From Aysgarth, the village, there are not a lot of footpaths, going hither and yon, so I decided to take a not-the-Herriot-Way route to Bolton Castle. It was quite nice! But first, I had to visit the one big attraction in Aysgarth; no, that is incorrect. It is the one little attraction: The Edwardian Rock Garden.
I thought I knew from rock gardens, what with being from Montreal and all, but these rocks and this garden was, WOW, on a completely new scale:
Tiny as it was, there is room for one little bench:
Flower:
After viewing the garden, it was time to set off. It was cold!! Really! '
These gates seem to get tinier all the time:
They are so adorable, though!
Hay has not yet been made:
Look to right of center, you will see a thin, silver colored line. That is the upper Aysgarth falls. I have been here before and I remember the loud, rushing noise of the water (from the lower falls, to be honest), but it has not rained in a while and the three falls are reduced to a trickle. Maybe that makes it easier and more fun for people to cavort on the rocks and in the water and stuff.
It's OK, you don't have to hide:
Great sign:
Bridge and cow:
That cow standing up on the rise was reminiscent of the Osborne Bull in Spain!
Bunny breakfasting:
In the afternoon, I met a couple who were also walking and we got into a bit of a chit chat. I mentioned that I had never seen so many small, dead animals as I had yesterday and today. The woman told me that many rabbits in the area have become infected with Myxomatosis Sad, very sad!
Even big machines need a rest:
A trio:
Approaching the castle, I saw this ad:
Alex, it is not too late to get a ticket!
As castles go, Bolton Castle is more interesting to visit than most.
When you see all those rooms for doing and making and cooking and drinking and weaponizing and whatnot, it sinks in that a castle was actually a small city.
Noted:
Room with a view:
There was a monks' cell in which a poster told about the monks job of copying texts. (That is a very bad sentence.) An extract: "The monk would sit at his writing slope, using his quill pen and ink. The ink was made with crushed oak galls, a type of growth that forms on young oak trees when a wasp lays its eggs. The ground up powdered oak gall was mixed with water and iron sulphate to make it black." Bells went off! Yes, this is the same kind of pen and ink used for writing Torah scrolls. The Romans are given credit for developing oak gall ink, and apparently it was not used on the scrolls at Qumran, but it makes you wonder...
One cannot ride the horse:
Be warned: there is CCTV everywhere—which kind of takes away from the attempt at medieval authenticity—so don't try.
There was a bake house, where one was informed that bread was baked directly on burning embers so the bottom of the loaves was burnt. Therefore, the upper crust was the best part and reserved for the nobility. Of course!
In addition to very many rooms, even including an oubliette, there are [formal] gardens:
A bench in sad need of repair, yet it looks quite sweet as it is
I swear, I could barley get through this stile!
I looked up that A Foot in Two Dales event to see how many people actually finished, but the results are not out yet! I will keep checking.
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