Visiting one of England's stately homes

 Whenever I visit the UK I usually manage to visit one or more of the many stately homes and manors that were once lived in (and in some cases still are) by England's rich and famous. Over the years I have visited many, and during a recent visit to England in October 2024 I was able to visit 3 more of the many stately homes in the country. Many of these homes are now owned or managed by the National Trust and many are not easily accessible by train or other forms of public transport. Usually they are visited by people with their private cars and thanks to a good English friend, Clive Renton, I was able to visit 3 of these opulent homes during my recent visit.                                                                         Welcome to Dyrham House, a baroque English country house in an ancient deer park near the village of Dyrham in county Gloucestershire, England. The house has an attached orangery and stable block and is listed on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The house and grounds have been the location of many BBC productions and movies, includng "The Remains of the Day", "Sanditon", "Sense and Sensibility", "Tess of the d'Urbavilles" and others.                                                                 In terms of a very brief history, in 1689 a man by the name of William Blathwayt inherited a run-down Tudor house at the same time that he married an heiress. He then began transforming the house into a late 17th Century stately home. Blathwayt amassed a fortune from his involvement with the slave trade in the Caribbean. He was well known by the reigning monarchs of his time and held the post of Secretary of War for Queen Anne. The home and grounds are magnificent to witness. Blathwayt once anticipated a visit by Queen Anne and made a special bed for her, but she changed her mind and never came. He built a "best" staircase leading to the best rooms on the second floor that was made entirely of red cedar from North America, an extraordinary and unusual use of American wood in an English home and an evidence of his influence and connections with America.  Another staircase in the home -- the Old Staircase -- is made of black walnut from Virginia.  The Balcony Room, a luxurious upstairs reception room, has two painted stands depicting enchained African slaves.  In the downstairs "Bells Passage" there are 30 bells connected to 30 different rooms in the home. Each bell rang with a different tome that the servants were able to recognize. The bells are more than 150 years old.

Dyrham House

17th Century Greenhouse

View of house from the Water Gardens

Portrait of William Blathwayt

Bed Chamber made specifically for Queen Anne's visit, but she never showed up.

 "Best" Staircase

Old Staircase

Balcony Room

"Bells" Passage

Hiking Offa's Dyke in Wales

In late September 2024 I flew to Manchester in the UK. After purchasing a rail card I took the train to Litchfield to explore the town and its lovely unique 3-spired cathedral. After a 2-day stay I headed to Prestatyn, Wales. This is the start point for hikers intending to hike the 177 mile long Offa's Dyke trail from north to south. I planned to hike only the northern half of the trail from Prestatyn to Knighton, a distance of about 90 miles. The trail closely follow's an earthen dyke ordered built on the border between England and Wales by King Offa in the 8th Century. At this time the Romans had left Britain and the Normans hadn't yet invaded (in 1066) and Britain was controlled by the Anglo-Saxons who were located in several kingdoms, all contesting for dominance and superiority.  Offa was the king of the large and powerful kingdom of Mercia which bordered the area that is now Wales, and he ordered that an earthen dyke be built along the border of the two areas in order to keep the Welsh at bay. I can't imagine how many men and how much effort went into the construction of this earthen dyke!  When originally built the dyke was 27 meters wide and 8 meters high from the bottom of a ditch (on the Wales side) to the top of the bank.  Offa's Dyke path roughly follows the location of the original dyke. Because it was earthen, most of the dyke is no longer visible on the landscape, but in some places you can see the ditch or remains of the dyke.                                                                                                        The next day after arriving in Prestatyn I started hiking 13 miles to my first destination, the town of Bodfari. The day was a beautiful one for hiking. I crossed lots of stiles and saw beautiful landscapes of the Northern Wales countryside.  Hiking the next day from Moel-Y-Parc to Bwlch Penbarra, an 8 mile hike, was both scenically spectacular but strenuous as I had to ascend and then descend 3 high hills - Pen-Y-Cloddiau, Moel Arthur, and Moel Famau -- as I hiked through the Clwydian Hills. Many of the high hills in this region (called "Moels" in Welsh) were the location of Iron Age hill forts, about 30 in number.                                                                                                                                                           The rest of the hike was characterized by views of lovely landscapes, several bouts of heavy rain, and one unexpected fall on wet cobblestones on day 8, which resulted in an injury which restricted my ability to walk long distances, but I eventually made it to my intended final destination, the town of Knighton.  Some of the highlights of the rest of the hike included: Exploring Castell Dinas Bran, a medieval fortress built in 1260 located on a hill above Llangolen, seeing Plas Newydd (the home of the famous Ladies of Llangolen), hiking on the towpath of the Llangolen Canal from Llangolen to Trefonen, walking across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct spanning the River Dee, visiting Chirk Castle, walking along the towpath of the Montgomery Canal from Llanmynech to Moors Farm (my favorite accomodation on the trip), spending much of a day exploring Powys Castle in Welshpool and seeing the centuries-old yew trees pruned and sculpted into  wonderful topiary, and exploring the ruins of Montgomery Castle. 

Wooden stile

Stone stile

Curious sheep at another stone stile

Welsh countryside on route to Bodfari

Crossing the Clwydian Hills

Approaching Moel Arthur on Day 2 of hike

Castell Dinas Bran outside Llangolen

Plas Newydd in Llangolen

Towpath of the Llangolen Canal

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct over the River Dee

Countryside on the approach to Chirk

Hiking on the towpath of the Montgomery Canal

Montgomery Canal

Swans on the Montgomery Canal

Powys Castle, made of startling pink sandstone

Centuries old pruned yew hedges at Powys Castle

Countryside on the way to Montgomery

At the ruins of Montgomery Castle

Montgomery Castle

View from Montgomery Castle

Sign at Offa's Dyke trail enters Knighton

 

Newfoundland - August 2023

 In August 2023 I enrolled in a Road Scholar program to travel and hike Newfoundland's Discovery Trail. I arrived in St. John's 4 days early so that I could explore Newfoundland's capital city, one of the oldest cities in North America and the easternmost city on the North American continent. Newfoundland and neighboring Labrador have been inhabited by humans for about 9000 years. There were 5 indigenous cultural groups, the S. Inuit, Inau, Livyer, Mi'kmaq and the Beothik.  The Beothik lived in Newfoundland but went extinct in 1820. The other 4 indigenous cultural groups comprise about 9% of the current population.  Then came the Vikings, Leif Ericson and others, around 1000 AD, and in 1497 explorer John Cabot, carrying patents from King Henry VII, "discovered" Newfoundland.  Soon many English and Irish explorers and fishermen immigrated to Newfoundland, mainly to take advantage of the rich fishing grounds and especially the abundant and easily caught cod.  A thriving Salt Cod Industry developed with large shipments of cod being shipped annually to Europe.

  I enjoyed exploring St. John's, a lovely city with one of the world's most sheltered harbors.  After 4 days I joined the Road Scholar group, and after hiking up Signal Hill to Cabot's Tower, and then travelling to the Cape Spear lighthouse, the easternmost area of land in North America we boarded a coach and travelled 3 hours away to Port Union on the  Cape Bonavista peninsula.  It was from here that we would explore the towns of Port Union, Trinity, Elliston, Bonavista, and King's Cove, and hike different sections of the Discovery Trail for the next 6 days.  Here are some photos that illustrate the scenic beauty of Newfoundland.

Dramatic sedimentary rock formation on Kings Cove trail

Coast viewed from the Klondike Trail

Klondike Trail

Klondike Trail

Historic village of Trinity on Trinity Bay

Sea stacks visible from the Skerwink Trail

Coastline, Skerwink Trail

Isolated sea stack seen from the Skerwink Trail

Pitcher Plant, provincial flower of Newfoundland

Lighthouse at Cape Spear

Cabot's Tower on top of Signal Hill

Visiting Looe and Polperro in Cornwall

 After finishing my hike on the Cleveland Way in Yorkshire, I decided to visit one of my favorite destinations in the British Isles --- the county of Cornwall in SW England. I took a train from Filey, the end point of my Cleveland Way hike, and travelled to York. At York I was able to get a direct train to Liskeard in Cornwall.  This trip involved traveling almost the length of England and I arrived Liskeard after 8 pm. I then got a train to Looe on the branch line and arrived late at night, after 9:30 pm and checked into my airbnb.                                                                                                                                   Looe is a very picturesque coastal village and is divided into East Looe and West Looe by the Looe River and the harbor. I spent two days exploring this lovely coastal town. On another day when the weather was beautiful and no rain was forecast, I took a bus to Polperro which is another very lovely Cornish coastal village. I explored Polperro and then hiked the Southwest Coast Path back to Looe. Polperro is located in a valley. The pretty cottages and shops extend down the valley and then there are many cottages separated by narrow winding lanes located near Polperro's sheltered harbor. The hike from Polperro back up the coast to Looe was about 5 miles, and I encountered beautiful coastal scenery all along the way.  Here are a few photos that should give you a feel for these two attractive Cornish coastal villages and for the scenic nature of the 5 mile hike. (NOTE: The photos loaded in reverse order from what I anticipated)

Returning from the hike to Looe Harbor and beach at low tide

Talland Bay up ahead

Cross honoring lives lost in WW II on the coast path

The coast path closely follows the coast

Cornish coast between Polperro and Looe

Leaving the sheltered harbor at Polperro. The hike begins.

Protected entrance to Polperro Harbor

Polperro Harbor

Herring gull at Polperro Harbor

Polperro Harbor

Narrow lane in Polperro village

West Looe

At my airbnb in East Looe with West Looe across the river.

West Looe and harbor

West Looe and Looe River

Arrival at the Looe rail station