UK - Chesterfield
After leaving Oxford we had a few days to fill in before our
next planned stay, so we took Charles’ advice and spent a couple of days in the
Peak District in Derbyshire. Using Chesterfield as a convenient base, we spent
time exploring the villages nearby, made a visit to Chatsworth House, the home
of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and took a few pictures of the
weirdly wonderful Twisted Spire of the Chesterfield Parish Church. No-one knows
why the spire is twisted – theories range from using unseasoned wood, to
insufficient skilled workmen, due to having lost half of the skilled guys
during the Black Plague. The town is also the burial place of George
Stephenson, the “Father of the Railways” as he is known here.
In the small village of Hathersage we visited the grave of
Little John (Robin Hood’s mate), and had lunch in the larger town of Buxton.
Buxton was interesting as it had been developed in the 1780’s by the Duke as a
competitor spa town to Bath, and has an elegant crescent of houses (similar to
Bath but not as grand), an Opera House and a Pavilion styled like a large
Victorian glass house.
The whole district is full of hiking paths including the
start of the Pennine Way (412 Km walkway to Scotland) in Edale, and every town
had shops selling hiking and climbing equipment. Lots of dry stonewalls similar
to nearby Yorkshire, and picturesque rolling hills and dales. There were lots
more places to see and things to do than we had time available.
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| Opera House and Pavilion, Buxton |
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| Well Dressing, Buxton |
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| Cascades, Chatsworth House |
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| Chatsworth House |
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| Chatsworth interior |
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| Chesterfield shops |
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| Twisted Spire, Chesterfield Church |
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| Chesterfield pub entertainment .... |
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| Chippy pun |
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| Church where Stephenson is buried |
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Twisted Spire - church and adjacent pub, where
"every night is Curry night" |
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| Church yard with Little John 's grave |
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| Little John's grave |
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| Self Portrait with George |
UK – to Lincoln via Sherwood Forest
After leaving Chesterfield we travelled via Sherwood Forest,
where we managed a pleasant short stroll to see a 1,100 year old Oak tree.
Legend has it that Robin Hood and his Merry Men used it as a hiding place, but
this story is, sadly, probably apocryphal.
Back in the car, we headed for Lincoln, where we had booked
a room at a hotel near the Cathedral, named the Old Palace. It turned out that
the Old Palace referred to the Bishop’s Palace – there is a mediaeval ruined
Palace and alongside it, a more recent addition which is now run by the Church
as a hotel. Our room was up high in the roof – very picturesque and right
alongside the huge and impressive Lincoln Cathedral.
There are many impressive cathedrals in Europe but this is
one of the best in my estimation. There is a beautiful Chapter House attached
to the cathedral cloister, with very solid flying buttresses holding up its
roof.
Lincoln has one of the three remaining legible copies of the
Magna Carta, but apparently it is currently out on loan to somewhere in the USA.
Fortunately, they have thoughtfully provided a facsimile for us tourists to
photograph, so no-one back at home will know the difference…
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| Sherwood - Robin Hood battles Little John |
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| Major Oak, Sherwood Forest - 1,100 years old |
UK – Lincoln to Robin Hood’s Bay, Scunthorpe, Scarborough and Whitby.
Next day we detoured from our path slightly to enable me to
take a photo in Scunthorpe, a busy industrial town not normally on the main
tourist map, but with significance for a few of my former Woodside colleagues.
About 15 or so years ago, we introduced email scanners at work, and a user
complained that the scanner kept blocking perfectly innocent emails from his
friend in Scunthorpe. It took us a short while to realise that the scanner
objected to the 2nd to 5th letter group while parsing the
name – easily rectified but permanently imprinting Scunthorpe in our memories.
Back on the road after a quick picture at Scunthorpe Rail
Station, we headed for Scarborough, hoping to have lunch there while strolling
leisurely through the town. What we hadn’t realised was that Scarborough, as a
major North Yorkshire town with a large beach, is a major attraction for locals
on a nice sunny day. The town was clogged with traffic so we ended up escaping
with a sandwich at the back beach, then headed to Whitby, a few miles up the
coast.
Whitby is an attractive place, famous as the home town of
“our” Captain Cook. We did some shopping and then back-tracked the 6 miles to
Robin Hood’s Bay.
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