July 9, 2013–York To The Lake District of England

We stopped at some Standing Stones. Of course these Standing Stones are not as impressive as the ones at Callinish, Lewis Island, but they derive their inspiration from the same source. The earliest dated stones are found in the Orkney Islands of north Scotland. Years later they were established at Callinish. Then they migrated down the English countryside and culminated at Stonehenge. All are amazingly impressive. Below, the largest erect stone has been named the “Devil’s Arrow” even though the stones predate all religion.

Elaine in a barley field blessing its future in beer making.

We stop for a coffee stop (actually our driver calls it a “twaffie” meaning a combination of toilet and coffee stop). in the small village of Masham, England. Every small English town seems to have at least one impressive cathedral.

In the church yard cemetery there was an ancient Angle Saxon shaft dating from the year 1075 just after the occurrence of the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

Interesting memorial of the deaths by a German bomb in this small town in 1941. Obviously there was no tactical reason for dropping a bomb on this small village. Just some bombardier getting rid of unused bombs for the return flight to Germany. This little village lay on the flight path to Liverpool and Manchester both of which were heavily bombed during the war and suffered the consequences of being in the wrong location.

Below, Marsham is the home of one of the independent breweries remaining in England. Many breweries have been gobbled up by large corporations, but the Black Sheep Brewery remains in its refusal to sell out and produces great beer.

The copper jugs below are found in many restaurants and pubs and are used to assure exact measurements.

Grounds of the Black Brewery.

Below, a stop at the Jervaulx Abbey. This was one of the many abbeys destroyed by Henry VIII in his attempt to cleanse England of Catholicism but enough remains intact to get an idea of its size and importance.

Water still gushes from the ancient artesian well.

Look! the Scottish thistle growing here in England.

This sheep was not interested in being petted by Elaine.

Yet another cathedral in a small village along the way.

Below, we stop at Bolton Castle which was famous for being one of the castles in which Mary Queen of Scots was held. She had a legitimate claim to the throne of England. The English did not want to execute her and start another war with Scotland, so she was basically kept under “house arrest” in various castles around the country.

The present dining room of the castle.

Below, we were lucky enough to be at Bolton Castle when they held a falconry demonstration. It was amazing how this young lady was able to lure and handle the falcon.

What a magnificent bird.

This is a lazy wild boar kept to clear fields.

Below another “Harry Coo.” What is he doing in England? Must have gotten lost and traveled too far south.

The village of Hawes is an important cheese making town so we had to stop and sample the cheese and buy a fresh dairy ice cream.

More cheese varieties than you can possible imagine.

Below, views of the Yorkshire Dales as we near the Lake District. The green rolling hills are very different from the Yorkshire Moors. The dales are green and growing, the moors are barren and covered with heather and peat bogs.

A small village in the Yorkshire Dales. England has a population of over 60 million and probably more than half live in the southern 1/3 of the country. So, it is interesting to find these small villages in northern England where it is far less populated.

We arrive in the evening at our first lake in the Lake District outside the town of Keswick. This one is Derwentwater. Interestingly, there is only one body of water called a “lake” in the Lake District. All the others are called either “waters” or “meres” as in Windermere, the most famous lake in the district.

Sunset in Keswick.

Geographic relief map of the Lake District to give you and idea of the terrain and number of lakes. The Cumbrian Mountains is the range that generally bisect the district north to south.