Saturday 9 May. Corbridge

My main task for the day was pretty straightforward - find a laundromat and do a load of washing. The one very close by was a commercial laundry but would do it for £25. I felt I could do better elsewhere! Couldn’t find any in Corbridge but Google offered one in Hexham, only a couple of miles away. When I got there it was closed so Google offered me another one in Hexham and tried to take me the wrong way down a one way street. This has happened a couple of times and I suspect there are lots of changes in these narrow streets. I eventually found the address but had to ask in a petrol station where it was. Turned out to be down a driveway, next to a car wash and not in a building.

I loaded my washing, paid by card and pressed start, then sat in the car and read my book for half an hour. When it was finished I moved it into the dryer and repeated the procedure. 15 minutes later it was almost dry so back I went and hung it on hangers in my room to finish off.

Today has been miserably cold. My weather app said 8 degrees but feels like 1. I’d have said even less when I was standing listening to a volunteer guide tell us all about Corbridge Roman Town. This town predates Hadrian and his wall. The Romans came here looking for lead and found it. It was a fort for a while and then after the wall was built became a town where the soldiers from the wall used to have a bit of R & R.

The ruins that we saw were huge granaries right beside the Roman road, where grain could be easily unloaded. The big open area was a forum with shops around the edges. You can see where the walls of the shops were. Another interesting spot was a deep chamber with stairs leading down. This was a vault where people could pay to keep their valuables safe.

The biggest find here was a wooden box with spare parts for soldiers uniforms. People knew from carvings and murals what Roman soldiers’ uniforms looked like but they didn’t know exactly how they were made. The contents of the box had rusted and virtually mummified the pieces within and from this archaeologists could work out all the parts of the uniforms.

I was still freezing cold when I got back into the car and headed for the nearest cafe and a bowl of pumpkin soup.

Friday 8 May. Corbridge

Today I travelled about 80 miles north, avoiding the motorway so that I could see the countryside. It takes a lot longer to get to your destination but is so much more interesting. My destination was Birdoswald Roman Fort, a part of Hadrian’s Wall.

It amazes me how much they can learn from ruins like these, and wandering through the fort gave me a very “Time Team” feeling. There is a big, square perimeter wall with a number of gates in it. The part that has mainly been excavated is the granaries, long storehouses with raised floors which could store up to a year’s supply of food.

I noticed that many of the visitors had walking poles and backpacks. There are walking paths all along the wall and I saw people disappearing into the distance as they walked through a field beside the wall. It looked like a pleasant walk here but some sections would be a nightmare, if not downright dangerous.

On my way to Corbridge I saw a sign to a Roman Army Museum so of course I turned off for a look. There were all sorts of examples of army paraphernalia but the thing I liked best was a film about Roman army life which included a lot of aerial footage of the wall. I was surprised at how much is left and amazed at the construction, in all kinds of terrain, of this 4.6 metre high wall. 

I have been so lucky with the weather and today was no exception. It started to rain just as I was getting my luggage out of the car and the heavens opened a couple of seconds after I stepped inside the door. Just made it!

Thursday 7 May. High Bentham

If Anne had been a passenger in my car today I’m convinced that she would have taken more than a thousand photos. However, being the driver, I was rather limited, especially as there are very few places where you can pull off the road to take a photo.

The first part of the drive took me back up to the moors and when I did hop out for a photo the wind was freezing. No wonder they all got tuberculosis. I thought I had opted for a fairly straightforward route but the lady in the GPS had other ideas and I soon lost count of the roundabouts and road changes. That was fine until she decided to stop talking and I had to follow the directions on the dashboard. I think I touched something on the steering wheel and turned her off.

When I eventually made it to Aysgarth Falls I had a restorative latte and googled how to turn her back on. Then I had a look at the upper and middle falls. It was a very pretty area with lots of wildflowers, including a fairly rare wood anemone.

On the road again and the lady was giving me directions once more. I stopped at the Wensleydale Creamery, home of Wensleydale cheese and much favored by Wallace and Grommet. In fact the show is credited with saving the company as it was struggling until people wanted to buy the cheese that Wallace likes. I sampled some nice cheese and the local ice cream.

Last stop along the way was the Ribblehead viaduct. It is 400 feet long with 24 arches.  Over 2000 navvies worked on its construction and more than 100 died from accidents and smallpox.

I finally reached my destination, the Black Bull Inn in High Bentham, somewhere around 4 o’clock. This is just a one night stop, a shame as it’s got the first decent sized shower I’ve seen so far.

8

Photos are out of order. Bad internet connection so.

Wednesday 6 May. Whitby

A chilly day today with a top of only 8 degrees but not too bad as it wasn’t windy. I was well rugged-up as I wandered down to the end of the sea wall to see the lighthouses, the abbey and the view back to the town.

I liked the sculpture of the herring girls. They worked in teams of three - two gutting the fish and one packing them into a barrel. They followed the fishing fleet by train and were ready to receive the fish when the fleet arrived,

I thought it would be unpatriotic to miss the James Cook Museum so that was next on my list. The best thing was the model of the Endeavour with all the people and preparations. 

The streets/lanes got busier as the day progressed and I wandered up, down and along both sides of the river. Very British seaside, with lots of pubs, fish and chip shops and more sweet shops than you can count. Quite a few places selling jet jewellery too. Jet is 180 million year old fossilized wood found along the North Yorkshire coast. They thought it made great mourning jewellery in the Victorian era. I bet Queen Victoria had lots.

Tuesday 5 May. Whitby

A bigger day of driving than I expected today. I didn’t want to travel on the motorway and miss the scenery so I set my GPS for a morning tea stop at Ripon. I might have avoided the motorway but I didn’t avoid the traffic. My route skirted around the outer suburbs of Bradford and also Leeds, I think. It was bumper to bumper for well over an hour. 

Eventually I made it to Ripon, where I had planned on a cuppa by the canal, only to find there was no loo there. Eventually, and with great relief, I found one near the cathedral. Nearby was a nice little cafe where I enjoyed a cream tea - with clotted cream. Yum!

My second reason for coming north was to visit Kilburn and add to my collection of white horses. This one was very big and easy to find. It was cut in 1857 and is 314 ft long and 228 ft high. The horses in the south are cut into chalk but this one is cut into limestone so it was artificially whitened, first with whitewash and now with chalk chippings from the Yorkshire Wolds. During World War II it had to be covered so that it wouldn’t be a target for German bombers.

The drive today took me through typical English rural scenery, all very green except for fields of rapeseed. There have been some big climbs and steep descents and most striking, a sudden change from farms to heather-clad moorland which felt desolate and made one think of Cathy and Heathcliff.

My final destination was the coastal town of Whitby. Fun and games getting to my hotel as I kept missing the turnoff. It seemed too small to be a road. Over the road from the Pier Inn is the mouth of the Esk River and on either side there are attached buildings. So where was the parking they provide? I soon found out.  Drive to the end of the road, follow it around and up the hill and look for the W parking spots on the side of the road. That is Cliff Rd, way above sea level. I had to put a parking permit in the car and make my way down a narrow alley. Fortunately I had already dropped my case at the hotel.

Anyway I have a nice little room with a view so all’s well.

Monday 4 May. Halifax

Today I visited the place that I really came to the UK to see - and it exceeded my expectations. In fact, I felt a bit emotional when I first entered. The Piece Hall was built in 1779 for the trading of pieces of cloth (30 yard lengths of woven woollen fabric produced on a hand loom). This trading of cloth was hugely important, not only to Halifax, but to the nation over a period of 600 years. The Piece Hall is considered one of Britain’s most important Georgian buildings.

Wandering around Halifax it’s obvious that this was once a very wealthy city. There are many beautiful old buildings, including my hotel. It’s also obvious that those times are gone, with many shuttered shops and no sign of luxury goods. Mind you as today was a public holiday some of those places might have been closed for the day.

After spending the whole morning at the Piece Hall I collected my car from the parking place and went in search of the Salterhebble Locks. That was a bit of a challenge as the GPS wasn’t interested in locks. I finally got there only to find that the car park was full, so I continued a little way and parked on the side of the road. I was in luck as just near my car was a little bridge across the canal and a track down to the canal path. It was lovey down there and so vividly green. I found the two upper locks and also a little lock keeper’s cottage that was available for holiday rental.

My next stop was supposed to be Shibden Hall, once home to Anne Lister, a very interesting but somewhat scandalous character. However the car park was full and the area further up the road that cars were in was also full and the road was way too narrow to park on. So I skipped the house and returned to town. 

Had a wander round the centre and made my way down to the Piece Hall once again for a cuppa before returning to my hotel and finishing my book, “You are here” by David Nicholls. I really enjoyed it, especially as it was largely set in Yorkshire.  Dinner was a tasty steak and ale pie in a pub that needed a good scrub. It too has seen better days. 

Oh, how glad I am to have seen that wonderful Piece Hall.

Sunday 3 May. Halifax

Well, it’s been quite a day. Up and out nice and early, and a taxi close by which took me to Euston Station. I was an hour early for my train to Manchester but luckily found a seat, as the number of people was growing. Thought I’d grab the opportunity for a WhatsApp call to Anne. I had to suddenly break off the call as the platform number for the Manchester train came up on the screen and hordes of people, virtually everyone in the station started running for that platform.

I joined them at a more decorous pace. The hordes were scrambling onto the train so I went quite a way along before climbing aboard, only to discover that every seat I passed had been booked. This was at 9.00 on a Sunday morning! I hopped off the train and continued even further along and had just about decided to wait for the next train when one of the people told me that all the trains would be booked out because Liverpool was playing Manchester in Manchester that afternoon. The hordes were going to the football!

So I climbed aboard and found a spot near a door, where I was helped to put my case under the luggage rack. There I was with three blokes, two standing and one sitting on the luggage rack. He made room and I was able to sit beside him with my feet dangling. There were others in the aisle and more in the area where the carriages join.

It turned out to be a most entertaining journey listening to hair-raising stories about the experiences of the chap who had been in the police. The guy next to me was just a nice bloke from Guildford and the third was a young man from Gundiwindi. He works for the Queensland Government in business promotion. 

I saw no scenery on my “quiet” Sunday ride to Manchester but had a great, though less than comfortable, time. Once there I changed platforms and caught another train to the airport, then spent quite a while finding the shuttle bus for the car rental park. Eventually I was in the car and on the motorway heading for Halifax. It felt like it took hours but was probably not much more than an hour to go 45 miles. 

The hotel I’m in has no parking so after dropping my luggage off I was directed to the local shopping centre car park. Finally in my room, only to discover that my gorgeous, huge bathroom had a leak in the ceiling and water was dripping into a puddle on the floor. Back to reception and changed to another room with a tiny shower in the bathroom.

By now I was exhausted and a bit lightheaded, I think from the motion of the train and also lack of food. I went around the corner to a peri peri chicken place and had a very ordinary meal. It’s cold and damp here and I’m very happy to be tucked up in a much better bed than I had in London.