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  • Lake District Week – Nomination for Awards

    This has caused a lot of debate, but I can announce the nominees for the various awards from this Lake District week. I have accepted bribes in the way of food and drinks, and this has helped considerably.

    The results will be announced on Friday’s short walk.

    So the nominations are:

    BRAVEST WALKER OF THE WEEK

    Sarah (for completing Striding Edge)

    Gordon (for continuing despite tendon difficulties)

    Julian (for being positive and courageous)

    BEST DRIVER OF THE WEEK

    Steve B (for smooth and faultless driving and going to Greggs)

    Sarah (for getting parallel parking sorted)

    Maggie (for using her camper van at the last minute to get people to Scafell Pike)

    ORGANISER OF THE WEEK

    Julian

    No other nominations were received

    QUOTE OF THE WEEK

    Dave (Buy someone a meal? Gordon could buy the entire restaurant)

    Maggie (Are we really climbing that hill?)

    Dave (Here’s one for you, I’ve got a question)

    BEST WALKER OF THE WEEK

    Steve M (for completing walks with his arms still folded)

    Dave (battling on with a damaged arm)

    Julian (for general bravery)

    DRINKER OF THE WEEK

    Dave (shots Dave)

    Julian (shots Julian)

    Sarah (it’s not a hangover, it’s a migraine)

    NICEST PERSON OF THE WEEK

    Maggie (for helping to drive, buying Dave a meal and always willing to help)

    Steve M (for being a gentleman and general kindness)

    Dave (for buying drinks)

    INTELLECTUAL OF THE WEEK

    Gordon (for his general intellectual ability)

    Julian (for his political debate)

    No other nominations were received

    LOSING THE MOST THINGS IN THE WEEK

    Dave

    No other nominations were received

    YOUNGEST PERSON OF THE WEEK

    Julian (automatic award)

    DISASTER OF THE WEEK

    Dave (failing to connect with his landlady)

    Dave (losing his wallet)

    Dave (breaking his phone)

    COVER-UP OF THE WEEK

    Gordon (Sandwichgate)

    Maggie (Hay-on-Wye)

    Gordon (Hay-on-Wye)

    BEST CAR OF THE WEEK

    Steve B (Skoda excellence)

    No other nominations were received

    DRUNKEN MESS OF THE WEEK

    Maggie (losing her camper van)

    Sarah (getting a ‘migraine’)

    Gordon (I’ve got such a hangover)

    WORST ACCOMMODATION OF THE WEEK

    Gordon (TV problems, bed problems, heat problems, staff problems)

    Steve M (hotel in different country)

  • Lake District Week – Quotes of the Day

    My usual little “quotes of the day” feature hasn’t really been running this week, so I thought I’d add a few to the mix now I’ve got more time. Some you really had to be here to understand, but they’ll remain relevant to at least one or two people on this trip.

    “I’m the best looking of my siblings” – Gordon

    “I just can’t afford all of these trips” – Dave, followed by “I can” – Gordon.

    “I’m going to get the award for losing the most things this week” – Dave

    “Buy someone a meal? Gordon could buy the entire restaurant” – Dave

    “All this climbing, you know what’ll happen now, you’ll need to keep getting that buzz. You’ll become a danger monkey” – Gordon to Steve

    “I’m not interest in Striding Edge, I’m content with Plodding Edge” – Gordon

    “She spends so long with her hair, she’s such a vain creature” – Gordon

    “I’m a lot younger than you though” – Dave to Gordon

    “I’m Dave” – Dave

    “Here’s one for you, I’ve got a question” – Dave

    “Gordon, when I paid with your card, it was heavy, so heavy” – Dave

    “I’ll tell you three reasons why women don’t put their photos up. They’re a bit of a moose*, because of their work and I’ve forgotten the third reason” – Dave

    *I don’t approve of sexism or the portrayal of women in this way.

  • Lake District – Cathedral Quarry Walk (Part Two)

    Tuesday’s walk was relatively easy and the highlight of it was visiting the Cathedral Quarry site. I asked everyone who had one to bring a head torch, although I then promptly managed to forget my own….

    Steve at the entrance to the caves.

    The group getting ready to enter the cave. Sarah was particularly excited to use her new head-torch which she had purchased the day before. Maggie had also diligently purchased some new batteries for her head-torch, although it didn’t work anyway. I just entirely forgot mine.

    The main chamber of the cave.

    Inside the cave.

    Some of us decided that this looked a bit slippery, so we didn’t climb up. Gordon and I just didn’t want to injure ourselves, Maggie was tempted and Dave was desperate to go, but he was concerned he might further damage his paper cut. However, the two Steves and Sarah had no fear and they set off, ready to enter a world of the unknown. Well, not quite, but it sounds exciting.

    Looking up at Steve, Steve and Sarah (they’re in the middle of the photo, not particularly easy to see).

    We were going to walk down into the cave system to meet the others, but it looked a little wet and slippery to me. And since I had done it before, and I’m very risk averse, I decided to have a little lunch instead. So we had a little wait whilst the three brave souls explored what there was to see.

    One of the former quarry buildings at the top, this was once the blacksmith’s workshop. There is also a nearby row of 17 houses built at the end of the nineteenth century, where workers at the quarry lived, and a school was also built here to educate their children.

    The entire site had been a stone quarry for some time (since at least the sixteenth century), and was especially busy in the nineteenth century when there was an increased demand for building materials. It remained in use until the 1950s and was purchased by Beatrix Potter in 1929, who later gifted it to the National Trust.

  • Lake District – Cathedral Quarry Walk (Part One)

    On the Tuesday, as we wanted a little rest from the exertions of Scafell Pike, we decided to do a walk around the Cathedral Quarry complex and also Slater’s Bridge. I’ve split this into two posts, one about the walk itself and the other about the Cathedral Quarry caves.

    Above is the start point for the walk and for a change, I decided to throw the .gpx file to the wind (not literally, as I love my phone too much) and lead the group on a little bit of an adventure. There was a little bit at the beginning of the walk where we ended up doing a rather unnecessarily long loop, but it all worked out well. And the group likes adventure  🙂

    Gordon showed us the moves which he has learned from Heather, who teaches yoga (and is excellent for anyone who wants to learn!). I’m not sure how good a student Gordon is, but it looked rather energetic. Gordon is very supple though, it’s a surprise that he doesn’t teach yoga as well.

    The river at the start of the walk, where there has been some stone stacking going on.

    And a photo from the other side of the bridge.

    The path into the woods.

    Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club.

    A rather lovely looking sheep. I called it Dylan.

    More on the slate quarry in another post, but this is the exterior that we walked round. They’ve dumped the slate that they didn’t need around the outside, so it’s quite a stark reminder of the industry that was here until relatively recently.

    A group photo by the river. I thought that the tree would add some depth to the photo, but it hasn’t really, it has just blocked part of Sarah’s head.

    Gordon, who is one of the cleverest people I know, told us that these were saddleback cows.

    Steve with a sign (rather obviously). This was a lovely little walk, just six miles or so, which took in a peaceful part of the countryside. As it was a short walk it also meant that we had time to go to Ambleside, more of which on another post   🙂

  • Keswick – The Wainwright

    We thought that we’d start our hunt for food in the Wainwright, a CAMRA award winning pub.

    There were seven of us….. Although the pub was pretty full anyway, although the atmosphere was friendly. There were plenty of dogs in the pub, one of which decided to lick Steve.

    Rather a nice stout, although it’s nitro, although served colder than I’d like. Although I think it’s meant to be served at that temperature, it seemed to lose some depth of taste.

    How lovely. There were also numerous real ales, I think seven, although it was hard to get to the bar area to see them.

  • Dereham – St Withburga’s Well

    This well was originally the burial place of St. Withburga, but it is said that in 974 monks from Ely took her body to be buried at Ely Cathedral. When the locals discovered that someone had pinched the saint they had happily buried in their graveyard they were rather displeased and decided to go and have a fight with the Ely monks. The fight didn’t go very well as the Dereham men got into boggy ground in Ely, so they came home. When they arrived home they found that the burial site was now full of water, and they liked this water and so it became a pilgrimage site, although it’s behind iron railings to stop people from falling into it. The water still flows today, and it remains a site that pilgrims come to visit.

    St. Withburga, or Wihtburh, died in 743 and she founded a religious house in Dereham. She was also part of the family who ran the local area and her body still remains in Ely Cathedral, although relics relating to her were mostly destroyed during the Reformation.

    The inscription on the stone reads “the ruins of a tomb which contained the remains of Wethburga, youngest daughter of Annas, King of the East Angles who died AD 654”.

    The EDP from 1896 mentions that the site of the well was once a baptistery where locals were baptised, but this was changed in 1752 when it was converted into a bath. Then in 1793, a brick bath house was built over the top and apparently one local decided to have a bath in the water every single week. He apparently lived “to a good old age”, so it didn’t do him any harm.

    The well is located just in front of St. Nicholas Church in Dereham.

  • Norfolk Broads – Ranworth Church (St. Helen’s)

    St. Helen’s is sometimes known as the ‘Cathedral of the Broads’, so it seemed apt to visit it whilst we were on the Hike Norfolk annual boating day trip on the water. The earliest part of the current building dates to the late thirteenth century, with substantial parts being added in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

    The pulpit is a little understated compared to other parts of the church. At the end of the nineteenth century, the entire church was in desperate need of repair and it also needed a new roof. It was closed for four years and finally re-opened in 1903 with a new nave roof and the addition of some new windows.

    The EDP noted at the time that “a difficulty often encountered in remote and sparsely populated parishes is the possession of a spacious and costly church of which Ranworth is such an instance. The most casual observer must at once perceive that the condition into which this beautiful church has fallen is more the result of neglect than wilful spoilation”. Incidentally, I rather like the word ‘spoilation’, it was a word commonly used in the Victorian period and is rarely used today.

    The church has a rather beautiful rood screen still in place, and although some is missing, it’s one of the best in Norfolk.

    The font is made of Purbeck marble and is relatively plain in its design.

    The churchyard is well kept and the church has constructed a rather delightful and unobtrusive cafe in the corner. Unfortunately, the cafe was unexpectedly shut during our visit, but the menu looked very reasonably priced.

    The Queen and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, visited the church on 25 November 1976. A date rather near to the day that I was born….

    The church organ, which dates from the late nineteenth century.

    The Ranworth Antiphoner, which is perhaps one of the most exceptional liturgical books on display in any English church. Indeed, it’s so amazing that it’s surprising that it remains in the church, although rather wonderful that it does. The case in which it is now displayed was constructed by the inmates of Norwich Prison, and it is apparently very secure.

    It dates from the fifteenth century and was commissioned for the church, although it went missing after the Reformation. Fortunately, it came up for auction in 1912 and was acquired once again for the church. The church opens the case on a regular basis to change the page which is displayed.

    I’m surprised that the church allows unsupervised visits to the top of the tower. But, it’s a great thing for a church to do, and it offers excellent views over the local area. There are around 90 steps and you just have to hope that not too many people are coming down as you go up (or the other way round) as there isn’t exactly much space. On the way up to the top, which involves two ladders right near the top (I was very brave) it’s possible to see the church bells.

    And the underside of the bells….

    Views from the church tower, definitely worth the climb.

    The weather-vane on top of the church.

  • Norfolk Broads – Facilities on the Water

    Helpful facilities for those working on the Norfolk Broads…..

  • Chambery Walk

    Just photos on this post, this was a walk from Chambery railway station to the north-west of the city. It’s about three miles and was surprisingly pleasant, as the areas either side of the river are quite industrial. The river, with its impressively clear water, is La Leysse which is an Alpine river which crosses the region before ending up in Lake Bourget.

    Next time I visit the region though there are proper mountain walks to be completed!

  • Annemasse – Annemasse Railway Station to Bellegarde

    I didn’t get long to spend in Annemasse as I was getting a train to Chambery but first I had to get a train to Bellegarde. The station exterior above looked modern and well presented. The railway station was first opened in 1880 when the line was introduced to run from Paris to the Mediterranean.

    In March 1944 the allies dropped aid parcels in the area, with many of them landing near to the railway station. Today most of the rail routes are regional, there’s also a TGV service running through the station from Paris to Thonon-les-Bains.

    A memorial to those who had died in the wars.

    The ticket wasn’t unreasonable priced. I also much prefer the French tickets to those issued in the UK, they’re larger and have far more useful information on them. The cramming in information onto the smaller UK tickets usually means that it’s not as clear as it could be.

    A map at the station of the local rail routes.

    The train.

    The view from the train, which varied and was often interesting.