Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
People are all aflutter demanding that the governments around the world step in and do something, anything, about the eventual end of oil and fossil fuels. It reminds me of the old saying,
The Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of stones!
However, now that I’m in the Lake District in England, I’ve had to revise that saying, because around here, near as I can tell the Stone Age never officially ended at all. Oh, not the people, they’re as modern as any … but they use stone everything. Now I was expecting stone houses … and I’d heard of (but never seen) stone roofs. Both of those they have aplenty.
But I wasn’t prepared for stone gateposts …
And while I’ve seen many stone fences in my time, they were always made of stones piled one atop the other. They have lots of those kinds of fences in the Lake District, but also another kind I’d not seen. These are made of single flat stone slabs stood on edge.
I didn’t inquire closely as to how the folks living in the stone houses with the stone fences and stone roofs might have constructed their beds and their toilets, that seemed a bridge too far, and I was afraid of what might be revealed ..
We’ve spent the night in Hawkshead, for no apparent reason other than that the YHA Youth Hostel here has the best rates in the area. And since the gorgeous ex-fiancee and I are both in our middle youth, it worked out fine.
As many people have claimed, the scenery here in the Lake District is gorgeous, and Hawkshead is no exception.
It’s one of the spots for which the term “bucolic” might have been invented.
Hawkshead is in the Beatrix Potter country, and the William Wordsworth country, and man, they don’t want you to forget either one. I guess Peter Rabbit must be big in Japan, because there were a couple of busloads of Japanese tourists at her house in Near Sawrey, and all the Beatrix Potter Official Stockist shops had Japanese translations on their signs. And Wordsworth’s name pops up everywhere, unfortunately sometimes to the detriment of what is assuredly a more interesting and recondite history:
The town has a lovely church which we visited and admired, but the folks here say it’s not that old, it only dates from the 1500s … bummer. Despite that disappointment, I did find Herman Melville’s dale that I mentioned in my last post, and I did follow it down to the lake as Melville said:
In this case, the lake was Lake Windermere, one lake over from the lake pictured above. From the number of sailboats I assume Windermere means “Windy Lake”, so I’m probably wrong about that, folk etymology being what it is … but windy or not, it is one of the most scenic lakes it’s been my pleasure to behold.
The turf around here is all clearly marked by the glaciers of the last Ice Age, with the characteristic rounded valleys and the hills sometimes scraped clean of dirt down to the bone. The glaciers make for a lovely soft kind of landscape, with all of the sharp points ground smooth.
On the northeast side of lake Windermere there’s a charming forest that runs along the lake. In one section there was no undergrowth, just acres of ferns …
Strangely, between the forest and the lake there’s also a place which is a caravan park with permanent residents, called “Strawberry Garden”. It’s in one of the world’s prettiest locations, right on the waterfront. Of course, it’s all marked
PRIVATE
This site is privately occupied by long term caravan owners.
THERE IS NO PUBLIC ACCESS
Here’s a shot of it from over the fence … a stone fence, as you might imagine …
Why did I find this strange?
Well, the site is owned, not by a private individual or a company, but by the National Trust. Says so right on the other sign:
THE NATIONAL TRUST
STRAWBERRY GARDEN
PRIVATE — Access to caravan site and cottages only.
NO UNAUTHORISED ENTRY
It has the National Trust logo on it and everything … I was gobsmacked. The National Trust is in the business of providing stupendous caravan spaces to the fortunate few, while the public is kept out entirely? How does that work? Gotta be some history there I’m unaware of.
We walked a couple of miles along Lake Windermere. It was absolutely stunning. My thanks to all who recommended the Lake District, our time here has been great. The only downside are the roads. Typically, the roads around this area are about one and seven-sixteenths car widths from side to side … in the wide parts … and there are always stone walls on both verges, which tend to focus one’s attention mightily. Add bicyclists and walkers and the odd horse or two, and it’s a Disneyland E-Ticket ride, except with real hazards.
Tomorrow we’re going to see Hadrian’s Wall, and then up into Scotland. The adventure continues. My thanks to everyone for their texts and comments. Unfortunately there are far too many to acknowledge individually, but I do read and appreciate them all. We’re headed for the land of haggis and sporrans, should be fun.
Best regards,
w.
“Oh – and those stone walls are called ‘dykes’ in Scotland. You won’t upset anyone if you say you ran into a dyke on your way north. Except maybe the local farmer.”
You might upset me. “Dykes” are ditches in Nottinghamshire (and “bonnie” means plump or fat, not necessarily beautiful).
The Lake District (and Cornwall) are not the only parts of Britain with narrow lanes and stone gateposts. On Dartmoor where I live lots of us – including me – have stone gateposts (chunks of granite around here) and the lanes are frequently only one and one sixteenth car’s width wide. To get home I come down a lane with grass in the middle, vegetation that brushes both sides of the car, and occasionally long brambles that drape down from the sides and brush the top of the car, or scratch you if you leave a window open. It’s not usually the locals that cause problems here, it’s the tourists (grockles) and those who can’t or won’t back up when you meet in a narrow spot.
Still, it’s what makes the character of the place and keeps it relatively peaceful. I love it.
It’s great to read your impressions of Britain – enjoy the rest of your trip and keep the articles coming!.
Willis, it’s also worth a side trip from Glasgow to Mallaig on the train (leaves about 6 am), with a B&B in Mallaig and fish and chips. My wife and I did that ten years ago. I did a research project in Geology on the Isle of Skye, opposite Mallaig, fifty years ago, as well as taking the McBraynes steamer to the outer Hebrides. That train ride is the best scenery in Britain, and the railway goes over the viaduct immortalized in Harry Potter, Hogwarts films.
Hi heather
I’m from teignmouth. Which part of dartmoor are you from. If Willis had headed down our way I had offered to take him to grimspound and the medieval village at hound tor.
Tonyb
The Ghost of Big Jim Cooley says:
September 10, 2013 at 2:12 pm
When I said ‘most’ I was of course excluding the enlightened few such as your good self!
Mr E., to my shame, I am tardy in my reading of your journal, so you will have missed the Tower Ballroom (as well as Chester, Glasson Dock, Lancaster – oh, the list is endless!). To revisit the Lakes, read Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome.
You are beginning to learn some of the eccentricities of these islands: the New Forest is 500 years old and is, er, not a forest; neither is the Forest of Bowland. The Lake District has no lakes – they are all Tarns, Meres or Waters (and Wastwater is perhaps the most beautiful, spooky, stark and eerie of all). Also, the Peak District has few peaks, and “the North” starts around the middle (the old joke is that, for Londoners, “the Norf” starts at Watford; for northerners, “the Sarf” starts at Watford Gap. What’s between is the Midlands.)
I am sure you will have noticed the regional rivalry – if not yet, then Scotland will certainly help you, there! And it is a fractal phenomenon.
Willis, if you had time for a detour to Belfast (my home town) you’d see that the National Trust also own pubs….
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/crown-bar/
It’s still lit by gas! Directly across from the Europa Hotel “The Most Bombed Hotel In Europe”!
What’s your schedule in Scotland?
If/when you come to Edinburgh, I’ve recommended a bus tour before but it’s probably worth doing the free walking tour of the Old Town too. I haven’t done it but from the web site it looks like the best one in town and it’ll give a good background to Edinburgh’s history.
Mary King’s close was a plague street that got walled in, then over, then built on top of. The tour’s good but probably pricy and I haven’t done it in a while but it’s so unusual it’s worth considering.
The Scott Monument on Pinces Street is probably worth climbing, it’s cheap to get in then will give a good view of the city. (I have tried to get in a couple of times but it closes early in the winter which keeps thwarting me). A walk up Calton hill will give a good view, as will a hike up Arthur’s Seat (but this is an afternoon’s jaunt).
When you’re in town keep an ear out for the 1 o’clock gun, and the ball which is supposedly dropped from Nelson’s monument on Calton hill (Nelson’s monument is supposed do be in inverted telescope). I’ve been here 13 years and still haven’t managed to catch this, although I’m not sure it happens every day.
Museum wise, the National Museum of Scotland can be good, if even for a break from the rain and a cup of tea (I do hope you’re drinking tea while over here). At the top of Chamber St (where the museum is) is Greyfriar’s Kirk, where Greyfriar’s Bobby is supposedly buried. Apparently this is story’s a load of balearics made up to impress tourists, but there’s a pub beside the church/statue. The National Gallery of Scotland is on Princes Street and currently had Rodin’s “The Kiss” as well as a lod of impressive big paintings and other stuff! (All thr museums are free in so worth a quick wander).
There are plenty of good pubs about but if you want something very out of the ordinary I’d recommend The Canny Man’s in Morningside. It’s a taxi from the center of town but you and you ladies should all appreciate its quirkiness.
On that note if your girls want a bit of shopping then set them loose down George St, if you feel you want you wallet significantly lightened let them loose in Harvey Nichols on St Andrew’s square.
If you’re eating out there are a lot of good restaurants in town but if you want something tasty and good value for money I’d recommend Hannedan’s
http://www.hanedan.co.uk/
Again a taxi from the center of town, but only a couple of miles so easily walkable at this time of
year.
I’ll wrack my brains for more suggestions. Possibly more tomorrow.
Nial
” might have constructed their beds
In Penrhyn Castle, Wales there is a four-poster bed carved from one single block of slate. utterly surprising is the fact that it is on castors. It was carved for the visit, to the grand house, of Queen Victoria who, on seeing it, refused to sleep in it – declaring it to be reminiscent of a mausoleum. So, yes, at least one stone bed exists.
Radical Rodent:
In your post at September 10, 2013 at 2:55 pm you say
Indeed it is, and Willis cannot have failed to notice the Liverpuddlian jokes.
Down here in the far SW there is an old saying of people in Redruth; i.e.
The only good thing to come out of Cambourne is the road to Redruth.
Similar sayings can be found about adjacent towns throughout the country.
Richard
Very interesting to read descriptions of our country from someone experiencing it for the first time. Particularly a person from the New World- you maybe realise how shiny and new your world really is, perhaps it has dawned on you how far into Deep Time the roots of the people of these islands are embedded.
We are a palimpsest, a parchment scraped almost clean many, many times over millennia, but each era leaving just enough of themselves still visible in the landscape or just below the surface to enable faint traces to be seen in the low, last dying rays of evening sunlight.
Not far from where you were today, near the terminus of a steam operated narrow gauge railway,in a picturesque valley called Eskdale is a working 15th century stone built water mill on a babbling brook, by a humped back stone bridge.
Scattered In the brook are many worn out mill stones.
A mill stone will grind flour for around thirty to fifty years.
If you count the number of old worn out mill stones in the brook, its not hard to work out that there has been a mill, grinding flour on that site, without a break since Roman times.
“The Lake District has no lakes – they are all Tarns, Meres or Waters”
At the risk of sounding pedantic – Bassenthwaite Lake?
Random rubble stonework eh … takes me back to Wales … probably explains why I now have a bad back. Concrete blocks are all more or less the same weight, but stone is more variable and can catch you out. Getting a twinge in the back just looking at these images.
We used to sandblast hundreds of years of crud off the walls with a portable rig. Just covered the windows with a mattress or plywood, warned the neighbours to close theirs. Bet you aren’t allowed to do that now.
Best way to “weather in” new work was to apply a “paint” made from chicken manure. Much cheaper than yoghurt.
Following on from London247: ” … traditional method to attaching the slates is with wooden pegs to the battens. You will also notice that small slates are at the top and the larger stone slates are at the bottom …”
Yep. And of course, everything got recycled. So if the roof collapsed, you could recover the smaller slates, but the eventually the bigger ones became rarer because they are more likely to break in the fall. We often found what was inside the wall was the most interesting. Bits of mosaic etc. “Pagan” imagery = Roman, Christian symbols = recycled following Henry VIII sacking the monasteries.
Indeed. Roman architecture fell down or was demolished when there was no one left who knew how to repair it and the rubble from the villas and temples reused by the Saxons to build their lumpy stone cottages and churches.
…and theres many a statue of Demeter or Venus doing service as the Virgin Mary in church walls all over Europe!
Slate roofs may look nice, but I spent my student days in a northern city of slate roofed houses, and on stormy nights I’d listen to them crash into the street after being blown off the roofs, hoping some poor soul wasn’t decapitated by a 20lb razor edged frisbee.
That stone house makes me cringe and I would have trouble simply walking through the door. How can they bear to live inside a structure that would crush you to a paste in even the tiniest little earthquake.
When the locals you can’t understand appear to be talking with gravel in their throats, then you will have arrived in Glasgow.
Glad you’re having a great time, Willis! We bade our youngest daughter a 4 month goodbye on Sunday for her upcoming semester at the U of Glasgow – I’m guessing we’ll see pics from your travels sooner than from hers, and for that I offer thanks 🙂
Sent you a couple of texts Willis. One thing I missed in your traverse through the North East was Washington Old hall, the reputed ancestral home of George Washington.
Going down the A19 from the Tyne tunnel, turn right at the wind turbines on the Nissan site which appear to turn whatever the weather onto the A1231 and just follow the signs to the old hall.
DaveE.
PS.
I’d love to meet you, you have my number.
James at 48 says:
September 10, 2013 at 11:03 am
The “mere” is Old English, but the first part is the genitive of an Old Norse personal name, “Vinandar” or something like that. It was still known as Winander Mere at least as late as 1824.
Cumbria is linguistically complex, with its own dialect, incomprehensible to outsiders. As with the rest of West Britain, it remained Celtic long after English dialects dominated in the East. Then it was occupied by the Norse or Norwegian extraction from Dublin, as was the NE of the country by Danes.
@Cynical Scientst says:
September 10, 2013 at 3:39 pm
“That stone house makes me cringe … tiniest little earthquake.”
The west and north of the UK is not exactly tectonically inactive, so if they are still up, they are likely to remain that way, as long as the the walls or at least the facing stones are mortared.
They are often about 0.5m thick, with longer narrow stones set crossways as ties.
Now scotlands roads are something! the main road from Tonge (I think, middle of the top bit going south) and A road, marked in red on map, was about one truck wide with passing places on bends where you need them if you are going the right speed, about 70 oe more should be OK (MPH not wussie KPH)
Read some of Arthur Ransomes books on the lake district just great!
Willis
You are taking me down memory lane with your trip. When I was young and could carry an 80lb pack on my back I spent many nights in Youth Hostels, they were an opportunity to dry out when we were drenched after a night or two out in our tents. I don’t think there is one in the Lake District or the Yorkshire Dales that I didn’t spend a night in. Basic accomodation back in the early sixties, usually a men bunk rooms and a ladies bunk rooms and a self service basic kitchen, the fun was meeting other people from diverse backgrounds. Many late nights around a fire pit talking and singing the depending on the hostel, the company and the manager possibly trying to arrange a male + female bunk for the night!!!.
Should people who live in stone houses not throw glasses?
mikef2 says:
September 10, 2013 at 10:39 am
Oh we do. California is too new and all the rocks have been chewed up by fault lines. A lot of buildings have red tile roofs, essentially pieces of pipe cut lengthwise. A lower course carries water, an upper course sheds water into the lower course.
There are some slate roofs in New England. Stone walls a plenty, many are living monuments to fields an pastures cleared with great effort and recleared of stones lifted by the frost each winter. Granite gate posts are common enough that I can’t remember where any are. We have a granite hitching post by our driveway which may have been used some time ago – there’s also a depression that was used for watering horses back then (1830s or so).
New Hampshire’s nickname is “The Granite State” and a lot has been carted off to Washington DC for our monuments to large government. Vermont, to our west, has a richer mix of rock types and has slate and marble. That would be the place to get roofing tiles.