The wet and the whimsical

Off on another trip today. Again, I'm posting once we're home rather than in bits and pieces along the way, because I had Xylia with me, so it's a bit antisocial to be fiddling with websites when you have company. A good early start was made and we rattled up to Ripon:



Ripon has really cheap parking, we discovered. And Cauliflowers:


Xylia likes markets. I snapped away at the architecture:


Coffee was drunk and cakes were eaten and then we were off to the next stop. Look out for the next post below.

There were the most horrendous delays near Leeds. There was a massive traffic jam on the motorway and then we were directed off it and crawled along some minor roads with thousands of other cars before regaining the M1 after the blockage. This added at least a hour to the journey time so the sun was quite high in the sky by the time we made our first stop.

Right, off to see the Coldcut Stones:



This is a kind of sculpture or installation art piece next to a quarry near Pately Bridge.


It's got stone walls made out of massive blocks and whimsical paths through it that look like miniature roads with yellow lines and a mini roundabout in the middle. You can climb up and look out of the viewing platforms. Lovely views:


However, valuable marks were lost because the bits that were supposed to look like roads only had plastic gratings:



You'd think they could have coughed up for some decent cast iron ones. Surely I can't be the only one who salivated over the merchandise for sale at www.draindepot.com? You can also see the quarry working, so I watched excavators loading dumper trucks for a while:


Then it was off to Masham where we found a cafe open for lunch.


Forgot to take any pictures of Masham, or the lunch, so you'll have to use your imagination.

After Masham, it was time for a visit to Ilton Temple. Off we trundled along the single track roads in roughly the right direction, only to find that once again our way was blocked. Today's trip has been blighted by closed roads. We pressed on past the orange cones and 'Road Closed' signs and came upon a bunch of workmen who were kind enough to move their excavator so we could get past:



Ilton temple looks like this:

Again, it is a piece of sculpture. It was built by a local land owner, William Danby, just over 200 years go. He organised it so as to relieve poverty and unemployment among local labourers who he hired at a shilling a day. They were evidently quite industrious because a lot of stones were shifted:


I don't think Xylia quite 'gets' the idea of a folly. She kept pointing at things like this:

And asking me what they were for. Well, they weren't 'for' anything. It was a folly. Of course there's a lot of neolithic and bronze age ritual architecture across northern Europe and a good deal has been written about it, but this is a Romantic period riff on the subject and reflects what intellectuals of the day fancied the past might have looked like. Like most worthy folly builders of the 18th and 19th centuries, Danby attempted to hire a hermit to live in and around the temple. Life was hard for these hermits - they were often made to go around naked (or maybe a tattered loincloth was permitted) grow their beards and hair and not talk to anyone. Even when they could be hired, they often didn't live very long. This was in the middle of the Dalton Minimum (like the little ice age but not quite as severe) so things could get a bit nippy. Anyway, Danby was unsuccessful in his quest to hire a hermit but his folly remains. Here's a few more shots:

Then it was off to the Forbidden Corner, which you actually have to pay to get into but is great fun:


It's a garden with a variety of sculptures and follies. Things like this:

Which is a house like a stone dinosaur where you go in the mouth and out of its bottom - or should that be cloaca? Although it is on a small patch of land it is ingeniously set up like a maze so there are loads of paths to walk round with interesting bits of sculpture:


Sunken gardens:



Plants with interesting foliage:


Underground passages with little vignettes:



As well as views over the surrounding countryside:



If anyone's got kids from around 6 to puberty, they'd probably love it. There are miles of mazes and passages to run through, some of which are designed to be too small for the grown ups, stepping stones, puzzle rooms with multiple doors leading to different adventures, a waterfall to play with, and lots more. There are a variety of funny noises, lights and surprise jets of water activated by the visitor, so if you have kids who like running about and screaming (or if you do yourself) it is Well Worth a Visit as they used to say on Blue Peter. Anyway, the fountains were supplemented by a heavy shower of rain, so we went in the cafe to warm up a bit.

Then we trundled around a bit more:


Off to Skipton by a rather roundabout route, looking at the countryside:


Little farms nestled in the valleys:

and finally Skipton itself:


I hadn't realised how many canal boats there were in Skipton:



And then back to Leicester. Home James and don't spare the horses:



No delays on the roads this time so it was all quick and easy.

Very nice.
I do hope the xylia clears up. It must be all the traveling.
I have spent a lot of time in Skipton. The narrow boat jams are legendary. Rebuilt most of the pubs and restaurants over the years in the town center but the worst was the one with the planked outcrops over the tow path. I nearly came a cropper more than once nailing them sods on.

Bobsticle said:

Very nice.
I do hope the xylia clears up. It must be all the traveling.
I have spent a lot of time in Skipton. The narrow boat jams are legendary. Rebuilt most of the pubs and restaurants over the years in the town center but the worst was the one with the planked outcrops over the tow path. I nearly came a cropper more than once nailing them sods on.

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The Venice of the north, eh? Who would have guessed. Xylia's very well thanks and seems to be full of energy after having been bounced around for 400 miles or so.