Somusing

This past Monday our friend Jeff Walsh from the York 2nd Ward took Phin, Lillian, Seth, and me on a hike in an amazingly lovely part of the North Yorkshire Dales: Gordale Scar and Malham Cove near the village of Malham. Later I found this description of the walk that closely matched the route we took. We started at Janet's Foss with a small waterfall and pool: Phin did some kind of abortive breakdancing routine by what looks like a farmhouse ruin: After a short walk we were already at the amazing Gordale Scar, climbing up the left side of the waterfall up the canyon, back down to where the waterfall goes through a hole in the rock, then up some stone stairs to the best grassy hills these sheep could ever hope to live in: Up top we walked to a pool that fills from a stream out of Malham Tarn, farther up, where the pure waters flow: Then we started heading down the other side over scattered stones, past stone walls: And then we came to the top of Malham Cove ...

This past Saturday, the boys and I went to Ilkley in West Yorkshire. We took a bus to York, a train to Leeds, then a train to Ilkley. We saw only a little of the town because our goal was Ilkley Moor . It was a beautiful, mostly sunny day, with no rain, and a great view from up on the moor. Zed led the way climbing up the little calf rock, and then Jacob and I followed: And afterward we watched some real climbers on the large cow rock. That was a lot of fun. There were many beautiful plants. Here was a field of cottony plants and a wild flower: Some of the path was paved with large stones, presumably to keep the trail intact during the wet season. It was nice for a while but walking on it is harder on the legs. We came to the famous 12 Apostles standing stones circle . It always had people sitting and resting at it, so that's what my photo shows: There are miles of stone walls, boulders, and patches of forests: The swastika stone is an ancient petrogly...

I knew before we came to England, in a vague sort of way, that the Romans had been here. I knew Hadrian's Wall was built by the Romans and there was something about roads, as well. But I didn't really know until we got here to York and started to see Roman stuff. Parts of the medieval city walls were built onto Roman foundations that surrounded the city, called Eboracum then, until the 4th century AD. Constantine the Great , the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, was declared Roman Emperor here in 306. There's a statue of him next to the Minster, which is also built on the foundations of the Roman fortress. So, yeah. OLD. I'm not getting tired of the old stuff. I love it! And now, pictures. (I'm trying out bigger photos. Tell me what you think!) Our historian tour guide Gordon in front of one of the corner towers of the city walls (there are free tours of York by local historians three times a day). The rougher, smaller bricks in the bottom two...