Heading west

There she is, our trusty steed! Getting close to the end of its journeys, but still just humming along. It's our 9-passenger (fortunately only 7 seats needed) Renault diesel van, parked while we hiked on the way to our last major destination: Wales/Cymru. Still in the UK, but not in England (it's complicated: google "UK" and "devolution"). And like in Canada, all the highway signs are bilingual, so I'm doing that here when I can.

The hike we were on was to the top of a hill where stand the ruins of what must have been a very impressive fortification: Dinas Brân. The wikipedia article I've linked to here will tell you everything you ever need to know about the "castle," including its destruction to keep it out of marauding English hands. Yep, it's that old, probably built in the 1200's, on the site of much earlier hill forts.

Here's what the ruins look like from the base of the trail; you can see why I was doubtful I'd make it all the way up...

...but I did! And was rewarded with some great views of the lovely Dee Valley/Dyffryn Dyfrdwy...

click to enlarge and see the impressive bridges in the distance

...as well as the impressive ruins themselves:

And of course there was plenty of room for grandkids to stretch their legs, including climbing opportunities that couldn't be missed:

After this great stopover (found by our diligent tour guide), it was on to our last, and probably most amazing, Airbnb. I have to show you some photos of our lodging—it was so cool!

Here are couple of children of Wales/Cymru (from my paternal grandparents) happy to be overnighting in such a charming cottage:

Our lovely hosts (who also live on the property, which is a working farm and sheep ranch) provided a wealth of historical information about the cottage. It was built—wait for it!—in the 15th or 16th centuries! Long before my forebears struck out for the New World. I wonder if they ever lived in such a cottage. Although I suspect if they'd been that well off they wouldn't have felt the need to start over in America.  

The building was allowed to fall into disrepair for some time before conservation efforts were able to restore it. And then it was outfitted with all the modern conveniences, while leaving in place many of the distinctly un-modern features. On the left you can see the clever way they found a place for the refrigerator (although this one looks like an antique, anyway! there was a big modern one in the laundry room, but we didn't need it).

Here's the rest of the kitchen, including an antique stove like none I've ever seen...

I doubt it's from Henry VIII's time, but it's definitely older than the early 20th-century-model my Mom inherited from her grandmother.

The low ceilings are definitely an original "feature": our hostess said when they were living in the cottage (before they built the modern structure they now occupy) her tall boys hated the ceilings, and I can see why. Fortunately, they were tall enough for all of us:

note those incredible, thick beams

Here's a good view of the rest of the kitchen and the dining area, with supporting posts between:

In addition to the charming interior, there was a great yard that the kids loved playing in, even after our vigorous daily activities. The lateness of the sunset at this latitude gave them plenty of after-dinner playtime. And, as I mentioned, the farm is a working one. Here's the sheep field as viewed from the nice back patio:

The yard was lovingly tended, with flowers all over...

It's rather a showcase for the advantages of renting a house instead of two or three hotel rooms: yay for Airbnb! and for Hal's expertise in finding these gems. The cottage was a great base for our varied Welsh operations, which I'll start telling you about next time.

Lakes...and so much more!

The Lake District is an area of England I didn't get to see in 2008, and since then have been waiting for a chance to go there. And it did not disappoint. What a wonderful scenic area!

With only one full day to spend here, we made the most of it. First stop was Castlerigg Stone Circle—the real thing this time, a Neolithic artifact from 3000 BCE.

Its breathtaking setting alone would make it worth the visit. But of course it offered ample playground-type opportunities for the youngest tourists as well...

yes, chocolate had been consumed

...as well as sheep. So. many. sheep.

After a shopping stop at a very nice grocery in Keswick, we started on Rick Steves' recommended scenic drive, stopping first for a long hike along the shore of Derwent Water, one of the area's most scenic lakes. That's it at the top of this post. Here's another scenic shot of it:

It was a fun hike, with some favorite trailside photo opps, like interlacing tree roots, which I always enjoy:

There was even a beach, with ample rocks for skipping, and we were able to make the trail a loop and saw more wooded areas on the way back to the car. Notice the cliff in the background of this photo:

The ruggedness of the outcropping gives you an idea that this isn't just a landscape of bucolic lakes. There are mountains, too, and dramatic scenery even away from the Lakes themselves. We really came to appreciate that facet of the area during the rest of the day.

With the climbing enthusiasts in the family, a stop at the Bowder Stone, a huge rock that seems to have been plopped onto the trail just for bouldering, was an obvious stop for a picnic lunch, followed by a hike.

Here's what the trail looks like before you come upon the stone:

Here's the stone, with its convenient ladder up the side, for which I was particularly grateful...

...but of course some in our party wouldn't have needed it:

After this invigorating exercise, we continued on our drive. Next lake up was Buttermere. There's a hike Rick recommends here, but we were kind of running out of time, so we could just admire the scenery out the window:

We wanted to have time to do some hard-core hiking—and climbing—at our next stop:

This is Moss Force waterfall, in the spectacular Newlands Valley. Here's a view from the car park:

I made it part-way up to the end of the trail, but of course some of our party went much further...

The trail was a little rugged, but there was even some wildlife to observe. Sorry I don't have anything to show you the scale here, but this guy was probably 3" long; and isn't he pretty?!

This hike was a fantastic way to end up our Lake District touring. 

It was nice that we didn't have far to go to get "home" for a good dinner, as we'd worked up quite an appetite. We had taken Rick's advice (he hardly ever steers you wrong) and opted to stay in the northern, as opposed to the southern, part of the district, and found a wonderful Bed& Breakfast in Braithwaite, a small, quiet town near his recommended Keswick. It was a great find and we recommend this place to any of you thinking about spending some time in the Lakes. Great breakfasts, nice rooms, helpful and friendly hosts (they even saved us a special parking place because they knew we'd be driving a van).

Next up: our last major destination: Wales!

More Yorkshire: the Dales

As much as we all enjoyed York, it was time to move on to our next destination. But we weren't finished with Yorkshire just yet. The area has several National Parks and since we weren't in a particular hurry, it made sense to take the scenic route west through Yorkshire Dales.

As you can see, we had our first really foggy day, with a little mistiness, but not enough to slow us down. The first stop our "travel agent" found for us was Druid's Temple.

Yes, it looks like the real Stone Age thing, but as you'll see if you follow the link above, it is a folly—one of the constructions loved by those crazy Romantics, who were so into ruins and making nature look like they thought it should look. (It reminded me of the engineered landscape I saw at Blenheim in 2008.) It was actually built in the late 1700's, not the 700's, but was still fun to explore. And, perhaps given the weather (which really was not that bad) we had it to ourselves.

the central area

cool shot looking out of a rather spooky shelter
(but mind the puddle!)

The estate housing the folly has a lot of nice walking trails, some of which are marked by this very attractive, and clever, archway. The sign says "habitat creation in progress," but it's also a very handsome way to enter the trails.

Next up was our lunch spot, a nice cafe in Aysgarth, not far from the waterfalls of the same name. There are actually three falls, and, much to Henry's chagrin, we only visited two of them.

the Upper falls

the Middle falls, really raging

The lower falls was a good bit further on to walk, and most of our party was keen to push on to our final destination. But we spent enough time at these two cataracts to be quite impressed. I happened to hear a local woman, on the way to the middle one, say there was more water going over than she'd ever seen. I guess we hadn't seen much rain, but they must have had a good bit before our visit. Which is, of course, why this is such a "green and pleasant land"—the final line from Blake's poem which also gave us Chariots of Fire.

And we had even more spectacular scenery awaiting at our next landing spot. Here we are getting close to our B&B in lovely Braithwaite, a setting in the Lake District that we highly recommend.

A Yorkshire garden, and a ramble in the Shambles

We took to the road for the first part of our last full day in Yorkshire. We'd been listening to The Secret Garden in the car and were all keen to smell the gorse on the moors. I think we ended up being a bit disappointed in that quest, but we found a garden all the same: the Helmsley Walled Garden, just a 45-minute drive north.

It's a delightful English garden, with lovingly-cared-for beds full of all kinds of wonderful blooms. Here are a few of my favorites:

The kids were excited to see that this gorgeous iris variety is named after the Harry Potter character everyone loves to hate. I just thought the incredibly deep purple-black color merited a shot.

no clever names for this, that we saw

unusual, and prolific, succulents

There were also other welcome features of the place, like open spaces for running around...

...unusual sculptures it was fun to imitate—even the almost-3-year-old got into the act...

...and hungry chickens the kids were happy to oblige:

fan of all things purple found her happy spot

And not only Henry and I were inspired to snap, snap, snap those photos:

We had a tasty lunch at the Vineyard Cafe on the grounds, too, before heading back to town. There is also a castle on the grounds, but since we knew we'd be seeing lots of castles in a few days, we opted not to take time for theirs today. But we liked this one, Rievaulx Abbey, seen on the way home to York—so many castles—and churches that look like castles!

I should tell you how we happened upon this "secret" garden: Hal used AI, asking where you could go if you had some extra time in North Yorkshire. So this new technology can come up with useful information!

Back in town, we made our second visit to the Minster, then opted to have dinner in the interestingly-named neighborhood of The Shambles. The kids had seen it on their ghost tour and thought we should take some more time there. The name comes from an old word for butchers' displays or meat market, but now it offers a more varied range of products. Our group was particularly interested in a couple of magic-themed shops (yes, the English do wring as much out of Harry Potter's popularity as possible!):

a shop full of wands and brooms

sweets, not meat

remember that "gate" means "street"

Sure, The Shambles is a little kitschy, but still has fun things to see and I'm glad we didn't miss it. We wouldn't have had time the next morning, as we had a ways to drive and places to stop along the way to our next destination. I'll tell you about those interim stops in my next post.