Shylock1966

The Emily stone poem by Kate Bush

On the last leg of our Yorkshire walk we went off to find the Emily Stone. The Stone lies in Ogden Moor near to Ogden Reservoir in a place called Great Scar. On the Stone you will find a [poem](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-43897500) that was written by Kate Bush and was finished in 2018, there are 4 stones in total and they all lie on a trail from their birthplace in Thorton to the family home in Haworth

Many trails make there way to the stone however we were pushed for time so we found a car park near to the Reservoir [click here ] from here we traced the beck into great scar and whitewall end when you get to end just head uphill you can’t miss the outcrop of large rocks called Ogden Clough. It takes a bit of finding the stone and there are a few steep banks so watch out. Coming back we tracked back along back lane to the car park.

Mapping where to find the Stone.

For street map OS mapping click here for Stone location.

Days Out, hike, Yorkshire

Stainforth Force waterfall.

A stop off after our hike up malham cove to stainforth force waterfall. A gem of a place and well worth a visit. The bridge dates from 1675 and is an old packhorse bridge. You will find a car park with public toilets just follow the beck and make your way west towards the Waterfall

Please click this link for some more info

hike, national trust, Walking, Yorkshire

Malham Cove

This walk turned out to be one of the best we have done to date. For the scenic views this walk cannot be beaten. We started from the small village of Malham, be careful car parking is mostly on road and it does fill up fast. We first walked to Gordale Scar and you can go over this but it looked well dangerous so we back tracked back and found an alternative route. The top of Malham cove is where they filmed a sene from one of the Harry potter Films and it is one of the strangest places we have been. The route goes over some steep steps but the path is well maintained.

Malham cove is a large limestone formation that looks like a large curve from the bottom, however its the top where it gets interesting , it looks like large slabs of limestone with deep crevices laying in-between its good fun jumping from rock to rock. Heading back is a well kept steep rocky path with large steps so be careful on the way down.

Malham Cove

GPX Data from my Outdoor Active

Cathederal, History, museum, Yorkshire

York

A nice train ride to York for the day. We had a look around the many shops and side streets called the shambles and had a pint in a lovely little pub called the lamb and lion that I see from walking along the city walls. The highlight was a trip to York minster and then a walk up 275 steps to the top of the highest tower. The views from the top were great. We also had a 1 hour river cruise along the river Ouse to see the sights. A good trip out.

**The City walls**
York has, since Roman times, been defended by walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England. They are known variously as **York City Walls**,

Days Out, History, museum, Yorkshire

Knaresborough

The weather was not great so we took the train from Harrogate to Knaresborough only a ten min journey. The little village has one of the nicest train stations looks like something out of the 50’s. There is a nice viaduct that takes the train over the river and looks spectacular from the riverside views. Also take a trip to the castle it is free to get in. Have a look at the Wikipedia link for some more info.

**Knaresborough Castle** is a ruined fortress overlooking the River Nidd in the town of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England.

The early-fifteenth century **Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag** is located in an old quarry on Abbey Road beside the Nidd Gorge at Knaresborough and is an early 15th century chapel cut out of the sandstone of the river gorge cliff face

hike, History, Yorkshire

Bronte falls waterfall walk.

A great Circular walk from the town of Haworth in Bronte country. You will find car parking easy enough it costs about £4.50 and the car park we picked was close to the start point of the hike across the moors. The walk is about 7 mile in total and you work your way along good paths for most of the journey, it a bit rocky near to the Bronte bridge but easy for all the family.

The Bronte bridge runs across South Dean Beck and you will find the waterfall close by, at the time we walked there was a lack of water running down it so we never got to see it in all its glory.

Top Withens (SD981353) (also known as Top Withins) is a ruined farmhouse near Haworth, West Yorkshire, England, which is said to have been the inspiration for the location of the Earnshaw family house Wuthering Heights in the 1847 novel of the same name by Emily Brontë. From Wikipedia.

Mapping Below

For outdoor Active Mapping a GPX date please click the link below.

Please click here or scan with smartphone.

History, museum, Naval, WW2

Bletchley Park home of the codebreakers.

A great trip to Bletchley park home of the codebreakers. Its been ten years or so since our last visit and was pleasantly surprised they has spent a lot of money on the place. Entry fee is £21 for an Adult but we had some free tickets that where given to us by a friend. you will find some great exhibits and its all explained in great detail for you. How it all worked and how the germans never discovered it is amazing for so many people played a part in the cracking of the code thus saving many many lives and shortening the war. make sure you give it a visit you will not be disappointed.

From Wikipedia

Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following 1883 for the financier and politician Sir Herbert Leon in the Victorian Gothic, Tudor, and Dutch Baroque styles, on the site of older buildings of the same name.

During World War II, the estate housed the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), which regularly penetrated the secret communications of the Axis Powers – most importantly the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers; among its most notable early personnel the GC&CS team of codebreakers included Alan Turing, Gordon Welchman, Hugh Alexander, Bill Tutte, and Stuart Milner-Barry. The nature of the work there was secret until many years after the war.

According to the official historian of British Intelligence, the “Ultra” intelligence produced at Bletchley shortened the war by two to four years, and without it the outcome of the war would have been uncertain.^[1] The team at Bletchley Park devised automatic machinery to help with decryption, culminating in the development of Colossus, the world’s first programmable digital electronic computer.^[a] Codebreaking operations at Bletchley Park came to an end in 1946 and all information about the wartime operations was classified until the mid-1970s.

After the war, the Post Office took over the site and used it as a management school, but by 1990 the huts in which the codebreakers worked were being considered for demolition and redevelopment. The Bletchley Park Trust was formed in February 1992 to save large portions of the site from development.

More recently, Bletchley Park has been open to the public and houses interpretive exhibits and rebuilt huts as they would have appeared during their wartime operations. It receives hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.^[2] The separate National Museum of Computing, which includes a working replica Bombe machine and a rebuilt Colossus computer, is housed in Block H on the site.

Days Out, History, local, steam

Pitstone green farm Museum

We have visited a few times before so as the weather was grim we thought another visit was in order. Close to the village of Ivinghoe underneath the Chiltern Hills is the museum . Only £9 to enter for adults car parking included its great value for money. From Lace making, vintage cars, traction engines you will find loads of interesting stuff from days gone by on display. Visit the website to have a look at open days etc.

Links

Pitstone Green farm Museum home page

Google Maps

Days Out, History

Oundle, Fotheringhay castle , Welland viaduct.

A great trip into Northamshire for a visit with a Tudor theme.

An historic market town in Northamptonshire that lies on the banks of the River Nene. We had a stop over on a trip of east Northamptonshire and glad we did as it contains many old Georgian Buildings with one of the oldest being the Talbot Hotel dating from 1626. It is made from the stone from Fotheringhay Castle and the staircase is said to be haunted with the ghost of Queen Mary of Scots.

Fotheringhay castle

A small distance from Oundle lays Fotheringhay Castle where Mary was Beheaded. All that remains now is the motte and Bailey there are also some remains that lay near to the river. The castle was dismantled in the 1630,s and Queen Mary was executed in 1587 there. The site of the castle goes back to 1100 often changing hands many times with various owners please have a look at Wikipedia for more info

Welland viaduct.

So glad we stopped here and marvelled at this great site of engineering. The viaduct crosses the valley of the River Welland. The viaduct is 1,275 yards (1.166 km) long and has 82 arches, each with a 40 feet (12 m) span. It is the longest masonry viaduct across a valley in the United Kingdom.[5] Built by the contractor Lucas and Aird, a total of 30 million bricks were used in the viaduct’s construction.[2] Completed during 1878, it has since become a Grade II listed building.[6]

The Welland Viaduct is on the Oakham to Kettering Line between Corby and Manton Junction, where it joins the Leicester to Peterborough line. The line is generally used by freight trains and steam specials. In early 2009, a single daily passenger service was introduced by East Midlands Trains between Melton Mowbray and St Pancras via Corby, the first regular passenger service to operate across the viaduct since the 1960s. The viaduct is on a diversionary route for East Midlands Railway using the Midland Main Line route.

Oundle

Uncategorized, Walking

Bibury in the cotswolds.

A great walk in the Cotswolds starting in the village of Bibury. Arrive early else you will not park. Our first view was of the cottages that make up Arlington Row which were first built in the 14th century as a wool store, they were converted into weavers houses in the 17th century. They are owned by the National Trust and all are private dwellings apart from one which is rented out as a holiday cottage. We walked along farmland and woods until we got to the village of Winson, a very small but pretty village along the river Coln. There is some beautiful properties all along this walk all built in the traditional limestone, the mill building at Winson being a fine example. Apparently there is a long barrow which we walked right past but couldn’t manage to see. All in all a beautiful walk which we did in lovely weather.

https://www.outdooractive.com/en/route/hiking-route/bibury-in-the-cotswolds/217407638/