Two to a Ewe

Every twist and corner of the narrow Yorkshire road revealed another rolling field filled with lambs and ewes, some roaming the road, others contained by old stone fences, stones probably lifted from Hadrian's Wall when Romans threw up their hands in the air and said, I give up!

Future sleepless nights counting sheep will easily fall into place when I count lambs catapulting into the air twisting their flexible bodies. Lambing season was in full swing in Yorkshire and we were not disappointed in seeing the massive amounts of newly born miniature wool skeins.

Northern England

Adventures have themes and one constant recurring theme on the European continent is the Roman Empire. Our adventure mixes in some spice in the form of Vikings and trains.

Trains are the beginning, middle and end of this journey. Old steam train routes, Harry Potter Hogsmeade train station, York Rail Museum and our round trip train journey from Bath to York, via London, to visit the beautiful Yorkshire and Northumberland areas.

York

To keep my island occupiers straight, I look to the sign in the Jorvik Interpretive Center. Romans would slide into the bottom space under Viking Age.

York, founded by the Romans in 71 AD, was called Eboracum. Constantine joined his father, Emperor Constantius Chlorus, in York to fight against the Picts. At the time the Roman world was ruled from wherever the emperor was in residence.

Upon the sudden death of his father in York, Constantine was proclaimed emperor by his army in ad 306.

York Minster is a main draw for tourists, one of the finest medieval buildings in Europe with Constantine gracing York Yard close to the spot he was proclaimed Emperor.

Yorkers seem to love furry green animals.

Viking ships arrived in 866 with Ivar the Boneless, (Viking series fans will know his name), armed to avenge his father's murder by King Aella on All Saints Day. Wealth was the main reason Vikings invaded England knowing that they could find gold in the monasteries, capture slaves and increase their farm lands.

Vikings called York Jorvik and it remained under Viking rule until 1067 ending with the Norman ruler, William the Conqueror.

A Viking settlement was discovered in the early 1970's under the city of York in the midst of digging for a shopping center. York's oxygen-deprived wet clay soil preserved an extensive amount of daily life which are on display in the Jorvik Interpretive Center. Timber, wood, leather, privies, pits, animal pens, fences, workshops, pottery, metalwork and bones were all preserved giving factual clues into Viking life.

Jorvik Center includes an educational underground ride to give the viewer a feel of life in a recreated Viking Village, smells included and a terrific museum with some really well done living history demonstrations.

Male tribes still roam modern day York, some dressed as racing jockeys, cartoon characters and this group as Ronald McDonald with Hamburglar. Coming across a group of men in identical bicycle jerseys I wasn't clear if that was their costume or they had pre-decided on the same jersey and rode their bikes to a pub.

This is why I love England, there's a Monty Python moment around every corner.

I kind of thought Morris Dancers were mythical creatures from another time like Nessie. Grown men jumping about waving handkerchiefs in the air, brandishing swords with jingling bells tied around their legs exuberantly dancing to music, like a British color guard for grown men.

Spring ritual, fertility rite, depends on who you ask. Astounded, I felt like I had seen a unicorn, elusive and hard to believe. My British friends rolled their eyes when I shared my good fortune and said "oh god, are they at it again?"

York Rail Museum has everything a train lover craves. History, real train carriages and engines, posters, every item you will find on a train from the serving dishes to the lanterns. Even advice on how to pack for your favorite 4-legged companions.

Clifford's Tower is the inspiration for the nursery rhyme ridiculing useless military action.

"Oh, the grand old Duke of York,

He had ten thousand men;

He marched them up to the top of the hill,

And he marched them down again.

When they were up, they were up,

And when they were down, they were down,

And when they were only halfway up,

They were neither up nor down."

York is a walkable city full of odd and wonderful sites and people.

Driving East we journeyed to Castle Howard where Brideshead Revisited was filmed and Goathland train station which doubled as Hogsmeade Station in the Harry Potter films.

North York Moor is a National Park full of heather-clad moorlands, low growing vegetation sustained on acidic soil. There is a strange beauty to the Moors, the bleak expanse, fog, emptiness yet full of birds and wildlife. Many a classic, romantic, tragic British novel was staged on the Moors.

Whitby

Perched at the edge of the York Moors on the North Sea at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby was a hands-on school for Captain Cook where he served as an apprentice.

The crashing North Sea and beach cabanas for those fool hardy tourists who long for a dip. The original huts were little wheeled cabins that Victorian sea bathers would use to change into sea clothes while their cabin was being pulled by a horse or person directly into the water. Victorian modesty required bathers to be completely discrete when swimming in the ocean. Don't look. 👀

Seaside towns have a salty seaside charm wrapped up in taffy with fortune tellers, brick layers smile or the people who gain their livelihood reflected in the numerous wire sculptures around Whitby.

What Whitby is really known for and entices the vampires, is writer Bram Stoker who visited in 1890 for location inspiration for a novel about a character he had in mind Count Wampyr.

Stoker changed the character's name after researching at Whitby library and drew on factual anecdotes for his work. Demeter was a real ship wreck, we climbed the 199 steps up to St. Mary's Church and his character - Mr. Swales, the name on a tombstone in the nearby cemetery.

“But, strangest of all, the very instant the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below, as if shot up by the concussion, and running forward, jumped from the bow on the sand. Making straight for the steep cliff.” Dracula Bram Stoker

Gothic literature favored all that was present in Whitby, caves, convents, eerie castles, abbey ruins, damsels with secrets, brooding men and cloud atmosphere.

A few days ago to mark 125 years since Stoker's work was published, a new world record was set in Whitby for the largest gathering of people dressed as vampires. A total of 1,369 people attended breaking the previous record of 1,039 set in 2011.

I giggle to think we could be saying the softly sounding Wampyr rather than vampire. Not as scary.

Durham

Durham Cathedral is a massive Norman church with the shrines of St. Cuthbert and Venerable Bede and very interesting, religious art exhibits. Durham University is top rated and the city has a lovely charm.

Hadrian's Wall

Long before reading "Memoirs of Hadrian" I had always wanted to visit the Wall.

1,900 years ago Hadrian, one of the 5 good emperors, inheriting his title from his adopted father Trajan, built a wall to reinforce security in the wild northern frontier of England. Soldiers at one of the forts, Vindolanda, had doctors, heated floors, massage rooms, changing rooms, indoor plumbing and exercise areas. One of the perks for standing on a drafty outdoor wall in northern England checking passports.

The Wall runs East - West, almost 20 feet high and 10 feet wide winding for 84 miles. Some parts are still walkable and others too narrow. A map of Hadrians empire and the Wall.

Spending the 5-7 days hiking the Wall wasn't our plan but 2 afternoons were well spent hiking on and near the wall. Present days guardians looking more like cattle and sheep than Roman legions greeted us. Bypassing the Wall where it was too crumbled to walk made our journey dangerous. It required us to maneuver fields and paths with care sidestepping cow pies and sheep droppings while dancing on the ancient edge of Rome.

Remaining walls of Vindolanda Housesteads, home of the cows, sheep and the brave.

The Wall spreading like a serpent's spine dipping into the countryside with narrow stone passageways crossing the Pennine Way revealing abandoned Roman forts.

Built before the Great Wall of China, Hadrian's Wall survived 300 years and then was subsequently pilfered, borrowed from, repurposed to supply stone materials to farms, churches, castles and houses. No one cared about its significance until the 19th century when its relevance was realized by John Clayton. Only 10% of the Wall currently remains visible.

Walking the Wall I sensed George R. R. Martin had visited tickling his imagination for his Game of Thrones locations. Dramatic wall drops to the North defending the Roman Empire against the Picts would explode to the next level of an Ice Wall to defend against the White Walkers.

Discoveries on the walk unveil old fort foundations, the Pennine Way-England's first National Trail with 268 miles going North to South and the famous Sycamore Gap.

The iconic view of Sycamore Gap is a poster child for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves movie.

Wensleydale

Time to jump forward short of a few thousand years to the famous duo Wallace and Grommet in Wensleydale where the famous cheese and more are made.

Grassington

A visit to Grassington placed James Herriot squarely on our journey through the lovely Yorkshire Dales. James Alfred Wight (Herriot's real name) wrote his memories of a Yorkshire surgeon and vet in All Creatures Great and Small.

Grassington has been used as the film location on the recent PBS series. The first photo gives you a sense of how they recreated J. A. Dean's clothing shop in the fictional Darrowby from the ice cream store in the second photo.

Sheep seemed to be the only inhabitants on our quiet, country drives giving them right of way between the narrow stone walls on each side. Most were timid and quickly moved on not making a fuss. Others continued their lawn mowing duties.

Haltwhistle

We opted for a farm stay on Wydon Farm with a family that leased farm lands from the National Trust. The nearest city to the farm is Haltwhistle, claiming to be the Center of Britain.

The National Trust is a UK heritage conservation organization preserving buildings, collections, coastlines, farm lands and heritage. The Trust conserves 255,000 hectares or 630,000 acres of land with 60% let out as whole farms. Competition is stiff to become a National Trust tenant and our hosts were raising 400 Texel cross ewes and 100 simmental cattle. We stayed in a converted barn renovated into 3 room rentals and had all the amenities, straw included.

Lambs aren't normally this gregarious, most stand back hiding behind their mother's wool coats constantly bleating out questions about our presence while she bleats back a response. A bottle fed lamb has no qualms about who we were and hoped we had a bottle with us.

Linda on Wydon Farms told us that the best number of lambs is 2 per ewe. Ewes struggle to feed more than two and ewes losing their lambs or with singles are encouraged to nurse lambs from bigger families.

James Herriot's beautifully crafted stories of farm life's tragedies, joy, births and deaths, perseverance through all weather were so closely linked to my parent's farm life I felt a special affinity to the Dales. I smiled to think of Harald and Stella reading his books.

“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.” James Herriot

I intend to safeguard the existential glow on my face making the corners of my mouth curve up in a permanent smile gained from North Country memories.

Don't miss this short snippet of Morris Dancers Live!