East Devon Way - Part Three

Saturday 29 July 2023

Now my car is fixed (and I'm much the poorer) we were able to return to this walk.  There appeared a reasonable gap in the showery weather so we drove to Colyton and dropped my car, then went to Knapp Copse Nature Reserve where we left JC's.

It was only a short walk today, just shy of 12 km, but it was good to be out.  We skirted Farway Hill and descended into the small village of Church Green enjoying the view across the Coly Valley.

We had hoped to stick our head in the 14th Century church there but there was a wedding on.  Nice stained windows though, and magnificent yew trees which are estimated to be a similar age to the church, ~1000 years.

Then across fields into Farway and its aged petrol pumps.  

We traversed quite a few fords on this walk, and lots of cute bridges over ditches and streams following our pink guide arrow.

Northleigh was the next village. This too has a 14th Century church but it had certainly been significantly modernised (by the Victorians by the looks of it) when we popped in.  Not much to write home about.

We then had a couple of km of road to kill which was made duller by the fact that the hedges on either side were too high to see over.  But it wasn't too long before we were off the tarmac and back onto meadows, this time walking directly by the River Coly.  This is dairy land and many fields had cows resident.  If you look at the black smudge in the photo below you'll see it's actually a cow party: they were all crowded in one small patch (must have been a good meal going on).  

I managed to be reasonably big and brave with my cow encounters yesterday.  I'm getting better with them but still have quite an aversion to bullocks.  

The remainder of the walk was flat beside the meandering river. We arrived in Colyton too late for any tea shop or pubs to be serving food so we had a quick drink and headed home.  Day Three done - last leg is 15 km to Lyme Regis.

Bradford-on-Avon, Bath and Birthday (sadly not mine)

We went away last weekend on a surprise birthday weekend for JC.  Well, it wasn't a surprise that we were going away, or, indeed, a surprise to him that he had a birthday coming up, but the location was all my doing.  I'd chosen Bradford-on-Avon as it wasn't too far, had easy access to Bath, and looked worth exploring for a day or two.

We drove up on Friday night and had a great tapas supper at Pablos.  

On Saturday we took the train into Bath and I took JC to his pre-birthday treat, the Museum of Asian Art.   Before I met JC, I wasn't terribly tuned into art (see the Chicago blogs) and certainly not Chinese art of which he is a particular fan.  This small, but perfectly formed, museum just off the Bath Circle is full of artefacts pretty much collected by one enthusiast, Brian McElney.  JC and I have quite different tastes in art, and we do certainly appear poles apart when it comes to Chinese antiques.  So I invented a game of "which antique would you run off with"?  These were the answers - me on the left (the bowl, not the statue), JC on the right (the bronze tripod food vessel over the food vase).

Then JC spotted this on the landing and changed his mind.

I think the more know you know about anything - art, music, trig pillars, benchmarks - the more you appreciate the special ones you see.  

We were both pretty amazed as this inscription.  I include the picture I took showing the name plate so you can understand just how minuscule the writing is.

It was a wet and rainy day and we dodged the showers in between museums/shops.  After a pit stop for coffee we headed to Bath Abbey.  

We paid our entrance fees and, as we entered, were handed a flyer for a piano recital which was just about to start.  We had accidentally stumbled across a lunchtime concert by Violet Wong.  I was enthralled.  She played (a) Scarlatti’s Sonata in G minor (b) Beethoven’s Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2 “ Tempest” 1st movement (c) Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 55 No. 1; Debussy’s La Cathédral Engloutie and (d) Chopin’s Polonaise Op. 26 No. 1.  I loved it! Meanwhile JC was pottering around taking photos and not getting at all excited by the music.  So perhaps my shabby art knowledge isn't that shabby when it comes to classical music ;-)

Once the recital finished we moved onto the Herschel Museum of Astronomy.  This was certainly my choice, as who doesn't adore an astronomer?  Even better that William Herschel was not just 'supported' by his sister, Caroline, but she discovered - and was acknowledged for it! - numerous astronomical artefacts in her own right, which was a no mean feat in the 19th Century.

It was from this house that William discovered Uranus.  He initially called it "the Georgium Sidus", the Georgian Planet, in honour of King George III of England.  However, the name "Uranus" was proposed by German astronomer Johann Elert Bode in order for it to be in conformity with the other planetary names which are from classical mythology.  Uranus is the ancient Greek deity of the Heavens, the earliest supreme god (this name did not achieve common use until 1850). 

He also built an orrery which, if I had the space (and inclination) I'd quite fancy to have.  It's just such a cool bit of kit to have hanging around!  

There was a sundial in the back garden and statue memorialising William, taking observations, and Caroline noting them down.

We headed back down to the centre of Bath, passing this amusing pub sign and arch connect to Bath Spa.

On Sunday we took a walk down the Kennet and Avon Canal.

We crossed the Avon Cliff aqueduct then strolled on to the Dundas aqueduct.  

We lunched, and reversed our route, passing a heron and ending back in Bradford-on-Avon to witness the second deepest lock on the canal, of 3.81 m.

On Monday we had a day off so started by pottering around Bradford-on-Avon.  Spot the benchmark on the bridge (a 'swing' benchmark).

I loved this 'living wall' and the Iron Duke machine 

This was the flood level of the Avon in 1882.

Then we went to Lacock Abbey.  

Before the Abbey became famous for being owned by William Henry Fox Talbot, who invented photography, it was a monastery.  It was founded in 1232 by one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages, Ela, Countess of Salisbury. The cloister and rooms are a rare example of medieval monastic architecture although her original cloister was demolished in the 1400s and replaced with what you see today.  Although I understand the calling these woman had, it must have been grim. There was no heating in any room except the 'warm room' which had a fire from 01 November to Easter.  The roof was initially wood and when it was replaced the cloister was remodelled which is why the rooms and roof arches no longer align (second picture).

Chicago - Farewell

Monday 26 June 2023

And all too soon we were packing up and leaving our apartment.  We did, however, have a full day to explore due to our an evening flight.  We treated ourselves to breakfast out where I was joined by John (formerly known as JC).  He finds that ordering coffee under his real name is complicated, so switches alias on occasions.  [Note, I stuck the receipt on him for the photo, he wasn't really wearing it all breakfast].

My birthday celebrations were spilling over into Monday (I decided) and it was my treat to hire a quad cycle.  I'd never been on one of these before and they look kind of kitsch.  I was so up for that.  JC came along for the ride, literally.  It was fixed wheel so hard work up hill, and on the flat you could only pedal so fast, meaning that little kids were whizzing past us on their two wheelers!  We pedalled along the lake front on a wide cycle path: you were not allowed to take these unmanoeuvrable creatures anywhere near downtown.  I had fun, I think Dr T did too.

Back to culture.  We wandered down to Union Station, which was open this time.  The hall wasn't as magnificent as I'd been expecting, but we took our photos and moved on.  We stumbled across a plaque indicating where US standard time system had been adopted on 11 October 1883.  This was far more exciting.  Standard time was introduced on 18 November 1883 known as "the day of two noons" for obvious reasons.  

The Monadnock Building had been our to-do list and we're glad we popped in.  Sadly we were only able to view the south side lobby area as the tour to other parts of the building had already occurred (it wasn't advertised so it would have been by luck we'd stumbled on it).  This entrance, built in 1893, was an art deco steel design.   By 1938 it was deemed in need of modernisation so the mosaic floors were covered with rubber tile and terrazzo, the elevators and ornamental stairways were enclosed and the marble and oak finishes in the corridors and offices were replaced with modern materials.  

In the 1980s it was restored, not necessarily to its former glory in every sense, but in a comprehensive way, after piecemeal maintenance over the previous decades.  They left a pillar half uncovered - so you can see the marble fascia covering the original steel work.  You can also see the original mosaic flooring.

On our way towards the river for a meal, we stumbled across a street mosaic.  "Oh look," said JC, "another Chagall".  He then had to remind me that we'd seen one of his pieces in the Art Museum a couple of days ago and was surprised I couldn't remember...  My brain doesn't retain bits of information like that.

For our last supper we picked a riverside location and enjoyed the views.

We headed back to the airport, via our AirBnB to collect our suitcases. I semi-managed to snap this picture which I'd been trying to capture all week.  You can't easily see it, but there is a line of plants across the top of this flat roof with a hand painted sign saying "Pay for a fence Dennis".  It amused me everytime we passed it.

O'Hare airport is huge and poorly designed.  It's as if they didn't seem to realise that if they are flying A380s out of it they'd have up to 800 people queueing for a flight.  The check in desks backed up into the queue for security and it was a bit stressy.  Airside, JC had warned me there wasn't much there, and he was right.  The signage was poor and there were only a few food places open (many had already shut).  It was really as if they didn't seem to think they'd be many people there on a Monday evening.  The queue at the gate was unmanaged, or, rather, the airport staff were trying to control it but using a nonsensical system.  It would have driven Caitlin potty.  So I tried to ignore the fray and played cards.

Everything else worked OK.  We got back not too late and ambled back to Dad's for tea and a nap before heading home.