Wast Water

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, although definitely cool. We are learning that "Spring" in Cumbria means temperatures in the high 30's to mid-40's with rain possible at any minute. A sunny day was not to be wasted, and since we had to stay close to home this weekend, we decided to re-visit Muncaster Castle. We came across a sign that proclaimed that the Bluebells are lovely and in full bloom, and we decided to check them out. After a nice long walk past several fields of bluebells we came around to the castle, and the owls. We spent several hours at Muncaster walking and taking pictures. Saturday night we went to the local civic auditorium where we saw "The Wizard of Oz" performed by a local amateur theatre company.

Sunday morning after Church we decided to take a drive to Wast Water, England's deepest lake. Scafell Pike, one of the fell's near the lake, is England's highest peak at 3,210 feet. We were amazed at how close Wast Water is to our home in Whitehaven: about a half hour's drive. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Bluebells in bloom at Muncaster Castle. We walked past fields of these on our walk.

There is a World Owl Conservatory at Muncaster Castle. There are many owls from all over the world here. The aim, of course, is to rehabilitate the owls and return them to the wild. They are also undertaking breeding of certain owls as these owls are endangered in the wild.



















Sunday Pictures.....

Wast Water Lake and the fells beyond.

Another view of Wast Water Lake and the fells.

This inn is at the head of the lake, in the tiny community of Wasdale Head. The inn is where walkers and climbers gather to share their stories of adventure in the fells. Scott and I had a nice lunch here. That small paved surface that goes in between the stone walls is the road! It is about a car width and half wide. Luckily there are frequent wide spots so vehicles can manage to get by one another without bashing mirrors, or worse!

Fell Walking

After our escapades at Muncaster Castle on Friday, we returned to the general area on Saturday and climbed aboard the Ravenglass-Eskdale railroad train also known as "The Ratty". This is a narrow gauge train originally built to haul iron ore down from the mountains. Once that industry dried up it was used to haul granite before finally being turned into a tourist attraction. Now it goes from Ravenglass, on the seacost, to Dalegarth Station; a trip of about 7 miles, but 40 minutes. Scott had in his mind to find another set of stone circles that we believed we could hike to from Dalegarth Station. At the station we bought a booklet describing many fell (mountain) walks including the stone circles and, after receiving some advice and directions from one of the workers, we set off. The day was cool and overcast, but the rain held off as we began our journey. Unfortunately, we began by taking a wrong turn, and, after doubling back, and consulting our booklet, we began walking again, straight up the fell (that is straight up!). As we climbed the views of the little town of Booth below and another set of fells in the distance were great. After about 45 minutes of steady climbing Scott reached the top. I was lagging behind, stopping to enjoy the views and catch my breath. Unfortunately, this was not the right way to go either and we began the treacherous journey back down the fell. After doubling back once again, and restarting our journey, we began a climb that was described in our book as "steep" and "zig-zagging". That was definitely true! After another hour of climbing Scott reached the top, managed to find the stone circles, and snapped a few pictures. I, on the other hand, went about 2/3 of the way up, decided that 3 hours of climbing around on the fells was enough for one day, and headed down the fell.  Once reunited at the bottom, we settled in at the local pub and enjoyed a glass of wine and the beautiful fells around us.

The view from along the trail. Those lines in the distance are stone walls like the one in the foreground.

Looking back along the path. The white buildings in the distance are the village of Booth. The train station is near the little village.

The stone circles at last!

Muncaster Castle

Well, Easter weekend has arrived and Scott, for the first time in memory, has a 4 day holiday! The weather here promised to be sunny, cloudy, and rainy-not all at the same time, of course, but any of those at any given moment. It's still quite cool here with temperatures in the mid-40's. Scott and I decided to take a short drive to Muncaster Castle, located a few miles away in the fells. Muncaster Castle has been the continuous residence of the Pennington family since 1208. It is also advertised as a haunted castle. Scott does not believe in such things, but I, on the other hand, tend to think that anything is possible. The castle is situated on beautiful grounds and is noted for the outstanding gardens. The World Owl Trust also maintains a center within the gardens.

It is still early April, but we were treated to some beautiful spots of color here and their in the gardens. We will be excited to return in a few weeks when the trees will have leaves and more flowers will be in bloom.  We did enjoy a tour of some of the inside of the castle and we wandered through the gardens to an old cemetery and church, which is still in use. As for the ghosts, well, there's a story. As Scott and I wandered from room to room inside the castle we entered one of 3 bedrooms on the second floor. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I felt goosebumps! I turned to Scott and said, "This room is haunted!". He, typically, scoffed at the idea until a few minutes later he found an article written about the room and the castle. Apparently scientists have been investigating the strange goings on at this castle since 1992. It is believed to be one of the most haunted buildings in England.....if you believe in such things. For the bold and daring, there are "ghost sits" held right in the very room we were standing in. Also, overnight ghost vigils are available for the daring. The goosebumps were enough for me, and I was out of there!!

Still, ghosts or not, we will return often to enjoy the beautiful grounds.                                                                                                                            

Fun "Stuff" from Edinburgh

While Scott and I did really enjoy the castle, palace, and cathedral in Edinburgh we found that there was so much more to see and enjoy. This collection of photos pretty much covers our fun!

Both days we were in Edinburgh we passed a bagpiper. We couldn't pass up the photo op!

Sir William Wallace, of Braveheart fame? This "Wallace" is a high school drama teacher. His picture is actually on all of the travel brochures and postcards for Edinburgh. He only does this to raise money for charities. This day he was raising money to fight leukemia.

Monument to Sir Walter Scott. It's 200 feet 6 inches tall. There are 297 steps to the top, and Scott climbed them all!

Edinburgh is the home of J.K.Rowling, author of Harry Potter. It is said that The Elephant House is the birthplace of Harry Potter!

Shopping on The Royal Mile. Ever wonder what's under the kilt?

Yep, that's us!

Edinburgh and The Palace at Holyroodhouse

The Palace of Holyroodhouse stands at the foot of "The Royal Mile" in Edinburgh. It has been a royal residence for over 500 years. It once was the home of Mary Queen of Scots.(She lost her head!) Robert Louis Stevenson wrote of Holyroodhouse, "Holyrood is a house of many memories. Wars have been plotted, dancing has lasted deep into the night, murder has been done in its chamber."

It is the official residence of Her Majesty The Queen in Scotland. While the Queen can generally be found at Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace she is officially in residence at Holyroodhouse at least once a year in the summer. Holyroodhouse takes it's origins from an Augustinian Abbey built in 1128 by David I. The Abbey contained royal chambers used by the king. By the time Edinburgh became the capitol of Scotland in the 15th century kings and queens preferred Holyrood, with it's beautiful gardens and large park for hunting, over the Edinburgh Castle. James IV converted the royal lodgings into a palace and the new building was completed in 1504. Like many similar structures, Holyrood has been destroyed, rebuilt, expanded and renovated many times, and very little of the original structure remains. Scott and I spent several hours wandering around the palace and the grounds.

The Abbey saw many royal burials between the 1400's and mid-1500's. It suffered from many destructive raids and the various royal vaults and monuments were destroyed. The royal remains were later collected and interred together in the Royal Vault. Although the Abbey today is a ruin, this vault remains intact.

Scott and I finished off our afternoon by hopping a double decker bus and enjoying a narrated tour of the sights and history of Edinburgh. We did notice many underground tours of Edinburgh, and have since learned that they are a "not to be missed" part of Edinburgh's history. Maybe we will save that for when the kids visit!

Edinburgh Castle

Scott and I set off to visit Edinburgh
Castle on Saturday morning. Like many castles, this one has seen it's share of wars, additions, and renovations, and so the structures are not all of the same age. The oldest structures in the Castle date from the 12th century. It is built on volcanic rock, at the top of a steep hill. It's location made it more easily defensible and provides some lovely views of the city as well.
Scotland does not get the best weather in the world. It is often cold, rainy, and windy. There is a palace inside the castle walls, but, for the most part the royals of Scotland chose not to use the palace as their permanent residence. Mostly they came to the palace when they felt their life was in danger. The Castle has always had a strong military presence, and that continues to the present day.

Inside the castle walls there is the Regimental Museum of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, The Regimental Museum of The Royal Scots, several cannon batterys, and Mons Meg. Mons Meg is a huge gun weighing in at about 6 tons. The gun was given to James II of Scotland in 1457 as a seige gun. Despite it's huge size, or, actually, due to it's huge size, it was not very practical to use. It could only travel about 3 miles each day and required a hundred men to move it! It could fire a distance of up to 2 miles however.

After about 1550 it was taken out of military service and only fired on special occasions such as the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots in 1558.

Another building inside the castle walls is the Great Hall.  The Great Hall was completed in 1511 and was intended to be a ceremonial meeting place. In 1650 it was turned into a barracks and remained in military use until 1886. The stone corbels supporting the roof are carved with Renaissance sculpture, the oldest surviving in Britain. During our visit the walls were lined with swords, armour, pistols, and guns. This collection was on loan from the Tower of London.

There are many other buildings inside the castle walls, including the Scottish National War Memorial. The War Memorial was opened in 1927 to honour the dead from World War I. The building also commemorates the deaths of those in World War II.

There is a palace inside the castle walls, used off and on by royals from 1430 to 1633. It was the birthplace of James VI of Scotland, son of Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Lord Darnley. Also inside the castle walls are The Honours of Scotland: the Crown, Sceptre, and Sword of State. These are the oldest crown jewels in the British Isles and were used together for the coronation of Mary Queen of Scots in 1543.


After walking around inside the castle walls, and checking out a gift shop or two, Scott and I left the castle and started down the hill towards the Palace at Holyrood House. We did make a couple of detours, however. We stopped in at The Scottish Whiskey Experience where we learned the story of how whiskey is made and also had a tasting. Scott has been known to enjoy a single malt from time to time, as both Uncle Dana and our friend Ray will attest. I, on the other hand, could barely get the glass to my nose, had one very tiny sip, and turned my shot over to Scott to finish off. Inside the Scottish Whiskey Experience is the largest collection of whiskey in the world.


Cheers!

Edinburgh and St. Giles Cathedral

Scott and I headed off to Edinburgh this past weekend. Our plan was to take in the Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyrood, and maybe the Royal Yacht Brittania. Aside from that, we planned to relax and investigate a new city and country. We stayed at the Radisson Blu Hotel which was pretty much right in the middle of "The Royal Mile"; a "just over a mile" stretch of road that runs between the Castle and the Palace. It turned out to be a great location for our weekend away.

Saturday morning we set off towards the Edinburgh Castle

The street was lined with all sorts of interesting shops and even a few street vendors. About 2 blocks away from our hotel we came across the beautiful St. Giles Cathedral. After snapping a few photos we headed on up the hill to the Castle. The Castle itself was really great to explore. Look for more information and pictures in a future blog about the Castle.

On our way back down The Royal Mile we came again to St. Giles Cathedral and this time the doors were open, we could hear music coming from inside, and we saw lots of tourists wandering in and out. Of course we had to go in and check it out! Some of our Presbyterian friends, much more educated in Presbyterianism than Scott and I, will know where we stood, but for us it was an amazing find! St. Giles Church, in addition to being the site where the queen confirms knighthood on selected individuals, is known as The Mother Church of Presbyterianism!

The Cathedral is quite beautiful inside with many arches, chapels, monuments, and prayer rooms. This building has been added onto, remodelled, and seen parts of it demolished since it was founded in the 1120's, and has endured at least one fire. During the reformation years it was used as a police station, fire station, school, jail, and space was even used to store a guillotine!

In more recent history, the church has been re-designed with the alter table moved to the centre of the Cathedral. This photo is looking across the centre towards the organ. The organ itself is new, built in 1992 .

This photo was taken from the pews looking towards one of the magnificent stained glass windows. This particular window includes the story of Jesus from his arrest through ascension.
In some parts of the Cathedral the ceilings are made of stone, while in others they are painted a beautiful shade of blue, as you can see in this picture.

Scott and I did return to St. Giles to worship on Palm Sunday. We were treated to some beautiful music and a thoughtful message. While the service was not unlike our American Presbyterian services, there were some interesting differences. Instead of the offering being collected in a plate or basket, sporran's (money pouches) were passed along the rows. In the Lord's Prayer we said "trespasses" instead of "debts". My Methodist friends might have it right after all ;-). Perhaps the biggest surprise to us, though, came with communion. In this particular church the wine is shared in a common cup passed from person to person. We were definitely not expecting that
If you would like to know more about St. Giles Cathedral here is a link: www.stgilescathedral.org.uk

More about our trip to Edinburgh coming soon !