Old Blighty. York

 

                                                  Clifford's tower York Castle

      After Lincoln I travelled on to York. On the confluence of the Ouse and Foss. Founded by the Romans in AD 71 and where Constantine the great was proclaimed emperor. The Vikings took it 866/867, and were kicked out in 954. The walls are part Roman, part Saxon, part Viking, part Norman and had rebuilds in the 13 th and 14 th centuries. It still has most of its city walls and all of the original city gates which you can walk around the city on, which I did, needles to say.

 

                                                   Bootham Bar  City gate York

 

Micklegate Bar York

 

York is famous for the Shambles, a narrow medieval market street. I went there early in the morning to take photos before the tourists arrived ( not me, I'm a traveller!)

 

 

The Shambles York

 

 

The Ouse York

 

 

Old Blighty. Lincoln

Lincoln Cathedral from Lincoln Castle

 

 Lincoln was one of those places I couldn't find a hostel, so I had to stay in an expensive guest house.

One advantage of this guest house was it was at the top of Lincoln hill, so I didn't have to walk far to the Cathedral, the castle or the medieval steep hill.

 

         The medieval steep hill the goes from the main part of the town to Lincoln Cathedral

       A better view of The Jew's House on Steep hill. One of the oldest town house's in Britain.
Continuously occupied since it was built in the mid twelfth century.

Another view of Steep Hill Lincoln

       Lincoln was every thing I hoped to see in a medieval town. Cobbled streets, ancient homes and buildings, castles and one of the worlds great medieval Cathedrals. For 238 years Lincoln Cathedral was the tallest building on earth, even taller that the Pyramid of Giza, that held the record for 4000 years.

Lincoln Cathedral Imp

 

Lincoln Cathedral Cloisters

 

       I took a guided tour of the Cathedral which included a tour of the inside of the vaulted roof.
Ever wondered whats inside a Cathedral ceiling?

Inside the ceiling of Lincoln Cathedral

 

This is whats on top of those beautiful tiled vaulted cathedral ceilings.

From above the vaulted ceiling looks, literally, just like a pile of dirt.

 

The view from the roof of Lincoln Cathedral

 

View from Lincoln Cathedral

 

From Lincoln Cathedral

 

            I wish I could say this was some fabulous castle keep. But its just Lincoln water tower

 

Exchequer gate and Lincoln Castle from the roof of Lincoln Cathedral

 

My next top was Lincoln Castle. Home to one of the copies of the Magna Carta.

Built by William the Conqueror in the late eleventh century to control the local Danes.

And like so many castles, became a prison in modern times.

 

Lincoln Cathedral from Lincoln Castle

 

Lincoln Castle from the Cathedral

 

A close up of same

 

An even closer up of same

 

From the other direction

 

Along Lincoln Castle walls

 

The peasant dewllings below the castle walls

View from the castle walls

Lucy tower Lincoln Castle

 

Inside Lucy tower

 

And in down town Linclon. Stokes High Bridge Cafe.

The bridge was built in about 1160 and the building in the 16th century

Old Blighty. Oxford and Stow on the Wold.

St Martin's Tower, also called Carfax tower Oxford

 

         My plans from the start was to backpack around the UK. London, Oxford, Stow on the Wold, Lincoln, York, Edinburgh, Iona, Cumbria, Ireland, Liverpool, Wales, Cornwall and back to London. I love history and ancient history and I've always wanted to see a suit of armour and walk the battlements of a real castle. I also intended to walk at least part of Hadrian's wall.
      

26–27 Cornmarket Street. Oxford. Dates from the fifteenth century

 

I got the bus from London to Oxford and the next day got up early before all the other tourist were about and had a good look at the place. I walked around the famous parts of town, the Bodleian Library and the Bridge of Sighs

 

Bodleian Library Oxford

The Bridge of Sighs

 

Then I walked to the Radcliffe Camera and explored the university precinct.

 

Queens Lane Oxford

 

 

 

The Radcliffe Camera

 

       When I was a small lad I saw a Victorian illustration of Empress Matilda escaping from a castle tower window. Imagine my delight when I found myself in that exact room in the tower in Oxford

Castle she escaped from. It was a big Norman Castle that incorporated the original Saxon walls and towers. The Parliamentary forces during the English civil war demolished nearly all of it excepted some of the original Saxon towers.

The tower in Oxford Castle Empress Matilda escaped from in 1142

 

The castle was converted into a prison and was in use into the 1990,s. It didn't get electricity till the 1960,s. And right up till it closed the prisoners had to use a bucket for a toilet.

Oxford Castle prison cell

St Michael at the North Gate. Another one of the surviving Saxon towers

 

Oxford canal and a narrow boat

 

My next stop was Stow on the Wold. The church there has two ancient yew trees growing on each side of the church door. Thought to be the bases behind The doors of Moria in Tolkien,s Lord of the Rings. When I got to Stow on the Wold I had no idea where the church might be. For all I knew it could have been 10 miles out of town, but it was right in the middle of the town, easy to find and there was nobody else around.

 

Yours truly in front of those famous doors

 

Yours truly not in front of those famous doors

 

Another view of St Edwards church. Stow on the Wold

 

A typical house in Stow on the Wold.

 

This time the weather let me down, and it rained all day. A bummer lots of crapy photos.

 

 

Old Blighty. Hampstead Heath and Highgate Cemetery

Highgate Cemetery August 2015

 

     I was blessed with good weather in the UK. But the the day I went to Highgate Cemetery it worked against me. It was a hot and sunny day so it was really hard to get a good shot of the over grown parts of the cemetery, the tomb stones were half in deep shadow and half in bright sun light, an impossible combination for a good photo. I walked from the hostel through Hampstead Heath on to Highgate.
   The cemetery was every thing you imagined, hundreds of tumbling down over grown tombstones, and the tombs of famous people.

Karl Marx, one of the most misunderstood men in history

 

One of the first famous persons grave I came across was Douglas Adams. Auther of that great trilogy in five parts. The hitch hikers guide to the galaxy.

 

Douglas Adams, a small and modest grave

 

If your a Sex Pistols fan. Heres Malcolm Mclarens grave, less modest.

 

Malcolm Mclaren

 

Some more images of Highgate Cemetery

 

 

 

 

I walked through Hampstead Heath on the way to and from Highgate Cemetery. I,m amazed at its size, and that much it is near wilderness so close to London

The City of London from Hampstead Heath

 

Its like a remote mountain meadow

 

One of the many lakes on Hampstead Heath

 

Kenwood House. Hampstead Heath

In front of Kenwood House

People by one of the many lakes on Hampstead Heath

A swan on a lake

A country lane in Hampstead Heath