From Ripon to Nipon

We have come to be very comfortable in our lovely cottage in Bishopton. So comfortable in fact that I have been too lazy to post a footprint for a couple of days. So I will try to lift my game and give a brief account of our doings.

The weather has been a determining factor and since Tuesday was the last guaranteed sunny day we decided to go back into the Dales before the rain arrived on Wednesday. It was a good move. On the recommendation of our neighbour, we headed for famous Malham Cove. Now Malham Cove is not a real coastal cove but a tall curved limestone cliff carved out by melt waters in the last Ice Age. From the overcrowded carpark we could see that it was very impressive. But since there was no room anywhere to park our car we abandoned the idea to drive further on towards Malham Tarn. Good move! By the time we arrived on the tops, it was quiet with only a few people and we decided to take a walk. It was simply magic to be up there, and even I, a city-born urbanite, could feel the pull of the wide paths in the high dales. I could have walked off into it quite happily.

From there we went down into Settle for lunch there to have a very healthy summer salad for me and summer focaccia for him, accompanied by special spiced lemonade. Unique tastes abounded - haute cuisine fast food! The drive home by a new route reminded us again how beautiful the Dales are.

The next day it rained on cue but we were prepared. We decided to look inside of the Ripon Cathedral and then take in one of the three museums on offer. The Ripon Cathedral is a vast storybook. The large framing story tells of the triumph of Christianity in this part of the world. As the founding father, St. Wilfrid (c634-710) is the hero of this story. He was according to the Cathedral’s website, “one of the great missionary leaders of the church in the 7th century. He was educated on Lindisfarne and, fortunate in being favoured by a young queen, was able to extend his education by visiting Kent, Lyon and Rome. The incredible impression made on him by great basilicas and the Benedictine Rule would influence the development of the church in these islands.” The crypt in the Cathedral dates from 672 and a very spooky little space in my view (but then I can a bit of heathen regarding these matters). After Wilfrid, there are stories of kings, queens, bishops, deans, other religious figures of all types, and parishioners who managed to be buried within. Then there’s the windows! Each one an apocryphal story in itself. We especially enjoyed chatting to a priestly woman whose husband had helped design the tiles on the outside of the Sydney Opera House. A small world at least between England and Australia. Another really enjoyable part was being able to explore the quire and its misericords (mercy-seats) “filled with glimpses of medieval life, Biblical scenes and fantastic figures, thought to have inspired ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.’”

The little Courthouse museum was a quick but fun tour. Once again the crimson chords of memory between England and Australia were well on show in this small seriously portentous little building, for from here Englishmen and Englishwomen were sentenced to transportation to Australia until the last ones came in 1868. So sad to read of families broken by the shockingly inhumane punishments meted out within its walls. If you were poor it was your fault, a judgement from on high, including the likes of the people across the road in the Cathedral! God’s judgement, executed in statute and administered by precedent, was merciless if you tried to do anything to alleviate your poverty. Afterwards some shopping at the local Sainsbury’s, home for a light dinner. And some tv. We have been watching Marcella on Netflix - up the 3rd and perhaps final series. A strange intense and equivocal portrayal of a deeply troubled woman.

Today, Thursday, also sunny and rainy by turns, we walked the River Skell path into town. The River Skell is a tributary of the River Ure and it’s a very nice walk. Beautiful green dells and many dogs taking their owners for a walk. After 10,000 steps, and plenty of trees for mental health, it was home for lunch and a rest because tonight we are going to see a play of Pride and Prejudice to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen, at the church near Newby Hall. Because it is a truth universally acknowledged that a couple of Aussie travellers in possession of a few Great British Pounds are in need of a theatrical interlude.Read more