Europe (again) 2014: Stonewalled

As we were driving today it struck me as to Yorkshires dependence on stones. There must at one time have been millions of them scattered about, no doubt as a result of glacial action, at a time I know not when. They have over the past who knows how long been collected by who knows who and used to build the thousands of miles of drystone walls that help define this region. Many , many more have been used to build the houses over the centuries and this is continuing today. This man-made activity has shaped the landscape as much as mother nature herself.

Stone walls dominate the countryside.

If I may go back a little , I mentioned in my last post Greg's Mill but forgot it's main claim to fame, it has, reputedly, the largest waterwheel, in Britain. Some statistics, the wheel is 7.3m in diameter, weighs 50 tonnes, develops 100 hp and requires 118,000 litres of water per minute. It still provides all the energy required to run the mill and is even more efficient now thanks to modern bearings and grease. Pretty impressive uh.

Driving through the countryside yesterday, my attention was grabbed by a farm of very large puffballs, or so it seemed. Now Nicky Haeger, would have a field day with this little lot, makes Waihopai (?) look puny. I couldn't get the whole lot in, in one shot but I'm sure you get the idea.

A field of giant puffballs.

Getting to our cottage can be quite a challenge as the roads out here in the Dales can be quite skinny, with very limited vision.

The road home.

Getting used to it slowly (Mrs Currin not so much). Again our cottage is very comfortable and had everything that we require. It is a converted byre, and full of character with huge oak beams and stone walls.

The lounge in our Cottage.

Yesterday we travelled south to York , that magnificent walled city with it's enormous Minster. Earlier in the day we had visited Beverley, to the south of York and for a walled town it to had on impressive Minster. York, though has more to offer than walls and cathedrals, it is a beautiful city with much to offer the traveller, it's narrow streets with their strange names, the Shambles being up there with the best of them.

The Shambles.

York Minster and Street

The Choir in Beverley Minster.

Here in the Dales rivers seem to dominate the landscape and most Dales take the name of the river running through them. We are currently in Nidderdale through which runs the river Nidd. A lot of English rivers are not all that attractive but usually if one searches them out they do have parts which are of great beauty. We found one such place to at a place called How-Stean Gorge. Trouble is anything that attracts tourists also attracts people wanting money from them, and these wilderness experiences can end up costing plenty. No wonder the rambler-public footpath relationship is guarded so jealously. As in the lake district rambling is a major past time here in the Dales with groups of them to be seen everywhere. Surprised to see a steam train yesterday without the accompanying hoards of train spotters, mind you this was a regular sevice so maybe they had all seen it already. I have , so far, been spared the spectacle of Morris Dancing on this trip, only two weeks to go so may get away with it. This train was at Bolton Abbey Station which is in the Bolton Abbey estate owned by the the Duke of Devonshire whose home in Derbyshire, Chatsworth, we visited on our last trip. Bolton Abbey is his Yorkshire escape and consists of some 30,000 acres and includes villages, pubs and even it's town railway station.

As one drives around the area one recent event is constantly evident. TdF14. That's stands for The Tour de France (2014) and everywhere you look are yellow painted bicycles, attached to buildings, fences, hills and anything else to which a bicycle can be attached. The roads also bare reminders with painted words of encouragement still evident on the hills. Unfortunately, the crowd favourite, Mark Cavendish, never really made his mark, having to pull out early on.