Ripon, Day One (Saturday)

This was Saturday, the 31st of May, and our first full day in Ripon. If you have missed the post about the pretty cottage where we were staying, just go back two posts and you'll get a good idea of what was our base for a whole week.

I woke up to the sun shining into my cosy bedroom, and when I opened the door to the staircase, our landlords' two cats came running in - they had, I later learned from my sister, already been paying us a visit at 2.00 in the morning! She had put them out again and made sure the cat flap in the back door was firmly locked, but they somehow must have managed to open it again, as they were now here, curiously exploring my room and going downstairs with me in the hope of some food (they never got anything from us).

The Wakeman's House, Ripon Market Square

After breakfast, we had a quick stroll across the market to get some fresh fruit and veg and an equally quick visit to Sainsbury's and the baker's. With my sister-in-law, we had arranged for us to visit her in the afternoon, so we went for a walk that would take us to Littlethorpe via the scenic route.

Ripon offers many nice walks in and around the town, some are described in leaflets by the Civic Society, and usually they are well marked. 

We started out along the river Skell.

I nearly stepped on this little mouse! And when I say "little", I mean it - it was about half the length of my thumb! Before we walked on, I very carefully stroked its furry back and made sure it hid well in the grass besides the path.

On we went, along the river and across.

Underneath the bridge where the railway used to be (now part of the bypass), we reached the outskirts of Ripon. It was very quiet here, nearly no cars and very few people about.

The path then lead through a bit of woodland (and was rather muddy in parts) until we reached an open field. At the end of the field, way behind the row of trees, is the road leading past Ripon Race Course and back into town.

However, we did not want to go back into Ripon just yet; instead after having passed the Racecourse, we took the path to the left that leads along Ripon Canal. It is a nice walk; you have the canal on one side, and open meadows with the river on the other side - a popular place with birds and birdwatchers.

Not far along the canal comes the path that leads up into Littlethorpe, which is where we were actually headed. Littlethorpe is a village that has no pub, no school and no shop, but a church and a village hall - and, most important for me, family where I am always welcome!

Back to Ripon in my next post.

Read in 2014 - 19: Corpse Way

A great find from Amazon's Kindle store, "Corpse Way" is a contemporary mystery set in Yorkshire and was the perfect reading company for my Yorkshire holiday which ended on Tuesday.

Millie, a young woman who is still trying to come to terms with her mother's death and her father's relationship with a new woman in his life, goes to visit her grandmother in the Yorkshire Dales. She can't imagine those three weeks to be exciting in any way, but soon finds out that her preconceptions about the place and the people were wrong: she stumbles into a situation that not only could very well determine the course of her life from now on (including the very tender beginnings of a romance), but also ends up being crucial to solving the mystery behind the sudden death of two people. Of course, her private investigation into the matter puts her and the new friends she has made in danger, but she emerges a stronger person, surer of herself and of what she wants.

I like the way Susan Parry writes. It is unpretentious, and she has not overdone it with the dialect (I know it is hard for some people to understand). You can tell she knows all the places that appear in the book very well, and people are described accurately enough to be able to picture them in your mind. 
You do learn quite a bit about lead mining in this book; while some people may not find this information necessary because it does not really contribute to the plot, I found it very interesting. 
A good editor could have advised Susan Parry to be more concise in some parts, when it comes to describing what people do and say. For instance, during a visit to a supermarket, instead of simply telling us that the characters put their shopping into the car and then sat down for coffee while waiting for their friends, we read that Millie says to her friend "Let's put the shopping in the car" and then they go out and do it. Such superfluous, redundant bits can be a little too lengthy for some readers and make them impatient to know what actually HAPPENS - it is, after all, a mystery.

The author's website is here; apart from learning something about Susan Parry and her books, you'll also find some beautiful pictures of Yorkshire countryside there.

This was the first book in a series of (so far) six books, with the 7th in the making. I will certainly get the complete series.

Where We Stayed

For one wonderful week, my sister and I were staying at Matchbox Cottage in Ripon. The description and pictures on the website don't do it justice - it is much spacier than we had expected, and since it has been renovated only in January, it still has a fresh and modern look and feel about it, at the same time being very cosy and nice. We felt so much at home there that we really did not want to leave when our week ended.

Matchbox Cottage is part of and belongs to the same people who run Box Tree Cottages. I have posted about the B&B here; Matchbox Cottage is self-catering. It can be booked through here or here. The owners are very friendly and made us feel welcome just as they have done in the past.

A five-minute walk will take you to Ripon's market square and town hall (where the tourist info has now moved to), a further two minutes and you stand in front of the cathedral. The bus stop for buses going to Harrogate, Leeds or the Dales with their villages and small towns is just behind the market square, so you are quite mobile even without a car.

Now for the pictures:

The front of the house shows Matchbox Cottage on the far left; the rest of the building is Box Tree Cottages.

 Front door and front garden:

Our own private side garden, secluded from the road and front garden by hedges:


Can you believe we never actually used it - we were mostly out during the day, and by the time we arrived back home, it had become too chilly to sit there. But if our next stay (and there definitely will be a next time!) is a bit warmer weather-wise, I can very well imagine us having some of our meals there.




Back door to kitchen and back garden:

The back garden does not belong to the cottage, but is used by the owners. But they told us that they were perfectly OK with us climbing over the little fence if we wanted to play with their two cats (something we did not take advantage of more than once or twice).

Coming in by the back door, you would see this:

The kitchen is fully equipped with stove, microwave, washing machine, dishwasher, fridge, freezer, kettle, cutlery, crockery, pans and pots and everything you need to make all your meals. One of the drawers pulls out into a small breakfast table, which we never used, because we found it so much nicer to sit in our pretty living/dining room.

Next on the ground floor are a brand new shower room with toilet and one of the two bedrooms:

And of course, there is the cosy living room with dining table, where we had breakfast and many of our other meals. We lit the (artificial) fire every night, it made for such a homely atmosphere (apart from really warming up the room).

Upstairs was my bedroom with en-suite shower room and toilet. I slept very well in that big bed!

The owners have two cats and a dog (we never heard the dog bark - everything was very quiet). The cats came visiting sometimes, but quickly lost interest when they realised we were not going to feed them. Here are Peggy and Callie:

Now you know where we've been, and where the walks you'll find spread out over my next posts have started from.

Back Home

Dear All,

Last night at a quarter to eight, I shut the door to my flat behind me from inside and heaved a bigh sigh of relief. 

It had been a great holiday but a rather long and tiring trip back home. To get from Sheffield to Stuttgart shouldn't take all that long, but we were on the road (or in the air) for ten hours. While still in England, everything went smoothly, and all our means of transport (taxi, train and plane) arrived and left on the spot. As soon as we landed in Germany, the "fun" began: There was utter chaos in Frankfurt at the station, with massive delays and many trains cancelled. As usual, the reasons given were varied, and information not always reliable. There had been heavy thunderstorms in the northern half of Germany, we heard, but that was the day before. Also, some trains were cancelled because of "technical issues with the vehicle" - obviously, they were not able to provide replacement trains. For a while, we were unsure about when (and if!) we would be able to make it to Stuttgart on that same day.
And while the time difference between England and Germany is only 1 hour, temperatures in Germany were well above 30 Celsius, as opposed to somewhere around 20 Celsius in Yorkshire. Although we had known about this and came prepared, it didn't make dragging luggage across the airport and train station any nicer.

Anyway! The holiday was great, it was lovely to see the family, we went for nice, long walks and hikes, saw some beautiful places and had nice meals. I brought back five books, one dress, some chocolate and other little gifts.

In a few minutes, I will leave for the office - hoping that trains today won't be as chaotic as yesterday! It will take me some time to catch up with everybody's blogs, and of course it will also take a while to write up my travel notes and choose the best out of the 300+ pictures I have taken.

Watch this space :-)

(Picture of yellow poppies from my parents' allotment, courtesy my Mum.)

The Tallest Church Spire in the World

After my first course week in Ulm, I told you about the Minster, which has - according to wikipedia and other sources - the tallest church spire in the world (something I still find hard to believe).

On my Tuesday evening walk during the second week at the course, I had a good view of the Minster. And finally, on the Saturday, I had enough time between the end of class and my train home to actually go there and climb the more than 700 steps to the very top, which lies at an impressive 161 m (or 530 ft).

I left my luggage in a locker at the station and walked across the busy pedestrian area (it was Saturday early afternoon, the busiest time of the week, with the market still going on) to the Minster.

There are occasions for a brief rest to catch one's breath from all the climbing (or to let people on their way down get past you), the first one being not that high up yet. I took the following picture from the first level above the ground.

Further up I went, coming round the tower to the other side with a first view across the roof.

 A bit further up, and I saw the roof in its entire length.

Higher and higher, and you meet some strange creatures on the way (apart from the tourists, who sometimes are quite strange in their own ways).

The river you see here is the Danube. It divides Ulm into two cities, Ulm and Neu-Ulm ("new Ulm"). One side of the river is Baden-Württemberg, the other side is Bavaria.

 More strange creatures:

 Nearly there now! From this level, there is only one further leg of the journey to the top.

To get there, you have to climb up inside this "needle". It is very narrow, and there is only a very small space for people to stand and look. I did not take any pictures from there but went down again to make room for the next person.

A last good look at some of the gargoyles, and a peek at the bells. It is difficult to tell how big they actually are with nothing to compare them to, but believe me, they are huge.

This was the first time I've been up on the spire in about 20 years, and I am really glad I took the opportunity. It was a great way to end the week.

Read in 2014 - 18: Invisible

Sometime last year, while I was on one of my frequent hunts for free ebooks on Amazon's kindle shop, I came across this book and downloaded it, getting around to reading it only now.

"Invisible" is listed as "A Christian Mystery" - something I was not aware of when I downloaded it -, but it is not too much "in your face" about religion as to put you off the whole thing. Instead, her faith is simply part of the heroine's life, and it is very credible how her going to church and having the occasional religious discussion with a friend are woven into the story.

Ivy Malone is an elderly widow who finds she has to do something about the vandalism at a nearby country cemetery, since nobody else seems to be able - or willing - to. She has recently discovered that, to most shop assistants, people on the street etc., she has become as good as invisible; nobody notices a little old lady in unassuming clothes. While this bothers her at first, she soon learns to use this "invisibility" to her advantage.

What starts out as her only trying to find out who the vandals are and handing their license plate numbers over to the police for further action, develops into a full-blown murder inquiry, during which several people lose their lives, and Ivy herself gets into mortal danger, too.

I enjoyed this mystery a lot - you can, if you are so inclined, read it without taking much note of the religious elements in it - because the characters are so well described, and the way they talk and act is rather realistic most of the time. 

Ivy herself is great, and the way she feels about getting older, her friendship with her closest neighbour, and the other people that are part of the cast for this story, is so well written. She is quirky enough (she sees faces in the oddly shaped vegetables she tries to grow in her garden) without being over the top. She is not "too good to be true", but not completely dysfunctional like so many modern detectives, either.

Less than half way through the book, I guessed at the true culprit behind the vandalism and how it was connected with the murder of a young woman, but the full extent of what had been going on is only uncovered as Ivy herself finds it all out.

There are tnree more Ivy Malone mysteries, according to the author's website, and I'll look for them on Amazon.