Saturday in the Ribble River Valley
Oct. 17th, 2006 07:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fenchurchI'll be posting several days worth of updates, so these will be cut to spare my flist!
It's a bit off the beaten path, but if you get a chance, the Ribble River Valley is absolutely stunning. We stopped in at Ribchester after following the signs for a Roman Museum... which turned out to be closed in the mornings (we had another two hours before opening... not worth staying around for), but we were able to walk a short distance along the river to the ruins of an old Roman bath. I gather there are quite a few of those scattered throughout England, but it was still pretty cool to see...
One thing I will say... we'd thought driving in the cities was a bit scary, but that was nothing compared to driving through the country or small towns and villages! Roads just barely wide enough for two cars, with blind corners and people driving full-tilt down the middle of the road. Yikes! Though, as with everywhere we've driven on this trip, the other drivers are actually really courteous... even more so than those back home in the Puget Sound (and as much as some people there complain about driving manners there, for the most part I've found people to be more polite there than anywhere else in the country). Although that does make sense... if everyone was ruthless in their driving here, no one would get anywhere... the roads are just too small.
We stopped in at Whalley Abbey and spent the morning exploring and reading the history of the area. Oh, and taking *lots* of pictures. We strolled around town for a bit, then headed back to the cafe at the Abbey for lunch (fresh carrot and coriander soup, followed by a bakewell tart with hot custard). Mostly, we were just stalling until the Church of St. Mary and All Saints opened for visitors. Yet another gorgeous building (dating back, I believe to the 8th century), but also containing the choir stalls carved by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rackham's ancestors back in the early 1400s (and moved there from the Abbey during the dissolution). It's just incredible to me that something so old is still in use! We got lots of pictures, particularly of the misericords on the bottom of the choir seats... my favorite was of a knight (I'm assuming St. George?) fighting a dragon. And there was a green man motif carved in a few places in the upper section of the stalls... I'd read about that online, but it was really neat to finally see it in person.
After that we headed out to Myre Edge Farm, the B&B we were staying at that night... it was quite a different experience from the other B&Bs we've been in, since we were essentially just in a bedroom suite in their house! The countryside was gorgeous though, as was the house. We got directions to Hoghton Castle from there and decided to see if we could find it... no luck, we ended up wandering fairly aimlessly on some small country roads (but the landscape was incredible), and thinking about what a huge change it must have been for Rackham's ancestors to come from there to Utah. It's no wonder one of the brothers decided to stay in New England! Eventually we found our way to Clitheroe Castle, though we didn't get to see much of it. We followed the signs, which led us up a windy road to a small parking lot by the castle museum. With no other cars. We got out, started to take a look around and eventually got a bit nervous about leaving our car there (since everyone else was talking about the car park at the bottom of the hill). So, back to the car, back down the small winding road and out to the main street where we completely failed to find this alleged car park (nor were there any signs indicating the road we took wasn't a proper road). So, we just abandoned the whole thing and made our way back toward the B&B, stopped at a local Indian restaurant for dinner.
That was something I'd noticed in our wanderings... that you could be in what seemed like the middle of nowhere on a really tiny road, and find some fairly nice restaurants! The food was excellent and the service even better... however, I apparently ate something that didn't agree with me (I'm guessing it was something I'm allergic to, since I had the same reaction I do when I eat something with either lavender or beets in it). In other words, we went back to the B&B so I could lie down for bit and, eventually, lose what I'd eaten for dinner -- I felt much better after that. And no, I don't think it was food poisoning, since Rackham ate the same things I did (we shared our entrees) and didn't feel sick at all. I ended up falling asleep around 9:30 and sleeping for ten hours, so apparently I needed the rest.
It's a bit off the beaten path, but if you get a chance, the Ribble River Valley is absolutely stunning. We stopped in at Ribchester after following the signs for a Roman Museum... which turned out to be closed in the mornings (we had another two hours before opening... not worth staying around for), but we were able to walk a short distance along the river to the ruins of an old Roman bath. I gather there are quite a few of those scattered throughout England, but it was still pretty cool to see...
One thing I will say... we'd thought driving in the cities was a bit scary, but that was nothing compared to driving through the country or small towns and villages! Roads just barely wide enough for two cars, with blind corners and people driving full-tilt down the middle of the road. Yikes! Though, as with everywhere we've driven on this trip, the other drivers are actually really courteous... even more so than those back home in the Puget Sound (and as much as some people there complain about driving manners there, for the most part I've found people to be more polite there than anywhere else in the country). Although that does make sense... if everyone was ruthless in their driving here, no one would get anywhere... the roads are just too small.
We stopped in at Whalley Abbey and spent the morning exploring and reading the history of the area. Oh, and taking *lots* of pictures. We strolled around town for a bit, then headed back to the cafe at the Abbey for lunch (fresh carrot and coriander soup, followed by a bakewell tart with hot custard). Mostly, we were just stalling until the Church of St. Mary and All Saints opened for visitors. Yet another gorgeous building (dating back, I believe to the 8th century), but also containing the choir stalls carved by
rackham's ancestors back in the early 1400s (and moved there from the Abbey during the dissolution). It's just incredible to me that something so old is still in use! We got lots of pictures, particularly of the misericords on the bottom of the choir seats... my favorite was of a knight (I'm assuming St. George?) fighting a dragon. And there was a green man motif carved in a few places in the upper section of the stalls... I'd read about that online, but it was really neat to finally see it in person. After that we headed out to Myre Edge Farm, the B&B we were staying at that night... it was quite a different experience from the other B&Bs we've been in, since we were essentially just in a bedroom suite in their house! The countryside was gorgeous though, as was the house. We got directions to Hoghton Castle from there and decided to see if we could find it... no luck, we ended up wandering fairly aimlessly on some small country roads (but the landscape was incredible), and thinking about what a huge change it must have been for Rackham's ancestors to come from there to Utah. It's no wonder one of the brothers decided to stay in New England! Eventually we found our way to Clitheroe Castle, though we didn't get to see much of it. We followed the signs, which led us up a windy road to a small parking lot by the castle museum. With no other cars. We got out, started to take a look around and eventually got a bit nervous about leaving our car there (since everyone else was talking about the car park at the bottom of the hill). So, back to the car, back down the small winding road and out to the main street where we completely failed to find this alleged car park (nor were there any signs indicating the road we took wasn't a proper road). So, we just abandoned the whole thing and made our way back toward the B&B, stopped at a local Indian restaurant for dinner.
That was something I'd noticed in our wanderings... that you could be in what seemed like the middle of nowhere on a really tiny road, and find some fairly nice restaurants! The food was excellent and the service even better... however, I apparently ate something that didn't agree with me (I'm guessing it was something I'm allergic to, since I had the same reaction I do when I eat something with either lavender or beets in it). In other words, we went back to the B&B so I could lie down for bit and, eventually, lose what I'd eaten for dinner -- I felt much better after that. And no, I don't think it was food poisoning, since Rackham ate the same things I did (we shared our entrees) and didn't feel sick at all. I ended up falling asleep around 9:30 and sleeping for ten hours, so apparently I needed the rest.
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 08:26 pm (UTC)'Course not, it's in a top secret location per old family tradition!
Sorry to hear that dinner didn't agree with you, though.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 08:34 pm (UTC)That's sooo cool!!!
Sorry your dinner didn't agree with you. That's no fun. Hope you feel better.