looking toward the east window

Lots of arches--which I always love

The chapter house (I always like these) is spectacular and full of stained glass. More than half of the remaining medieval stained glass in England is in this one cathedral.

The Minster's Chapter House

Ceiling of the chapter house

The outside shows severe signs of erosion. The stone yard where they make replacements is right on the grounds, a nice touch I think. There was some scaffolding but not nearly as much as at Canterbury last summer.

Looking up the west front

South side of the Minster

East window

The stoneyard

Ancient steps up to
Monk Bar 

I listened to a wonderful guitarist/singer outside for a few minutes before stopping for lunch because I was thirsty for a lager and lime and wanted to sit for a bit. I was near Monk Bar so I went up and into the Richard III experience. Richard III is the much maligned (in my opinion) king who was killed in a battle with the future Henry VII which ended the Wars of the Roses. Four years ago I visited Leicester where his remains were found recently and where he is now buried. I had followed that whole story in the news. This exhibit was focused on battles fought near York as well as Bosworth Field where he met his end.

Schematic of the Battle of Bosworth Field

Michelgate Bar from
outside the walls

On my way down to the Shambles market, I popped in to Holy Trinity Church on Goodramgate. It looks incredibly old with its undecorated stolid pillars and its enclosed pews.

After reading a bit, I thought I’d walk down to Mickelgate Bar, the principal Roman entrance to the city. This bar was where the traitors’ heads were hung sometimes for years. It was a long trek. All along I saw loads of mostly young people walking about and in the pubs and bars. It was Saturday, of course.

Holy Trinity Church with its box pews

Later when I went out for dinner I saw lots of couples walking in one direction, the women all dressed up in long dresses and heels. I wondered if this was just Saturday night dress, but later I found out that they were going to the racecourse.

Sunday I left York and took the short train ride to Durham. After checking in to my B&B (actually a pub with rooms above) I set off for town—down a long street and across the River Wear on the Framwellgate Bridge where I saw some steps leading down to the river. I took a very pleasant walk on the path along the river, sat on a bench to do a puzzle and then turned back to get some lunch overlooking the river and the bridge.

The beautiful River Wear with the cathedral towers above the trees

The path along the river

Framwellgate Bridge

A mastodon tusk in the Museum of Archaeology

Durham developed along a large bend in the river. The land between the two parts is very steep and so was a perfect place for a castle. It was virtually impossible for anyone to conquer. But the river wasn’t very navigable here either partly because of its shape and partly because it isn’t very deep, so Durham never became a very big or prosperous town in medieval times. But it was big enough for a wonderful cathedral (about which later).

The path up to the castle and cathedral was very steep, and I took it very slowly. I first went through the archaeology exhibit in the Palace Green Library. It was excellent.

Next was a tour of the castle which since 1837 has been Durham  University. What a setting for a college! They wouldn’t let us take any pictures inside though I know I did years ago.  We first saw the original chapel, a wonderful Norman architectural space. That part predates the cathedral even. The next part was a later chapel, built when the prince bishop (only person of that title anywhere) wanted to show off. So it was much fancier. Then we moved along a corridor filled with Victorian and earlier chests and tapestries and decorations to the spectacular Great Hall—the place where the students eat three times a day, if you can imagine that.

Durham Castle from the bridge

Looking up at the Great Hall entrance

The Castle Keep where students now live

Then it was back to the Palace Green Library to see the Bodies of Evidence exhibit. They obviously take much pride in having used modern techniques to identify bodies that were found right underneath where the library is. They wanted to know who they were and why they were buried there. After extensive analysis on the teeth, they found that the bodies were those of Royalist troops fighting against Cromwell’s army in the Battle of Durham. They were mostly Scots being held prisoner there who died from starvation.

That evening I had Sunday roast in the pub where I was staying—roast pork with potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower and plenty of good gravy. Too much. I watched the end of the Denmark-Croatia World Cup match. Everywhere I saw people watching the games. There was a definite air of excitement.

At breakfast on Monday I was determined to eat less and so had only yogurt and granola, juice and tea. After I walked down to the Market Square. I went into St Nicholas Church which was once part of the city wall. A sign said it was a place of worship but you wouldn’t have known it from first look—a café in the nave and a shop off to the side.

Durham's Marketplace with St Nicholas Church at the back

One of the historical plaques in the sidewalk of the Marketplace

Old bowed window in a shop on Saddler's Street

I went through the famous indoor market. It was so extensive that it could replace virtually all the shops in town. I then started up Saddle Street and veered off to Elvet Bridge which the guidebooks all mention. It really isn’t much to see though it was a medieval bridge that had shops all along one side.

I continued up the hill where my first stop was the Durham Heritage Museum which is in the former St Mary-Le-Bow Church. It is a really good exhibition of the history of Durham—from earliest days to today. The town developed because it was the pilgrimage site for St Cuthbert whose remains had been removed from Lindisfarne (where I have still never been) when the Vikings sacked it. The cathedral was built to house his bones.

Model of the medieval town showing the hill and the river around it

Cecily Neville and Richard, Duke of York in Durham Heritage Museum

I was savoring my visit to the cathedral and so decided to have lunch before I went in. Durham Cathedral is also one of my favorites. Whereas York is soaring Gothic with its three levels of windows and pointed arches and vaults and graceful fluted pillars, Durham’s interior is Romanesque (called Norman in England) and characterized by massive round pillars and rounded arches, windows and vaults and a lack of decoration. I really appreciate both of them.

Workmen ascending in the open elevator to work on the cathedral tower

North side of Durham Cathedral

East front of the cathedral

North doorway of the cathedral

View of the west tower

Galilee Chapel added to west end

Nave of the cathedral with the wonderful pillars

Large panels told the story of Cuthbert whose shrine is behind the altar. The Venerable Bede’s remains are here also in the Galilee Chapel; he was an early historian of the English people including Cuthbert.

Kneeling cushion for tomb of The Venerable Bede

Cuthbert in the Treasury

Ceiling of the Monks' Kitchen

Durham Cathedral has the most complete set of surviving monastic buildings in the UK. The chapter house was closed by the time I got out there, but I did learn that the name comes from the fact that chapters of the Benedictine book of monastic life were read there each day. The beautiful dormitory now houses the Open Treasure which was really good—the story of Cuthbert, the cathedral, and the spread of Christianity in the region as well as a display of sacred music through the centuries (very clever—you stand in front of a speaker and it plays music of that century—before I figured that out I moved on too fast and had competing music playing).

In the kitchen there was a display of artifacts from Cuthbert’s tomb—amazingly, strips of cloth from his vestments, his rosary and his coffin among other items. Other parts of the monastic buildings held a rotating exhibition now containing items from coal miners in World War I and a community gallery that had wonderful artworks made by amateurs and groups.

The Coppice, the B&B in Windermere

That evening I watched the Belgium-Japan game with the others in the pub while I ate my cod, chips and peas and the usual lager before packing up.

Tuesday started with three trains to Windermere in the Lake District. I couldn’t face walking up that steep hill to the train station in Durham, so I asked for a taxi. The cook, who was the only one in the pub at that hour, said she’d lock the door and take me herself if she couldn’t get one for me—just another example of the kindnesses afforded to me that week. The trains are closely scheduled. I only had a few minutes to get to the next one, but the assumption is that they will be on time. And they always were. The transfers were at Carlisle and Oxenholme.

In Windermere I stopped in the tourist bureau and booked a Beatrix Potter tour for Wednesday and later a 10 Lakes Spectacular tour for Thursday. I couldn’t arrive at my B&B until 2:00 so I also had lunch. It was really a chore wheeling my bags on the uneven sidewalks. The proprietress at the B&B was really sweet and went on and on about the place and the town and restaurants. 

After a bit of a rest, I walked down to Bowness-on-Windermere, one of the towns where you can get to the shores of the lake. 

 Cricket practice

After booking dinner at a place that was recommended, I visited the World of Beatrix Potter. It’s a place mostly for kids, but I really enjoyed it also. There was a short film about her life and then a museum space which you wound through and saw displays of characters from the books. Really well done.

Peter being admonished by Mrs Rabbit

The pond and several Beatrix Potter characters

Jemima Puddleduck

Beatrix Potter herself

My delicious and beautiful pad thai

Dinner was one of my favorites—Pad Thai that was beautifully presented. I booked it early so I could get back to the B&B to watch the England-Colombia game. That walk back was so hard—uphill almost all the way. The game was so exciting. There’s a lot I don’t know about soccer (football in the rest of the world), and strangely enough just that morning I was reading my political magazine and learned what offside is!

Before my tour late Wednesday morning I had a delicious big breakfast anticipating no lunch and then a walk to town to do some exploring. The tours were with Mountain Goat Tours, an excellent company.

The Mountain Goat tours were great

The twelve of us and the terrific guide Mike rode in a comfortable mini-bus to our first stop at Wray Castle, a place where Beatrix Potter and her wealthy father had stayed one summer in her childhood. It was here that she gained her love of animals and nature. From there we had a view of Windermere.

Front of Wray Castle

Weird looking tree

View of Lake Windermere from Wray Castle

A grey Herdwick sheep

Our next stop was Near Sawrey where Hilltop Farm is located. This is the farm she bought in 1905 after she had had some success with her books. She eventually bought 14 farms, in all 400 acres in order to preserve it from development; even today (she willed the land to the National Trust) they use only old agricultural methods on the land. She championed the Herdwick sheep which are found only in this part of England. This small breed starts off black, then turns chocolate brown in a few years and then eventually grey but keeps its white head.

The house on the farm has been left the way it was when she lived there except for the carpets and the drapes. The garden is Mr McGregor’s Garden from the books. All her books are set in actual places in the Lake District. 

Beatrix Potter's Hilltop Farm

The parlour of Hilltop Farm

Mr Jeremy Fisher

Pretty William Morris wallpaper--I visited his home a few years ago

Mr McGregor's Garden

Pretty flowers in Hilltop's garden

Five minutes down the road was Hawkshead where we were supposed to have lunch (which I hadn’t known we would do). I only had an ice cream because I wanted to visit two places. One was Hawkshead Grammar School founded in 1585 where William Wordsworth went to school starting in 1778. The desks were long tables with benches made of wood. The boys were allowed to carve the wood, and Wordsworth’s name is one you can still see. They were in school from 6am to 5pm with two hours for lunch and nowhere to go.  The guide there gave me this nugget: if you see a round chimney, it’s Elizabethan. 

Hawkeshead Grammar School with its round chimneys

The well-carved desks in the school

My second stop was at Beatrix Potter’s husband’s office (he was an estate agent) which is now the Beatrix Potter Gallery. It was filled with many of her original watercolors for the books. The first one about Peter Rabbit was actually a letter with illustrations to her former governess’ son who was often sick. They have preserved the letter there also.

Tom Kitten original illustration 

Illustration from The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse

Our next stop on the tour was at Tarn Hows which means tiny water in the Viking language—Tarn Hows is a teardrop among the hills.

View of Tarn Hows

At Ambleside we boarded a boat on Windermere (Lake is redundant because mere means lake) and rode down to Bowness-on-Windermere. There was a lovely breeze and nice views on the west side which was much greener and definitely less inhabited than the east side. One place we could see was Wray Castle which we had been to earlier.

Banks of Windermere

Wray Castle from the ferry

Sailboats on Windermere 

This was July 4 and I totally didn’t think about it until one of the people on the tour wished everyone a happy fourth as we left.

On Thursday I took the all-day tour around the Lake District called the Ten Lakes Spectacular. The driver and guide was Chris, also very good. We first drove up into the Langdale Pikes, the not-so-high but high for Britain mountains. We passed through Kirkstone Pass, the highest pass and third highest inn in England. The Scots came to this area, saw some stones ahead, and thought it was a church. Thus the name: Kirkstone. We could see Windermere from there.

View from Kirkstone Pass

River in Kirkstone area

Oh, so green!

All along the way today we saw dry stone walls, a term I had never heard before. They are stone walls made by piling stones on one another but not using any mortar. 

Closeup of a dry stone wall

Long dry stone wall up the mountainside

Down in Glenridding we got on a steamer for a ride to Pooley Bridge on Ullswater. The views along the way were green and lovely with much variety.  Everyone has been commenting on the wonderful weather—hot for England, actually.

Beginning of our trip on Ullswater

Ullswater and banks from the ferry

A raft of ducks on Ullswater

Beautiful banks of Ullswater

Kayakers on Ullswater

Our ferry

Back on the bus we headed for Keswick, stopping first at Castlerigg Stone Circle, 4500 years old. The henges were much lower than at Stonehenge but still impressive. The guide, unbelievably to me, had never been to Stonehenge though he’d been to New Zealand for six months.

Castlerigg Stone Circle

Schematic of the stone circle

In Keswick there was only time for lunch and a bit of a walk around in the Saturday market.  Our next stop was an 18th century pack horse bridge, built strong and wide enough so that the pack horses could cross the water easily rather than having to go through. 

Some sheep obstructing traffic

The 18th century pack horse bridge

Pretty scene along the way

Next was Derwentwater which we stopped to admire. We could see the entire lake from our viewpoint. By the way Windermere is 9 miles long and the longest in England! 

The smaller Derwentwater

Some of the slate from the mine

We passed by Bassenthwaite Lake, the only one called a lake (the others being meres or waters). Thwaite means clearing. We also passed a house in a little village where, the guide said, Charles brought Camilla when he was still married to Diana. 

We drove by the slate mines where we heard the story of the young children who had to hold a pick as the miner pounded on it to make a hole into which to insert the dynamite. Their fingers eventually turned white from all the stress and banging, and many a finger was lost. Many were also deafened. Men carried heavy loads of slate on their backs down the mountain fourteen times a day. Terrible.

Farther down the road was Buttermere and then a break for ice cream at a farm where it was made from milk from their Ayrshire cows.  Next was Grasmere where we stopped at Sarah Nelson’s Gingerbread Shop, a very famous place whose gingerbread can only be bought there. It was in a tiny shop which was once the school. 

The famous Grasmere Gingerbread Shop

It was right at the entrance to Grasmere Parish Church where the whole Wordsworth family attended church and are buried. The graves were in frightful condition; the words could barely be read. 

The barely readable Wordsworth family graves

Grasmere Parish Church

In 1998 they planted a daffodil garden to commemorate Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”. People bought memorial stones along the path and had their names engraved on them. On the way out of town we passed Dove Cottage where the Wordsworths lived early on but didn’t get to stop; I had been there many years ago so it was okay.

Hard to see but these stones all had donor names on them 

The last of the ten lakes we saw was Rydal Water near where the Wordsworths had another home. Then it was back to Windermere via Bowness. Dinner that night was at Café Italia for the second night. Their food was delicious but way too much. This was a pattern I noticed on this trip that I have never noticed before—the portions were just too big. 

The big news of the week other than the World Cup was the poisoning of a couple near Salisbury where the Russian and his daughter were poisoned last year. Same poison. But of course the Russians didn’t do it. Oh no.

That evening I packed up for another train ride, this time to Edinburgh.