Tag Archives: Churches

Zennor Head and Lower Tregerthen

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A couple of years ago I read the late Helen Dunmore’s fictional account of the time D.H.Lawrence and his wife Frieda spent in Cornwall during the First World War. “Zennor in Darkness“. Thus I was intrigued to visit this village : to walk to Zennor Head and back and take in the cottages at Lower Tregerthen both a mile or so out of the village in different directions. The bus service in winter runs roughly every three hours but I found arriving at 12.08 and leaving at 14.52 gave me sufficient time to do both walks there and back; to visit the pub The Tinners Arms for fresh crab sandwiches and local apple cider and to call in at the church to see the famous mermaid carving which I had also read about.

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Disappointment in Search of Mary Queen of Scots

Since my school days I’ve been fascinated by Mary Queen of Scots and always hoped to visit Fotheringhay in search of her final days and place of execution. Staying near Peterborough in February gave me the opportunity I’d been hoping for. So, from wet and windy Little Gidding I headed north via windy narrow lanes to the long, but attractive, village of Fotheringhay just over the border in Northamptonshire.

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Pilgrimage to Little Gidding

 

 

It’s been some time since I last here, about a month by my reckoning. I’ve been busy not going away but, amongst other things, planning future excursions which take me way beyond next year, to 2020, in fact. Now it’s time to catch up with my most recent travels, including where I went after my day at Bedford Art Gallery.  I spent 4 nights at Alwalton in late February before moving on to Norwich and beating the  so-called “Beast from the East” back up to Leeds. Much of March disappeared under a blanket of snow but I did get down to London for a couple of nights last week.

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“My kingdom for a horse!” with Richmond Books and Boots

 

“Enjoy a mixture of history and horse racing as our walk takes us through the glorious Coverdale countryside to the pretty and interesting Coverham Church.  After lunch we will return over the famous High Moor Gallops to Middleham with the opportunity to view the ‘Middleham Jewel’ as we complete our walk.”

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Macs Adventure : The Osterlen Way

After a day of orientation in Ystad we began our walk along the Osterlen Way; a footpath along the southern coast of Sweden. Our section, which would take us 4 days of walking to cover the distance from Ystad to Kivik. Kivik is beyond Simrishamn. As with all my previous walking holidays we walked from hotel/B&B to hotel/B&B and our luggage was transported for us. The holiday is part of Macs Adventure‘s huge portfolio. Unlike with ATG we had no manager to meet us at the beginning and end and be at the end of the phone line in case of difficulties. Macs provide you with a local phone number and contact but you never actually meet that person. The walk notes are not as detailed as in the booklet supplied by ATG but were more or less sufficient for our needs. In a couple of places we found incorrect or contradictory advice between the notes and the map supplied but we managed to find the correct route (or at least a route that worked) for ourselves. I should say though that help and advice from the office in Glasgow, by telephone or by email, was very efficient, friendly and helpful. Continue reading →

A Historical Walk Through Ystad

The final country of my Big Adventure this year was Sweden. I’ve visited Germany and Denmark several times before (although I’d never been to any of the places I visited on this occasion) but this was my first ever trip to Sweden.

Ystad arrival

Very early in the morning of 27th June Bärbel and I left the Alte Strandvogtei and drove back to the port at Rønne – the capital of Bornholm. Bärbel’s ferry left at 8.00 and mine at 10.30.

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Last Day on Rügen : Kap Arkona, Altenkirchen and Gingst

 

On our last day we had make the difficult decision as to what we would do and where we would go. We still had several “must-sees” on our list. In the end we settled on heading to the very northern tip of Rügen to visit two famous lighthouses and walk to the picturesque fishing village of Vitt. We would then drive and walk to a Neolithic burial ground (Nobbin). Travelling via the village of Altenkirchen we would then take the car Wittower car ferry over the Breetzer Bodden and finally visit the village of Gingst with its handicrafts museum, cafe and bookshop.

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We caught the little road train from Putgarten to Cap Arkona

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A Walk Through Huntingdonshire : Villages, Riverside Scenery and Historical Interest

There’s a walk that I’ve been looking forward to doing for several years. I found it when searching for more information about The Manor House, Hemingford Grey the location of Lucy Boston’s book “The Children of Green Knowe”. More recently, I read about Lynne’s visit to The Manor House on her blog The Dovegreyreader Scribbles. The walk appeared to have all the ingredients of a pleasant morning out in the Huntingdonshire countryside. So, as I happened to find myself here in Huntingdon this morning, I decided to try it out.

The 5 mile walk starts from the National Trust car park at Houghton Mill where there’s a Tea Shop and it’s possible to borrow a copy of the walk.

Love Lane

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