Fountains Abbey
Winner of the holiest three mile running walk...
On the way there the bus passed the entrance for Harewood House where a Rolls Royce show was going on. In the two seconds it took to pass the entrance I saw more Rolls Royces than I have in my life up to this point. The major stop on the way was Harrogate, which looked to be a real tourist trap; people were lined up outside of Betty's tea room to get in. Half of the very Victorian spa building appears to be a nighclub, strange combination: fill yourself with booze and other things and then crawl to the spa the next morning for a detox.
Fountains Abbey was beautiful. Even though it is in ruins the size of it is amazing. As it was sunny with occasional sudden deluges, people were out in force with their dogs and kids (no prizes for guessing which ones are the better trained of the two.) This meant the peaceful atmosphere of the place was missing but it was nice all the same. Attached to the site is an 18th century water garden, formally part of Studley Royal until it burnt down. I walked one of the garden paths which had some 'follies' like faux temples and a serpentine tunnel (pitch black until you round the bend half way through). I walked the 3 mile loop from Fountains to the Studley deer park (all 500 deer hid really well, I didn't see a single one. They must be taking lessons from all the British hedgehogs.) Once I got there I carefully read my pamphlet for the Roweller and noted that while it dropped people off at Studley Royal and Fountains Abbey, it only picked people up at Fountains. So walked the short 1 mile route back in record time because it looked like the last bus was due in 15 minutes.
Once I caught the bus at the stop where it dropped me off, it went down the road and turned around it pick the people waiting on the other side of the road up. (Apparently I need to improve my invisible bus stop sign reading skills, I at least waited on the side where there actually was a sign. The sign also had a timetable which I missed because I got picked to answer a survey when I got off the bus the first time. According to the timetable a least 3 other buses would run that day. All in all, I got my workout for the week.)
Back in Ripon I had just missed most things closing for the day but I walked around and found the cathedral. The choir was practising for evening mass so it was open to look around. I am rather embarrasses to say I did not find it as interesting or as pretty as York Minster, but the Saxon crypt was really fascinating. Too bad I couldn't look at the choir stalls with the intricate carvings, but it was occupied by the choir!
Hedgeog watch: still haven't seen one despite ahunting parks in Leeds. If I were a hedgehog I probably wouldn't live in Leeds though. There were some deep holes in the lawn at the Abbey but sticking my hand in to see what might be living at the bottom of them didn't seem like the smartest of ideas.'>