I am so glad I brought a backpack. It's much easier to carry than a suitcase because I can have my hands free for my crutches.
They have the most wonderful spinning door. It's non-automated, but it spins beautifully - it just goes and goes.
Tintagel (Tin-ta-jel - ta as in taxes) was our main stop today. It's the ruins of a castle on a cliff high above the sea. Legend says King Arthur was born there!
Being on a cliff, the stairs are incredible. They zigzag up the side, and cross a bridge.
After the bridge, the stairs go almost straight up to reach the castle wall. You can see it in the top right corner.
This is a picture of the last zag. You can just see the castle wall at the top.
Those were hard to get up, but I was bound and determined not to fall behind or slow the group down. After all, they're only wide enough for one person. The girls I went up with were very nice though, and one of them carried my crutch so I could use the railing. Actually, I think she used it as a walking stick. They were very steep - almost up to my knees, some of them.
Anyway, breathing hard, I made it to the top, crutches and all, though the brace had taken a beating. Oh, what fun! This is where King Arthur was born! The other girls laughed at my grin.
Now, the castle I talked about yesterday - St. Michael's Mount - I called a living castle. It still has people living in it. This castle doesn't. If anybody lives there, they either aren't human, or they're a goat.
Historical plaques around explained that the walls must once have been plastered. All that has fallen off long ago. Other people have used this site too. The foundation of a later cottage was found inside the ruins of the earlier castle.
That last is a view through what must once have been a window. Marvelous view, isn't it? Really wonderful.
Speaking of goats, there were lots of signs that they'd been around, and on the hill above the castle, you could see the actual goats. I sincerely doubt they're the same ones as in King Arthur's time. Still, you never know.
Leaving Tintagel and continuing up the hill, the view just got better and better. I tried to take a panoramic shot to get it all in. If you look down the path, you'll see a jagged wall. That's Tintagel!
Miriam headed down a different path to see where it went. It was to narrow for me, but I snapped a shot of her.
Can you see her? I think it should be her new Facebook profile picture.
Finally making it to the top, I felt like a conqueror.
This is the stuff computer desktops are made of. I just didn't realize those places actually exist.
At the bottom of the picture, you can see the rock I was sitting on. I was close enough that my toes could go over, if I reached out my legs, but I was very safe, don't worry. And beneath me there was a grassy thing and some more goats.
It's interesting. They expect everyone to have some common sense. There's the edge, and you can walk wherever you like. Very occasionally, you'll see a sign that's maybe a foot high that says "Danger. Cliffs." That's it. If you fall, it's your own problem. If you think you can make it to the top, carry on. It was kind of freeing. At the castle, they did have a few signs asking people not to climb the walls and to watch their children. I can understand that - the walls are very old and could just tip out into space.
Merlin's cave is underneath the cliff where Tintagel is. I'd climbed from the ticket office (by the bridge in the earlier photo) to Tintagel, and from there to the top of the cliff. So I turned around and climbed back down to the ticket office and from there to the shore. Look at the above photo - the picture of the view again. Can you tell how high I was? That's how far down I climbed.
So glad for railings! Please excuse the slightly wild-eyed look. I was so excited! Also breathless.
Reaching beach level, we skirted boulders taller than I until we reached the mouth of the cave.
Here is the beach. Very rocky. The mouth of the cave is to the left of the photo, just outside the frame. My good shots of it are on my other camera.
It was tall and very large. Maybe not as big as the front of the two-story half or our house, but it would have taken up a good portion of it. The floor was wet and sandy, but we could walk in, so we did.
There was a glow coming from the back of the cave.
A white, misty, ethereal glow.
I walked in further, and saw one of the most stunning things I've ever seen. The picture doesn't do it justice at all.
The cave opened onto the other side of the cliff, but I couldn't see anything clearly - the spray and light made it too bright and misty. Waves would crash against the rocks outside, and send the water churning through into the cave, rippling nearly to my feet.
If you've ever heard the story of Merlin, he ended up falling in love with a beautiful girl named Vivian or Nimue. She learned all his secrets and then locked him inside a rock with his own spells, trapped forever. Down in this cave, filled with the roaring echo of the pounding waves, I wondered if this was the place.
Tearing ourselves away, we headed back towards the town. It was a steep hike up a paved road, and quite honestly was nearly the hardest part of the whole thing. There was a jeep that made the trip regularly, but I was too cheap and stubborn.
At a cafe at the top, I shelled out two and a half pounds (roughly four dollarsish) for a scone, clotted cream, and jam.
Yum, yum yum yum yum. You break off pieces, lather with cream and jam, and then pop the whole bite into your mouth. Very good, and it was nice to sit down and rest. The cream isn't really that yellow - that's the foamy crust on the top - but it is a warm creamy color.
Mom, you were wondering about the scone texture. Here's a cross section. It's like a biscuit, only richer and a little moister. A little more cake-like, maybe.
Miriam found coleslaw. Enough said.
I had to start back to the coach a little early, since I didn't want to rush, but Miriam got me some ice cream.
Take a good look and try to guess the flavor.
Come on, try.
Make a guess.
I'm waiting.
I'll tell you at the end of the post. Be thinking, because I sincerely doubt you'll guess it.
Want a hint?
Okay, here it is.
When I tell you, you'll be thinking I'm talking about some Bed Bath and Beyond candle scent.
Oh, speaking of Bath, that's where we're staying tonight. We're staying at the Hilton in Bath.
Doesn't that sound opulent? I feel wealthy just thinking those two names. "Hilton" and "Bath."
Bath is fascinating. It's made entirely from a light colored stone, and the whole city is declared a culturally significant place.
This is the view from my seat as we rolled into town over the Avon river.
Looking out from the front of our hotel.
Miriam and I walked by a very fashionable store. Look at the floor. Can you see how old this building is? And yet they still use it!
Dinner was at the hotel restaurant.
First course. That striped thing is called terrine. Google it. I dared try something new because the menu said it was vegetable. I'll try all kinds of new things if they're vegetable. It had the texture of cold mashed potato. Surprisingly okay. The yellow stuff tasted like pickles in mustard. Very strong.
Gnocchi. Really good!
Carrot cake with raspberry glaze. Also excellent. I bolted the last two bites though, because Dr. Talbot was taking whoever wanted on a walking tour of Bath.
He is a very entertaining tour guide, and he really knows what he's talking about. Somebody asked him for directions, and he immediately knew right where to send them.
We walked down to the Circle, and he explained the architecture. Apparently Bath had become a ghost town ages ago, when two architects named Wood, father and son, decided to create a whole city, carved from local stone, in the newest architectural mode: Georgian. That's Jane Austen's time period. It's very classical - straight up and down. Except for the Circus and the Crescent, which are both curved. Apparently this was really shocking, and they're super famous even to this day. Nicholas Cage had an apartment in the Circus until recently.
Hopefully those three pictures give you an idea of the Circus. It's four curving housing buildings, arranged in a circle. Nicholas Cage's apartment was third white door from the right in the last picture.
Sunk below the ground level in front of every house is this area, called the service. It's where the servants for that household lived. It's like a little underworld.
This is the Crescent. It's like the Circus, only it's a half circle. It's part of an architectural joke made by the Architects Wood. They made the Circus, a straight road, which connected to the big Crescent. So from the air, it looks like this.
?
That was their little joke.
This is Dr. Talbot explaining the origins of Bath. I took a video, but you'll have to wait for me to get hold of my computer before you can see it. He's great when he gets excited.
Apparently an ancient Celtic king named Bladden was walking and saw a bunch of pigs luxuriating in the mud. (You should've seen Dr. Talbot's happy pig impression.) Curious, he went over and found the mud was hot from hot springs. So he founded a town there.
Later, when the Romans came through, missing their sunny Italy and heated water, they found the town and founded their own city with proper Roman baths. It was a Roman city for three hundred years, and then fell into oblivion, to be rescued by the Architects Wood.
This is The Pump. In Jane Austen novels, her characters go to Bath and go to the Pump House. Well, this is it.
That's Greek over the door. It comes from a poem extolling the virtues of each element and ending "But water is best." So all over town, you'll see this line: "water is best."
This is the Bath Abbey. The doors were open for an event, so we caught a glimpse inside.
The cathedral is in the older Gothic style, as compared to the newer Georgian style.
Our tour was almost over. We walked down through these little back streets in the older section of Bath. Not counting the Roman ruins, it's a fairly modern city by European standards. Most of it is from the 1800's. However, a few streets still have buildings from the 1600's.
We ended our tour down by the Avon river. Not the Stratford-upon-Avon Avon - that's a different one. Avon means river in Celtic, so this is the river river.
It's very beautiful at night. Those rings are some kind of man made waterfalls. On our way back, we saw a swan nesting! As we came near, she stood up to adjust herself and we saw her eggs!
You can't see the eggs - sorry. She sat down right as I took the photo. But there were at least three, and I think more.
Anyway, it's late and I'm very tired. Before I go though, any guesses on that ice cream flavor?
You'll never guess.
If you did, comment and tell me! But I don't think you could have.
Honey and lavender.
Told you it sounded like a candle.
The dried lavender blossoms were a bit hard to get used to, but it was sweet with a light flavor.
Anyway, this is Melissa signing out. More Bath tomorrow!
Cool!
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