Keswick: Great Views from the Campsite

 

After a bit of a climb up to the Castlerigg campsite in Keswick, we were greeted with some amazing views of Derwent Water as we put the tent up.

Must give a special shout out to the Good Samaritan lady who saw my friend struggling during the ascent and gave us a lift up to the campsite halfway through the climb.

Besides the fantastic views, I was also massively impressed with Castlerigg campsite itself, with it having a great shower block and a really good shop (cheese and onion quiche, plus a bottle of orange lucozade for breakfast).

Plus the lady on reception was friendly and hospitable, and through being from Somerset, she was knowledgeable about Wordsworth and Coleridge's travels around south-west England (as well as the Lake District, of course).

Up to the Lake District

After visiting Newark-on-Trent to attend the Stonedead Festival, my first travelling companion (throughout Somerset; south-east Wales; Gloucestershire etc.) returned to Ireland as planned, albeit with badly blistered feet. 

To make matters worse, he had something like a 15-hour delay at Birmingham Airport.

In contrast, my second travelling companion and I travelled relatively straightforwardly from Newark to Nottingham, then Nottingham to Manchester by train.

After stopping over in our hometown (Bury, Lancashire), we made our way to Bolton train station:

From where we travelled up to Oxenholme (the gateway to the Lake District), and then Windemere (the kind of door to the Lake District):

After having a quick look round near Windermere train station:

We saw that the place was jam-packed with tourists, and caught the first bus out of the place, to Keswick:

Walking Round Newark-on-Trent

The day after my trip to Eastwood, it was the day of the Stonedead Festival, and at the Newark Travelodge, my travelling companion and I were joined by another friend from Bury (Lancashire). 

My two friends are pictured below enjoying an Asda breakfast:

While my two friends headed for Stonedead in a taxi (a very wise choice as things turned out), I decided to have a look round Newark town centre before walking up to the Festival, and did get to see some interesting-looking buildings:

In particular, the outdoor market square was very impressive:

Wonder what the the umbrellas represent?  Possibly a symbol to hold off the rain, who knows?

Love the Newark-on-Trent coat of arms:

Have just read that the animals on the coat of arms are an otter and a beaver, at first sight, I thought they were a couple of bears, but my eyesight isn't great.

In the market square, I saw Newark Town Hall:

Have just read that this building was built in the late 18th century.

But the most impressive building that I came across was the Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene which dominated the Newark town centre skyline:

Have just discovered that parts of this church date back to the 12th century, and unsurprisingly, it is one of the largest parish churches in England.

For me, St. Mary Magdalene's church had the grandeur and stature of a cathedral.

Next to St. Mary Magdalene's, there was a school for learning to make violins:

Have just read that the School of Violin Making dates back to the late 19th century.

To be honest, all around me, I saw interesting-looking buildings in Newark:

But I had to make haste to the Stonedead Festival which turned out to be a b*ll-ache to get to on foot.

Waved Off by a Green Shield Bug

At Langley Mill train station, I was waved off by what looked like a green shield bug:

It was a bizarre ending to my day out in Lawrence country.

Visiting the Lawrence Family Grave (Eastwood Cemetery)

As things turned out, I didn't have enough time to visit Eastwood Library but did manage to get to Eastwood Cemetery, to see the family grave where Lawrence's mother (Lydia), father (Arthur), and brother (Ernest) are all buried:

Not long before leaving Eastwood and heading back to Langley Mill, I turned down Church Street, passing the Parish Church of St. Mary:

And came upon the cemetery further down, with the Lawrence grave being fairly easy to find as it was signposted.

The Blue Line Trail leaflet explains that in contrast, D.H. Lawrence, himself, was "originally buried in France", with the headstone now being "on display in the Birthplace Museum" where I started off my quick tour of Lawrence sites in Eastwood.

However, the leaflet also reveals that Lawrence's wife, Frieda, "had his body exhumed and cremated" with the idea of "scattering his ashes in New Mexico".

With this sombre image in mind, I started walking out of Eastwood towards Langley Mill to catch my trains back to Nottingham and Newark-on-Trent.

D.H. Lawrence's Willey Water (Moorgreen Reservoir)

The jewel in the crown of my trip to Eastwood was probably walking a few miles outside the town centre to Moorgreen Reservoir. 

The Blue Line Trail leaflet reveals that Moorgreen Reservoir was built at the end of the 18th century "to supply water to the Nottingham Canal". 

Even today, the reservoir, "surrounded by trees with hills to the north", still holds a "charm" or enchantment that drew Lawrence "to use the setting" as a model place in some of "his stories".

For example, the leaflet highlights that Moorgreen Reservoir is the model for Nethermere in The White Peacock and Willey Water in Women in Love.

While approaching the reservoir, it was nice to see an information board notice about Lawrence's love of Moorgreen Reservoir and the countryside around the Eastwood area:

It stood near a kind of impressive-looking gate house:

Which reminded me of a Dutch windmill or Kentish hop place.

At first, it was difficult to get a good look at the reservoir as it was kind of fenced off.

Without reading too much into things, I encountered a quite tall, bearded, young man (not altogether dissimilar to Lawrence in appearance) who simply told me to hop over the fence to get a better view of the reservoir:

 

And at the water's edge, I could more clearly muse about the Ursula Brangwen-Rupert Birkin scene at Willey Water from Women in Love.

This is the scene where, from a distance, Ursula sees Birkin throwing stones into the water in a rather nervous and frustrated manner.

And when Ursula confronts Birkin, the pair heatedly discuss the Great Magna Mater figure, a destructive female force that has the potency to obliterate the male principle of existence (making the desired achievement of male-female polarity and harmony impossible, of course).

After seeing Moorgreen Reservoir and musing over the Ursula-Birkin scene, it was time to head back towards Eastwood town centre, as I wanted to visit the cemetery and library there.

Not long after setting off back, I saw signs which reminded me of the area's mining industry past:

So glad that I got up to Moorgreen Reservoir and managed to get a proper view of the place.

Eastwood: Three Tuns Pub and Lawrence's Old School

Not long after visiting the D.H. Lawrence sites on Walker Street, I turned a corner and found myself at the Three Tuns pub:

The Blue Line Trail leaflet states that this was "Lawrence's father's favourite pub, where he would call for a drink on the way home from Brinsley Colliery". Of course, all miners must be absolutely parched after a shift down the mine.

Moreover, the leaflet reveals that the Three Tuns was used as the model for the Moon and Stars pub in Sons and Lovers, Lawrence's dark follow-up to The Rainbow, of course.

My general memory from reading Sons and Lovers is the image of a dark, menacing, industrialised machine eating up spontaneous human behaviour and healthy, organic, human relationships.

Inside the Three Tuns, itself, I found pictures of Lawrence juxtaposed with some St. George Cross flags:

And why not, as Lawrence is one of the truly great English writers, alongside Hardy, Wordsworth, and Shakespeare.

Inside the Three Tuns, I also had a nice pint of London Pride (a decent Real Ale) and a ham salad muffin with a wonderfully crunchy green salad (thankfully, without mayonnaise).

After visiting the Three Tuns Pub, on Three Tuns Road, I turned onto Nottingham Road, making my way up to Dovecote Road where I found Lawrence's old school, Beauvale Board School:

 

The Blue Line Trail Leaflet describes the school as a "series of red brick gothic style buildings with turrets and high gabled roofs".

It also reveals that Lawrence "attended" the school between 1893 and 1898 (between 8 and 13 years of age), with him having "disliked school" and having "only gained average results, including in English". 

Despite this, Lawrence "was the first pupil" from Beauvale Board School "to win a scholarship to Nottingham High School".

Thus, Lawrence's time at Beauvale Board School proved to be an important early step in his eventual ascent to become one of England's greatest writers.

Interestingly, at some point in my walk from the Three Tuns pub to Lawrence's old school, I passed the building below:

Which turned out to be Greasley Miners Welfare centre.