The land of limestone escarpments, quaint villages, and stunning waterfalls, our long weekend in the Yorkshire Dales was much anticipated and very, very welcome. Sadly the weather didn’t entirely cooperate and weeks of sunshine broke with some chilly drizzle. It could have been worse, but it really wasn’t the weekend for Karl to forget his waterproofs! Still, those hills won’t walk themselves and getting a bit cold and damp is just one more reason for popping into a nice warm pub.
Our first walk was up Buckden Rake to Cray. The paths were the usual mix of rock and mud, which provided a worthy challenge for Lorna’s swanky new wheelchair. There were a couple of points where caution recommended shanks’ pony while we negotiated rubble and rivers, but the chair was pretty impressive with what it could handle. At Cray there was a parting of the ways. The more dedicated carried on to Yockenthwaite, Lorna & Nick chose the warmth of a return to Buckden, and the rest took a cultural diversion down to the tiny village of Hubberholme. This was once described as the smallest, pleasantest place in the world by writer and playwright J.B. Priestley. And it was lovely. The local church is famous for its Mouseman carvings by the renowned Robert Thompson. After a bit of mouse-spotting, we couldn’t help but check out the warm hospitality of The George pub.
Sunday’s walk was to the inhospitable peak of Buckden Pike (horizontal icy rain), forcing refuge in the Fox and Hounds in Starbotton. For some this was enough chilly adventure and they caught got bus back, leaving just a hard core to finish the walk back to Buckden.
Monday was warmer and sunnier. A perfect day for visiting Grassington and the Linton waterfalls. We even managed tea and cake at an outdoor tea room. It was so good Doug fell off his chair with delight.
Ali
The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster
So, on our recent trip to Lancashire we rounded it off with a walk up the iconic Pendle Hill. With half decent weather and the prospect of a long drive home, we were enjoying the views rather than pondering on the famously dark history of this place. I thought we could spare some column inches for a summary of what happened. Between the 15th and 18th centuries about 500 people were executed for witchcraft. The Pendle witches were just ten of those, but the case was famously well-documented.
It’s 1612 and traditional healing, herbal medicine and trading in charms is a potential career choice. Your income depends on your reputation, so it pays to advertise how well your charms and curses work. You also want to do down the competition and make them out to be evil and untrustworthy. It all works fine until you curse someone who then has a stroke, and you get reported to the Justice of the Peace. Then all those years of rivalry and extortion count against you, fingers point in every direction and 11 members of two families end up in the dock. Your grandma doesn’t even make it to trial and the chief witness for the prosecution is your 9 year old daughter.
So was this just revenge against a couple of slightly weird, scary local families or did anyone actually believe in witchcraft? There is some evidence that Alizon Device, whose curse started the witch hunt, actually believed in her guilt. She begged for forgiveness, but it didn’t save her or nine of the others accused.
Ali