England 2015: Day 4--The Bodmin Moor and 2 Parish Churches, Cornwall

By now it's Thursday, 18 July, our last day in Cornwall visiting Lisl's BFF (best friend forever), Pauline.  You could say we squeezed every drop out of our time together.

In the morning we drove to the Bodmin Moor, just 25 miles away from St. Austell.  Did I know what to expect?  NO.  For one thing, it's 80 sq. miles in size and is as old as time itself (from the Carboniferous period), housing 10,000 beef cows, 55,000 breeding ewes, and 1,000 horses and ponies.

To be honest, before I stepped onto the moor from the parking lot,

the first thing I saw was the belted cows.

And then the horses.  All of them up close and personal!

The foals were everywhere, nuzzling their mommies.

This one in particular caught my eye.
Can you hear the blustery wind and feel the sense and sensibility of the moor?

Then I started to breathe it all in.
In the distance we saw the Cheesewring granite tor, a natural geological formation.
But all the stones felt full of energy.  Thousands of years locked up in them, trying to get out.

As we walked amongst them, they felt as alive as the animals walking around them.

 The sheep reminded me of grizzly bears.
I'd look like that, too, after years on the moor.

The vegetation knows how to survive, of course.
The gorse, of course.  A thorny, evergreen shrub suited for the moor.

Back in the 1700s there were mining enterprises for the tin and silver.
Their long-abandoned structures reminded me of Wuthering Heights.

It was near this spot that we walked off the moor into the wee village of Minions, from 1613.


Call me delightfully shocked to see the sheep having the run of the village.
WE were THEIR guests, no question about it.

Once in the village, it was time for an ice cream (Cornish Vanilla, of course) and a rest.

Back at the car, many of the horses had come down to the parking lot.
Wild and free and not afraid of anyone.

And as we left the area, we made one last stop at a cross and King Doniert's stone,
2 pieces of a 9th century decorated cross.

Talk about history!

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From the Bodmin Moor we drove to the Halfway House Inn/Pub in nearby Liskeard to meet up with Pauline's husband Christopher for lunch.  It was Lisl's and my treat for such a lovely stay with them.

I made sure I treated myself to a steak pie and Doom Bar ale lunch.

More English you cannot get.

THANK YOU, dear Pauline and Christopher, for all your hospitality.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

After lunch, and with the afternoon still available to us before our train ride back to Bath, we 3 girls continued our search for parish churches from the previous Day 3.  These get added to the list: 

6.  St. Protus and St. Hyacinth Church, Blisland, Cornwall, 12th century.

Once again, the outside architecture looked like from a cookie cutter to the ones we saw earlier.

"Blisland church is the only one in the UK devoted to the pair of saints, who were 3rd century brothers,
martyred for their beliefs. The pair are locally known as 'Pratt and Hatt'."

The churchyards really are resting places!

And artwork is everywhere.

But once inside.  O.M.G.

This was the crowning glory of them all.

Why was this parish church...so much more?

Some of the cushions were the oldest I've seen to date.

And lest we forget, mixed in with the new is much of the old.

7.  St. Helena Church, Helland, Cornwall, 14th century.

Again, you almost have it memorized from the outside, don't you.

And yet how very different and unexpected on the inside!

But still...the old wood.  The hymnals.  The cushions.

It was as though the 2 parish churches of this day were the extremes of the gamut,

which I found quite fitting as Lisl and I headed to the train station for our trip back to Bath....

...and to Astrid, who was there waiting for us with Lisl's Michael!

England 2015: Day 3--Old Parish Churches in North Cornwall

When I first planned this trip to England for my 70th birthday, a gift to myself, I told Lisl I wanted to see some of the ancient churches of England.  I like the huge cathedrals, of course (one of which is coming), but it's the smaller parish churches that are most soulful to me. 

This is that day.  If you're not careful, it'll all run together for you, especially when you see the outside architecture.  But the insides are as different from each other as can possibly be.  Just watch.

1.  St. Winwaloe Church, Poundstock, North Cornwall, 13th century.

Lisl and Pauline have been friends forever.  This is old-hat for them.

But they led the way for my own amazement...because they're still amazed, too. 

They had no clue why the chairs were decorated like this.  

This was Wednesday, 17 June.  Left over from a weekend wedding, perhaps?

The old wood.  The chairs.  The hymnals.  The cushions.

And a churchyard full of old gravestones.

It so happens that the Poundstock Gildhouse is also on the churchyard.

It's "the best perserved example in Cornwall of a late medieval church house which has been in continuous use since it was built.  Church houses were built with the aim of using them as extensions of the church and the one in Poundstock is contemporary with the late phases of the medieval church building."

 I can imagine a church council meeting in there, similar to a Native American council house.

A very nice gentleman volunteer showed us around the place.
He's wearing the Cornwall national tartan around his wrist.

They all had fun downstairs dressing me up.
HA!  If we can't take a joke!

2.  St. Mary's Church, Week, North Cornwall, built in 1643. 

 See what I mean about similar outside architecture?

But the inside is definitely different from the first church.

But still, the old wood.  The chairs.  The hymnals.  The cushions.

3.  St. Anne's Church, Whitstone, North Cornwall, 15th century.

It so happens this was the only church not open that day,

and the keeper of the key from the nearby house was not there.

But because of the overgrown churchyard, it was very soulful to me.

I didn't need to go inside this church that day.

4.  St. Marwenne's Church, Marhamchurch, North Cornwall, 16th century.

You notice, of course, that I have a soft spot for the Celtic crosses.

All crosses, for that matter.

Again, different on the inside.

But still, the old wood.  The chairs.  The hymnals.  The cushions.

 That floor (top-left) is made of slate that's stood on end (just the edges that you see).

And yes, we always examined the doors...and windows!

5.  St. Swithin's Church, Launcells, North Cornwall, 15th century.

This was the ultimate goal of our church-hopping day and appropriately the last.

This is the oldest Cornwall church that escaped Victorian restoration.

I was most impressed by how full of light it was.

And still with the old wood.  The chairs.  The hymnals.  The cushions.

 We almost didn't make it to this church because it was late in the day.

But it ended up being a healing place for us all.

And once again...with the overgrown churchyard, it seemed extra soulful.

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All 5 of the above churches are in the NW area of Cornwall near the city of Bude.

We started out from the St. Austell area, to give perspective, 40 miles away.

But because of one-lane roads most of the way, it took time and guts to get from church to church.

Bless Pauline for daring the drive!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
 

We saw more than the churches, of course, as we drove from here to there.

This is my first ever CAMEL weathervane, from...where else...Camelford, England.

(After 10-15 minutes, I gave up on the bird flying away.)

We even had a picnic after the first church, thanks to Pauline and Lisl!

 And some flowers, though surely I saw hundreds more.

We even stopped in Bude for the obligatory English afternoon tea.

Impressions.  Impressions.  Impressions.

Kernow = Cornwall in Cornish.
Now you know.

Viking's Grand European River Cruise: Koblenz & Middle Rhine, Germany

Viking River Cruise, Day 4:  Koblenz & Middle Rhine, Germany (Facebook collage)

(click any collage to enlarge)

SOOOOOOO, Ladies and gentlemen!  By this time in our cruise, that became a familiar refrain as Alex, our Program Director, kept us apprised of each day's comings and goings.

This day, Day 4, was  a full day of castles and lots of goodies in between as we continued the long stretch across Germany from Cologne the previous day.

Prior to arriving in Koblenz for our morning excursion, I "collected" architecture from the sun deck.

As you know by now, I eat this stuff up.

To be honest, I'm surprised we didn't see more of this industrialization.

It was few and far between.

We docked in Koblenz at 8:30 a.m. in front of Kaiser Wilhelm I on his mighty steed,

and left the ship by 9:30 for our excursion to the Marksburg Castle.

We walked in Koblenz all of about 15 minutes!  What you see is what you get.

We hopped on buses immediately, climbing the hill to the best-preserved castle on the Rhine.

In its 800 years, it was never attacked during countless wars because of its strategic location.

 Before starting our tour, we had time to get the lay of the land.

What a vantage point for anyone needing protection from marauders!

 Now....follow the leader....

 We even have cannons like this in Gorinchem, NL, where we live.  (sigh)

 Fine dining, anyone?

 How about fine frescoes!

I know someone who would give an arm and a leg for this weaving apparatus!

 Yes, they even had an inside toilet (that hung outside the wall with appropriate pipes).

Music, game and spinning alcoves, plus separate bedrooms...

what more could you possibly need on top of a fortress!

Unless it was armor...or a chastity belt?

Our tour guide carried the key to the castle with her the entire tour...

and then locked us out once we were done.

Mercedes, top right, was our Viking guide on the bus back down to the boat.

We fell in love with her...so adorable.

Instead of going back to Koblenz, from whence we had started,

we drove to Braubach, 10 km southeast, at the foot of the castle's hill, 

where we got our best view looking back up...

and to where our ship had sailed while we were gone.

Again, what you see is what you get.

By now it was time for lunch, with a Taste of Germany specialties....

When in Germany, eat and drink as the Germans do.

We even enjoyed the "Sound of the Rhineland" musicians.

With tummies full, and time to go brush our teeth, it was now time to hit the top deck to see the stretch of castles on the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, declared a UNESCO site in 2002.  This was one of the most-anticipated moments of the entire cruise for me.

Even before getting to the castles, I was awed by so many of the houses!

And churches!  You know me and spires.

All seen from the river, of course.

And as a bit of trivia...we found out that Hitler purposely made train-tunnel entrances look like castles

so no one would bomb them.  It was a gentleman's agreement to NOT bomb castles during war.

BTW, we were listening to the running commentary from Alex, our Program Director,

while trying to stay warm and not goof off too much.  Lucky for us, it was sunny!

Another BTW, this is also wine country with vineyards dotting the hills everywhere.

And yes, that's the Lorelei maiden (middle-left) who tried to woo us to our doom.

SOOOOO, Ladies and gentlemen.  Saving the best to the last...

here are some of the finest examples of castles, palaces and fortresses along the Middle Rhine!

(We even have a booklet with all their names!)

My favorite of them all?  The Pfalzgrafenstein toll castle on the Falkenau island!

It so happened a bunch of school kids were there while we passed by.

We all waved hello and good-bye....

...as I do now to Day 4 of our river cruise!  Moving right along....