North Yorkshire Moors National Park

[ Photo Gallery # 92 ]

It is the area where I spent my youth and which will for ever be close to my (now southern) heart.  I have shown my photographs, taken over the many times I have revisited, in previous blogs.  The ones below were taken on a motoring tour of this delightful high moorland area in 2005.

The North York Moors is a national park in North Yorkshire, England, containing one of the largest expanses of  heather moorland in the United Kingdom. It covers an area of 554 sq miles (1,430 km²).  The area became a national park in 1952.

Ralph Cross on Westerdale Moor

The Lion Inn on remote Blakey Ridge is a 16th Century establishment located at the highest point of the North York Moors National Park.  It stands at an elevation of 1,325 feet and offers breathtaking views over the valleys of Rosedale and Farndale.

The Lion Inn, Blakey Ridge

Long before ‘Heartbeat’ and TV fame, the tumbling waterfall of Mallyan Spout helped put Goathland on the map as a tourist village in the nineteenth century. 

The waters of West Beck into which Mallyan Spout tumbles.

Grosmont Station is home to the operating and engineering world of the NYM Railway. Here you will find the engine sheds where the steam and diesel locomotives are maintained and restored.

Yes, steam trains – in all their glory!

This bracing moorland village has attracted visitors since the 19th century, but numbers soared following its appearance (as ‘Aidensfield’) in the television series ‘Heartbeat’ and its role in the ‘Harry Potter’ films.

Trains passing at Goathland (‘Aidensfield’) Station

A view from the NYM Railway, of the pyramid shape of the Fylingdales Royal Air Force station on Snod Hill in the North York Moors. It is a radar base and is also part of the National  Ballistic Missile Early Warning System.

The Rydale Open-air Folk museum can be found in the beautiful village of Hutton-le-Hole, in the heart of the North York Moors National Park.  The museum offers a unique glimpse of the past, with collections housed in 20 historic buildings depicting rural local life from Iron Age to 1950s.

Some of the cottages at the Rydale Folk Open-air museum

OPORTO

Oporto, Portugal … Pen & Watercolour – WHB – 2015

OPORTO  is a registered UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is situated along the banks of the Douro river estuary in northern Portugal. The city’s actual name is Porto, but when preceded by a definite article, ‘O’ in Portuguese, meaning ‘the’ in English, it is written as ‘o Porto’ meaning ‘the port’ in English. As a result, in English the city is usually referred to now as ‘Oporto’.   The city is known for its stately bridges, its port wine production, and for its monuments and buildings by renowned architects.  The city was also the birthplace of one of world history’s legendary figures, Prince Henry the Navigator.  In some city guidebooks it is also given as  the birthplace of that world-famous fictional character, Harry Potter, as the author, J. K. Rowling, was living in Oporto as an English teacher when she started writing her first ‘Harry Potter’ book. 

According to its travel bureau
Oporto’s a town on the Douro;
Praise be to Jehovah
It’s famed the world over
For port wine to banish your sorrow,

It’s Portuguese wine at its best;
If you try it you’ll want to invest;
You’ll go back for more,
Buy out the wine store,
And lay all your bogeys to rest.

But then you must explore the city;
It’s stunning, impressive and pretty;
Renowned architects,
Artistic projects,
Far too much to view – what a pity!

WHB.

 

Glenfinnan

The Glenfinnan Monument, looking South West towards Loch Shiel, Scotland

GLENFINNAN

Glenfinnan is a village in Lochaber, an area of the Highlands of Scotland.   In 1745 the Jacobite Rising began here when Prince Charles Edward Stuart (“Bonnie Prince Charlie”) raised his standard on the shores of Loch Shiel. Seventy years later, the 18 m (60 ft) Glenfinnan Monument, at the head of the loch, was erected to commemorate the historic event.  (Wikipedia).

 

Glenfinnan is one of the most beautiful spots I have ever visited.  In whichever direction one looks the views are stunning.  Even on a rather cloudy day, as it was on my last visit, the scene which confronted me had colour, beauty and drama, and displayed in all its magnificence the manifold beauties of nature – the natural splendour of mountains, water, trees, sky, wild-flowers, all visible from the one spot at the head of Loch Shiel on Scotland’s west coast.   But the scene also resounds with historical drama – signified by the impressive Monument situated at the head of the loch, which marks the spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie’s standard was raised, and where the clans flocked to join his , albeit ill-fated, cause.   As well as the natural beauty of the location there is so much history associated with this particular spot, which marks the commencement of a momentous period in British history.

Although they cannot do true justice to the beauty of the scenery, I reproduce below some of my photographs, all taken in 2007 from the spot at the head of Loch Shiel where the Glenfinnan Monument now stands, most of them taken from the top of the actual Monument itself. 

Loch Shiel from the Glenfinnan Memorial

The Glenfinnan Railway Viaduct

Looking North from the Glenfinnan Memorial

Looking North from the Glenfinnan Memorial – close-up

The Glenfinnan Memorial

Plaque . . .  ‘On This Spot’ . . .

Charles Edward, Bonnie Prince Charlie

In the Shadow of the Glenfinnan Tower

Foxgloves by the Glenfinnan Tower

Bonnie Prince Charlie himself – atop the Memorial

NOTES:

Prince Charles initially landed from France on Eriskay in the Western Isles.  He then travelled to the mainland in a small rowing boat, coming ashore at Loch nan Uamh just west of Glenfinnan.  On arrival on the Scottish mainland, he was met by a small number of MacDonalds.  Stuart waited at Glenfinnan for a number of days as more MacDonalds, Camerons, MacFies and MacDonells arrived.

On 19 August 1745, after Prince Charles judged he had enough military support, he climbed the hill near Glenfinnan as MacMaster of Glenaladale raised his royal standard.  The Young Pretender then announced to all the mustered clans that he claimed the Scottish and the English thrones in the name of his father James Stuart (‘the Old Pretender’).

Eight months later, Charles Stuart’s claim to the thrones of Scotland and England ended in failure at the Battle of Culloden, on the 16 April 1746.

Hogwarts Express on the Glenfinnan Railway Viaduct

 

The filming of the second and third Harry Potter books, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ took place in this area with the Hogwarts Express crossing the railway viaduct and calling at Glenfinnan Station.