Hadrian's Wall, Lanercost Priory, Gretna Greeen, Edinburgh

We had a beautiful day going from England to Scotland, with more sun than clouds. Of course you can't avoid the Romans wherever you go - leaving the Lake District we visited a good stretch of Hadrian's Wall, built to keep out the painted Picts from Scotland. The name Scotland actually comes from the invading Scotti tribe of - Ireland!  These folks just cannot get along.  Our Scottish bus driver supports Scottish independence, but the country couldn't  survive without the money flowing in from England. Unless the EU took them on as another charity case - fat chance. 

Beyond the wall we stopped at the beautiful 12th century Lanercost Priory. Our unedited photos don't do it justice but it was a lovely church with a romantic ruined tower. It owns an altarpiece designed by William Morris that they keep locked up except for special occasions. They also had a nice tea and gift shop to browse. 

Then to Scotland - first stop Gretna Green, the Las Vegas of Britain since the 1700s because eloping couples could marry there without parental or church consent. It actually was a cute place with a museum detailing various scandalous elopements and showing the anvils struck by the "blacksmith priests" to conclude a ceremony.  Couples still come for a quickie wedding. 

Then to a town called Moffat where a great little farmers market supplied us with local smoked pheasant and Stilton for our dinner tonight.  We also met candy makers who've won a contract to the US chain World Market for their "tablet", a kind of fudge. They assured me that they would expand their local factory to meet demand, not start making tablet in industrial vats in Haiti or Baltimore. I forgot to mention earlier that pheasants show up all over the countryside, they're no endangered species.  We had a great lunch at the Annandale Hotel that visits from our tour company has rescued from ruin, so the whole town appreciates us. And all the wool shops were there with big bargains, better than Edinburgh. 

Edinburgh is more like London or NYC, a big lively town with tall stone buildings. We actually can sea the Firth of Forth from our hotel window, which means we have great location and weather. We found the statue of the patron saint of capitalism, Adam Smith, saw the dozens of quickie kilt and fake tartan shops lining the Royal Mile between the castle and Holyrood Palace, the church where Zara Phillips got married (Princess Anne's daughter), and had a terrific Palm Sunday treat. The choir at St. Giles, mother church of Presbyterianism and John Knox's gravesite, performed Faure's Requiem. The sun poured thru the Robbie Burns stain glass window and the glorious music flowed and reverberated thru the ancient arches. A sublime experience. 

Now two days to explore Edinburgh before coming home. I miss home but I'll be sorry to leave this adventure behind.  So many places to see, so little time and money!

Hadrian's Wall sheep 

At the Wall

Moffat - narrowest hotel in the UK

Our lunch spot

Las Vegas, Scotland style

Street piper in Edinburgh 

St. Giles

St. Adam Smith!

The Lake District

Today clouds and rain returned as we drove from Yorkshire into the often-rainy Lake District.  Couldn't photograph the landscapes well from the bus but it changed from high, wide treeless moors to narrow valleys with lakes and rivers between high craggy treeless hills.  I can't compare it to other scenery, it seemed to combine the hills of the desert Southwest with the water of New England or New York State.  Or a little bit like California around Santa Barbara. Anyway, the rain did not diminish its beauty. 

In Yorkshire we drove thru the spa town of Harrogate, the Bronte sisters' territory that inspired Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and then into the Lake District and the largest lake Windermere.  Close by was a house, donated by Beatrix Potter to the national trust and rented out to a family, where we had lunch!  I've put in a picture of the 3 cakes she gave us for dessert. Beatrix Potter apparently bought up a lot of unprofitable farms to donate to the Trust. Sheep raising couldn't continue here without hefty subsidies, our guide said there's no market for the wool walking around the fields - shearing costs more than the fleeces. 

After lunch we saw Wordsworth's home and gravesite in Grasmere, then finished up at our hotel near the highway and a walk to the grocery store to check out the local produce and enjoy some sunshine.  We ate dinner with one of the other couples who proved again how deceptive appearances can be. They'd seemed grumpy, but over dinner we discovered they were well-traveled Presbyterians who volunteer for Habitat and love BBC tv shows.  We had a good time dissecting Inspector Morse shows and I gave them a few new titles to check out. They had some good tips on other ways to travel sans group tours.  By now the group has started to fray somewhat from the hours of coach travel.  Tomorrow, off to Edinburgh via Hadrians Wall.

Boats on Windrrmere

Globalization 

Big swan!

Beatrix Potter house where we lunched

Cakes!

Door from 1608

2 foot chocolate bunny in Grasmere

Wordsworths church

Wordsworths Dove Cottage

Whitby and Castle Howard

First I should thank the weather gods for sunny warm days since Wales. Our tour director has become quite giddy with the ease of showing us around in pleasant weather with limitless photo opportunities. 

This may be the biggest day for me, with the visit to Whitby on the coast and then stately home Castle Howard.  Whitby was the hometown of Capt. Cook the explorer and the setting for Dracula. The ruins of Whitby Abbey, founded in the 700's by my favorite saint St. Hilda, patron of learning and culture, stand above the town looking out to he North Sea. We also had a great lunch of fish and chips, with the provenance of our fish listed on the restaurant blackboard, and then roamed the streets hunting for Whitby jet jewelry.  Jet isn't a stone, it's fossilized monkey tree, and very expensive. Queen Victoria wore a lot of it after Primce Albert died. The town reminded me a lot of Rockport MA with its harbor, fishing boats, and swarms of tourists and snack shops. 

Amateur photos cannot do Castle Howard justice.  If you've seen Downton Abbey or any PBS period drama then you get the idea.  Seeing how these families accumulated so much land, wealth, and museum-quality treasures makes one sympathetic to Jefferson's concept of periodically watering the tree of liberty with blood.  But in fairness they worked hard to keep the estates and tenants going.  One guide told me that the countess had 3 main jobs: to produce at least 6 children including a male heir; to manage the estates profitably; and to make sure the place ran like a 5 star hotel. And until the 20th century she would be chattel like the rest of her husband's property.  Put that way it doesn't sound so great.  The "Radical Countess" in the late 19th century became a great fighter for women's rights after having 11 children - makes sense to me.  Today the castle has gift and farm shops to help pay for maintenance. The family lives there year round but stay out of sight during tourist season.  You can tell the place is lived in by the worn wooden floors and steps.  And they have a lake - but it's got nothing on Deering NH!

Because of the terrible wifi I can't get my phone pics in, so I'll just say that in the "Grand China Gallery" they had 6 chests exactly like the one in my front hall, only half the height.  So we're just as good collectors as the noble Howards.  

Tonight we went to the Golden Fleece pub with another couple - retired FSO and schoolteacher - for a few pints and monstrously large portions of Yorkshire puddings with meat and gravy.  The pub dates back to the 1500s and is the starting point for the "Terror of York" tour. I told you that York was a tough town!   Did I mention that Guy Fawkes and Judi Densch hail from York?  We stayed for a little live music and pushed off to pack to early departure to the Lake District. 

Capt. Cook looking out to sea. His 4 ships were built in Whitby. 

Whitby abbey

Castle Howard

The long gallery

The Boar Garden

Wales to York via Chester, and York day 2

Our hotel in York has worthless wifi so I couldn't  do the blog yesterday, and I can't get many pictures in, but here's a write-up for Wednesday:

We went from Wales this morning to York via the Roman stronghold of Chester, and enjoyed warm sun all day. We left the beautiful hills and sheep of Wales behind for about two hours of more open countryside. Chester is a wonderful market town with an intact city wall around the entire old city center. I visited the lovely ancient sandstone cathedral built by the first earl of Chester in the 1100s. It had choir lofts carved as intricately as lace, lovely gardens and ancient artifacts, plus a tea shop and free loo, so it met all a traveler's requirements. I ate a quick lunch at another church canteen that was right in the sanctuary. They served the most delicious penuche cake! I then hunted determinedly for cute stuff, which was easy because the downtown is a pedestrian mall lined with every store imaginable. Then back on the bus into Yorkshire via a highway thru the high moors. In the distance was the town where one of my favorite shows was filmed, and the stone houses and fields looked just like TV. But it's a much more built up industrial area than the Cotswolds or Wales. Yorkshire tea and a Yorkie candy tasted good at a rest stop, and then finally York. York is much bigger than our other stops, except London, and reminds me of Lyon with similar narrow streets and high grey stone buildings, Art and I scouted out the many stores while walking up to the York Minster. We found the cathedral absolutely breathtaking, even after all the churches we saw in France. Its massive size and delicate stone carving gives it an ethereal air, like a beautiful spaceship that has gently floated down and anchored itself to the ground. Can't wait to get the tour tomorrow! Sadly I don't think we'll see all the must-dos of York in only one day; Friday we go fr Whitby and Castle Howard, and the next morning we leave.

General style note: overall I think English men are prettier than English women. Women either wear no makeup or too much, and too many have fake tans. But, most people are in decent shape, especially compared to our group. I'm shocked at the number of smokers!

Another of Edward I's castles for suppression of Wales  

Old house in Chester 

Today, Thursday, we had our full day exploring York. York has been a tough town since before the Romans  - invasions, burmings, rebellions, persecutions, executions, and every manner of regal oppression. Luckily for tourist, all that occurred in the city center which spans no more than a square mile, so you can't miss anything or get lost. We began with a guided tour of the Minster led by an Anglican sister who told us stories with that inimitable dry British wit.  The huge medieval wall of stained glass is covered for restoration. To compensate for missing that sight, we viewed 4 panels of the original glass, which have undergone restoration, at eye level in a special exhibit.  The colors and details those medieval artists lavished on panels that ultimately, as our guide said, would be seen only at "pigeon-level" define "labor of love". Very impressive and humbling. 

In the undercroft below the floor we viewed a great exhibit of the cathedral from its start as a Roman fort thru its transformation under the Normans and centuries of expansion and restoration. Does anyone know that that Constantine was proclaimed emperor in York, before he became Christian?  I'm learning that you can't overestimate the Romans' ability to rule for centuries and install roads and infrastructure that still work!

After the cathedral we ate lunch at the iconic Betty's Tea Room; I slathered about 1/2 cup of clotted cream on my scones.  Then off to the National Railroad Museum where they have gleaming locomotives and carriages from every age of rail. Rail aficionados worldwide come to gaze lovingly upon these monuments to British engineering, and I liked it except for the strong odor of engine oil everywhere. That after the clotted cream drove me out after 45 minutes. No matter - I returned to the stores I'd scoped out yesterday, and Art took in everything rail-related.  We had some great Chinese food for a change in York's 1 block Chinatown, and now blogging and bed! Tomorrow off to Whitby - I may read a little Dracula to get ready - and Castle Howard, the stateliest of stately homes, and then our last night in York. Bon soir!

Fantastic day 2 in Wales

The weather gods delivered a sunny day for our touring around Wales today, leaving our guide slightly giddy with the fun of actually seeing the hills of Snowdonia instead of a curtain of rain and mist. As always I wish I had another day  to explore the cute stores, including one selling a huge range of posh Barbour clothes, that closed before we got back from our excursion. We started taking a 13 mile historic train ride thru the hills and moss-covered trees that looked like Tolkien's Ents; the train originally carried slate from the quarries to ports for shipping all over the world. At the end of the line we went to Portmeirion, a tiny kind of Disneyland of fantastic Italianate architecture and salvaged decor from old mansions, built in the 1920s by an architect named Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (great eccentric name). The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein rented a house  regularly, and George Harrison had a "fab"  (as he wrote in the guest book)'birthday celebration there. Ellis's daughter started the famous Portmeirion pottery line decorated in her botanical drawings. We had a walk around and good lunch followed by more picture-taking. Then back on the bus into Snowdonia National Park, where the tallest peaks reach 4,000 feet with a little snowcap. Only grass, a few shrubs, and sheep cover the mountains so they're brown now. My little phone camera couldn't capture the sweeping vistas but they were stunning. Coming down from the peaks we visited an unlikely museum called the Slate Museum,  about the mining operations and workers who blasted the slate out of those mountains. The workers took great pride in their skills but what a rough, dangerous life they led. We learned that the famous Welsh men's choirs grew out of the mining industries as a way for the workers to bond and have something to do besides get drunk or agitate in the workplace.  

And our tour director snagged us a chance to hear the well-known men's choir of Caernarfon rehearse tonight! About 50 guys, most of them well north of 40, and their young female director rehearse in a church basement. You didn't need to know Welsh to get the drift of her instructions, especially "better diction".  and they  put on quite a show with tear-jerking songs from Les Miz, Welsh tunes, and American collection including a medley of Dixie, Battle Hymn, and All My Trials - not something you expect to hear together!  They sounded just fabulous. Followed that with a pint at a pub dating from the 1300s, and chat with a Yorkshireman who said he'd be glad to see the Scots go independent since they cost so much in taxes, and off to pack. 

Steam engine to Portmeirion

Ents thru the train window

Portmeirion shots

St. Peter and the sheep

Looking at Mt Snowdon

Slate hill at the museum

Men's choir rehearsal

Sign for the oldest pub The Black Boy, also called Black Buoy. 

Wales

Today we drove many hours thru mostly rain from Cheltenham in the Cotswolds to Caerarfon in Wales. This area is holiday walking country for the Brits, with lots of sheep, streams, fields, and rolling steep hills. Honestly it reminded me of West Virginia as you drive from DC to Berkeley Springs  I did a little shopping at the 2 stops, one of which was at the train station with the world's longest name. Just when I thought I'd start beating on he windows if I had to stay on the bus much longer, the sun emerged and we rolled into the little town of Caernarfon.  Some of us will recognize that name from when we watched the Queen formally name 19 year old Prince Charles as Prince of Wales at the local castle, which dates from around 1050.  What the TV didn't show is that the castle is surrounded by car parks! It sits right on the river to guard the approach from the Irish Sea, and streets and parking lots ring the castle. Kind of funny but undeniably convenient for visitors. I found some cute little stores but not until the 5 pm closing unfortunately. 

Tonight we a and 4 others from our tour had dinner with a local host family. They were a couple with a 12 year old son, the wife is Welsh and the husband comes from Liverpool. She made a lovely traditional dinner of beef stew with mashed potatoes and peas accompanied by homemade wine (from a kit) that tasted quite nice, not at all grapey. Dessert with roly-poly pudding with custard sauce, minus the raisins and Tom Kitten ( if you don't  know what I mean, reread your Beatrix Potter). It was delicious!  We also toured her neighbors' garden that was more like a tiny park with walkways and sculptures, all hand planted and tended by the 72 year old owner. 

Style note: Everyone here wears Barbour or fake Barbour waxed cotton jackets, and now I understand why - you can count on getting wet and wind blown. Our bus driver has a calf length Barbour that looks very dashing, like something Mr. Darcy would wear riding.  

Here's a few pictures from today. 

Traditional full English breakfast from the hotel buffet. 

Wild Welsh garden

Our dinner group

Dutch pancake house near the castle 

Pastel houses, just like in the Being Human TV show, across from the castle

The castle, shot to minimize the car park effect

Town with worlds longest name