Our Magical History Tour 2014: Up hill and down dale and into York Thursday 19th June

Remember the old nursery rhyme, "The Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men, and he marched them up to the top of the hill and he marched them down again"

Now that I have you singing the song, we did just that today, well I thought we were following his route.

Boy, did we travel along a lot of very steep hills, and winding roads, and Yorkshire Moors. Lovely scenery, and some of the areas must get a lot of snow, because the snow markers on the side of the road were over
2 metres tall. Didn't seem to worry all the sheep who ambled along and across the roads.

We drove through lots of little places including Middleton, wonder if it is related to an important lady?

Along the way though, we found ourselves back in Bernard Castle, and this time we found the castle, any wonder the ancestors lost the castle, it is down in a valley!

But check out the Bowes museum which is an important Art Gallery just on the outskirts of the town. It also has an interesting story attached to it.

John had planned a route which avoided the freeway, but Heidi decided that the freeway was best, so we had to miss out on some of the places he had researched before we left, because there were no off ramps for miles.

We had lunch in Ripon, another historic town, but today it had it's market so the centre of the town was overcrowded. It has a lovely old swimming pool, which is also a spa, then I realised we were close to Leamington Spa.

The next town was Nidderdale, it was well decked out with bunting and yellow bikes.

Those poor soldiers I thought what a grueling time that must have had. Then I thought I would just check out who this Duke of York was, and guess what, he never marched the men here, but he lost a battle in Ypres early in the 1800's, he was George Hanover, and he had a bit of a reputation as a ladies man! Google can certainly fill in the gaps for you!

While I was on that, I thought I would research the areas that we had been. Often the Yorkshire Moors are remembered for some sad things, but it is such a diverse landscape, and a place of both remoteness and beauty, full of stone!

From a google search some information about the area we have been in today:

Facts in the Yorkshire Dales

The National Park covers 684 square miles at present (2011) but there are plans to expand to the north west.
There are 40 individual Dales listed on the National Park website
Between 1780 and 1820 a variety of Enclosure Acts led to the creation of many of the dry stone walls which so characterise the Dales
Wharfedale is the longest of the Dales – 70 miles from Cam Fell to Cawood where it joins the Ouse.
There are roughly 4,700 miles of dry stone walls in the Yorkshire Dales
Nidderdale is to the East of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and is only classed as an Area of Outstanding National Beauty
The Settle to Carlisle railway is 72 miles long, passes over 21 viaducts and 325 bridges, through 14 tunnels and 103 culverts and was opened in 1875.
At 1,133 feet Dent station is the highest mainline station in England.
Rylstone Cross was erected first in 1885 to commemorate peace with the French.
As well as the famous falls Aysgarth boasts the largest churchyard in England
It took 5 years to build the Ribblesdale viaduct, spanning 1/4 a mile and 100 foot high.
Pateley Bridge is home to the Oldest Sweet Shop in England, established in 1827.
Askrigg is the ‘Darrowby’ of James Herriott fame. The Kings Arms was the ‘Drovers’ and Cringley house doubled as ‘Skeldale House’.
Grassington Moor and the limestone pavements above Malham Cove are 2 locations on the new Harry Potter film.
Grassland is improved by the application of burnt limestone taken from quarries around the southern Dales. Look for the multitude of old lime kilns.
Gouthwaite Reservoir, nr Pateley Bridge is the largest reservoir is the Dales, the 80 foot high dam creating a surface area of 332 acres.
Catrigg Force was a favourite haunt of the composer Edward Elgar on his frequent visits to Settle.
Bing Crosby used to shoot on Darrowgill Moor near Pateley Bridge.
The village of ’Booze’ in Arkengarthdale is actually the Norse name for ‘the house on the curved hillside’.
The many follies of Forbidden Corner near Leyburn was the brainchild of Colin Armstrong an eccentric millionaire and former ambassador to Ecuador.
The splintered crags of Pen y Ghent and Ingleborough are formed where limestone and millstone grit breaks the surface.
The Strid near Bolton Abbey is where the Wharfe narrows to 5′ and many lives have been lost in its fast flow.
Charles Blodwin once walked over Hardraw Falls on a tightrope stopping half way to cook an omelette.
The Tan Inn in upper Arkengarthdale is the highest pub in England at 1,732 feet above sea level
The skills to make cheese in Wensleydale were introduced by French Monks from Jervaulx Abbey in about 1150.

So that story revealed, we can assure you the next one is current and up to date. In 2 weeks, 5th July, the Tour de France commences in Leeds. And the poor sods are going to travel almost the same route we did today. Day one is 190 klms Leeds through Ripon to Harrowgate, second day, 200 km York to Sheffield.

My legs feel sore at the thought! But everywhere around the route the local villages and towns have gotten into the spirit of things.

I think we must have seen nearly every one of those stone walls, including this quarry on the very top of a very steep hill!

Yep they are riding up this steep hill

An idea of the dales and valleys

In between we drove through lots of lively towns, I guess they are getting into practice for the race. Don't know how the farmers will fare cause the roads will be closed. We also saw a lot of signs indicating, park here for 10 pound for the Tour de France, always a way to make a dollar! or pound in this case!

We passed these rather interesting radar balloons, look like mushrooms on top of the hill!

I guess they won't have time to enjoy the scenery, but have you ever seen Harrowgate? I put on my real estate hat when we were driving though! I thought Harrowgate was in London, maybe there is another one of the same name, there is a Defence Base on the outside, and the houses are mansions!

Just on the outskirts is a fantastic via-duct, it was designed by George Hudson and completed in 1848.The creamy grey stone viaduct was 570 m (1,872 ft) long with thirty one 15 m (50 ft) span arches 33 m (110 ft) high. It is a grand sight as it canters across the wide valley.