Ripon And Cathedral

After Fountains Abbey we spent the night and most of the next day on the canal at Ripon. I walked into town the next day for parts and provisions and happened to pass the cathedral. I never pass a cathedral.

Just outside our window, the Ripon canal

I was going to watch this guy do the lock thing, but then
remembered how tedious and boring it is...

Main street, Ripon, en route to the Sainsbury's...

Ripon cathedral is not one of the famous ones; still worth a
look

The central tower crashed down in the 15th century, taking
most of the nave with it; which was subsequently rebuilt in
a style not exactly matching the Norman chancel

In the locally-carved choir

North-side misericord: Lewis Carroll's father was a canon of
this cathedral, and it is conjectured that this scene, a griffin
or somesuch chasing rabbits down a hole, might have made
an important impression on young Lewis

Extreme close-up of rabbit going down a hole (right)

The hand sticking out of the organ loft made
an impression on me...

Southwest view

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, 2013

We visited Fountains Abbey in 2009, paying rather more attention to the abbey ruins than to the enormous 18th century water gardens that adjoin and actually encompass it. The family that owned Studley Royal purchased the abbey ruins to be one of their gardens' many follies. It is all World Heritage Site now, owned and administered by the National Trust and English Heritage. And this time we did the water gardens tour with a guide and pretty much skipped the abbey.

In the dress-up room: "O Lord, we beseech thee,
Amen"

Main bits of the abbey ruins; it was England's largest and
most prosperous Cistercian abbey, finally laid low by the
plague, resulting full employment and higher wages,
public contempt for ecclesiastical greed and ostentation;
and then Henry VIII

Location, location, location: a beautiful valley, nice river,
about forty yards down from the quarry

First of the many large water features, the rectangular pond

Nice little temple/folly, the first of several

The huge circular pond

Flanked by the crescent ponds

More temples

More follies, all with fine views

More lakes, ponds, the deer park; alas, the great house
burned down in 1946

Beautiful Victorian church on the grounds
commemorating the loss of a family member

A River Runs Through Durham

Our time in the UK, now coming to an end, has been spent largely in wild-camping (free- or savage-camping, the lovely French term). We did stay in campgrounds when Rebecca and Penelope were with us, and in London, but, otherwise, we've stayed in fewer than a handful of campgrounds these three months. This saves £, that is, $. And many times the sites we have found have been far more scenic or convenient than any campground could be. We have been lucky. But more than lucky, we have benefited from a service our navigatrix found and has utilized, wildcamping.co.uk. It identifies plausible overnight/parking places, nationwide, and you can download them to your satnav, and, better yet, your GoogleEarth, which allows you to look over a spot before driving to it. Anyhow, using this service, we drove right into Durham and found a place on the River Wear, half a mile from the castle and cathedral, a couple £s for the rest of Saturday and then free Sunday until 8AM Monday morn. Naturally, we stayed the two nights.

Important PS: bordering all around an empty carpark adjoining the Radisson is a 3 star blackberry patch. I picked a big quart in just minutes, which we enjoyed with doughnut peaches and cream the next couple nights. The blackberries are coming in now here in the North and the Mids.

And there we are (note new windscreen)

Pretty much ground zero Durham, not a small town, we are right across from
the Radisson Blu, and a couple hundred feet down the river guys are fly-fishing:
Missoula!

OK, the comparisons end there since Missoula does not currently have a castle nor
cathedral; note, however, the River Wear has a dam and weir, the Framwelgate,
extending several hundred feet up the river, creating a large and pretty sort of pond

Very useful for night-time shots

Thus

7AM, Monday morning, right outside our door; Durham's a neat place, even if the
cathedral doesn't allow photography

Durham Cathedral, 2013

Durham was more or less on our way south, and I wanted to see it again, partly in view of my increased knowledge/appreciation of cathedrals and partly for revenge. Durham Cathedral still has a no fotos policy, as it did in 2009. It is nearly unique among the great religious houses of Europe in that respect. I was still bitter, as in 2009. It rained our first few hours in Durham, and, although we were parked not half a mile from the cathedral, we put off going until the clouds parted a bit. That was after 6PM, and, evidently, the cathedral's camera constabulary had gone home. Or maybe to prayers. Whatever. I and a couple dozen others went wild taking interior pix. I post some here merely to spite the administration of this church. Rather more commentary on the cathedral is at the 2009 post, photos for which were grabbed off the web. I am still bitter.

View from the north; it's not so much large as old, one of the
oldest of the Normans, much pre-Gothic

Very worn grave marker for a warrior

View of choir looking toward nave

Big rose window

Shrine of St. Cuthbert

Cloister

The Holy Roller just where they'd left it in 2009

Elevation, typical Norman; note the striped
piers; Muslim? Moorish?  no two pairs of piers
alike

Nave view

Tomb of Venerable Bede 

More arches and columns that don't look particularly
Christian

Loves those intertwined arches

Contemporary window; see below

Hurrah for Marks and Spencer employees!

Northwest view

The Lindisfarne Gospels were in town; but the exhibit seemed
more about them than of them, so we skipped them

Alnwick Castle

Next stop on the drive south was Alnwick Castle, historic stronghold of the Percy family, Dukes of Northumberland, a major battle site in the wars with Scotland and also in the War of the Roses. It is one of those privately-owned sites, and we judged the admission price, even for concessionaires (jubilados) such as ourselves, not justified. So we drove by, snapped a few more pix--it is picturesque and historic--and drove on. Some of the Harry Poppins movies were filmed there, as well as many others, but Vicki was not moved. We've seen a lot of castles and great houses...

Alnwick Castle

Ditto

Ditto again

The Treehouse, restaurant omplex that is part of Alnwick 

Return To Holy Island

I don't know what it is that attracts me to Lindisfarne, the Holy Island. Probably the safe, free, wild-camping in a place of scenic, natural, and historic interest. The tides are more dramatic in some other places, but there are only a few where the road disappears completely at high tide, year-round. In any case, we made for the car-park on the mainland side and spent a quiet night there, the only sound being the coming and going of the tides. Next day, we crossed over, snapped a few pix, and resumed our journey south before the next tide trapped us there.

Yes, I know, same sign as in 2009

Crossing

Lindisfarne Castle

Alas, closed when we were there this time; no cockles for Mark

From the island, looking back across the channel-about-to-be-flooded

Do not profane the Holy Island

Back safe we are now on terra firma, watching the beginning of the flood

Maybe it's all the tank obstacles that make me feel safe and secure

In any case, we drove on, stopping for lunch outside Bamburgh Castle; privately
owned but open for paying customers

Farewell, Scotchland

After an administrative day in Edinburgh, routine maintenance on the camper and a new windscreen, we reluctantly turned back south. We might have stayed longer in Edinburgh, enjoying the Festival and Fringe as we did, but we had cancelled our campground reservations and were beginning to get concerned about our time left in the UK, sights to see and things to do and get done. Although we had spent more time on a very good visit to Scotland in 2009, we were pleased with this shorter visit, more quality time in a sense. In any case, we hope to get back, next time spending August in Edinburgh with short trips all around.

For those keeping score, my sampling of the local beverage included Edrador, Ardbeg, Tobermory, Bowmore, Laphroig, Jura, the aforementioned Campbelltown from Cadenhead's, and, of course, still my favorite, Highland Park.