Carlisle Castle

Carlisle Castle was first built during the reign of William II of England, the son of William the Conqueror who invaded England in 1066. 

At that time, Cumberland (the original name for north and west Cumbria) was still considered a part of Scotland. William II arrived and drove the Scots out of Cumberland to claim the area for England. He ordered the construction of a Norman style mote and bailey castle in Carlisle on the site of an old Roman fort, with construction beginning in 1093. 

The need for a castle in Carlisle was to keep the northern border of England secured against the threat of invasion from Scotland. In 1122, Henry I of England ordered a stone castle to be constructed on the site. Thus a keep and city walls were constructed.

(Information sourced from Wikipedia)

This was my first ever trip up to Carlisle Castle, and after looking it up on the Internet first I was really interested in going along and having a good look around.

On the way up to the castle I saw a crest which was one the side of the museum which is right across the road from the castle.

Walking across the grass I took a picture of the main tower inside the castle.

Then it was up to the main entrance of the castle, Once inside you finally get the scale of the whole place.

Here is a picture taken of just a small area of the castle grounds from on top of the castle walls.

As I walked around the grounds I came across a hole in the ground with old stone steps leading down into the darkness.

So obviously I had to go down and have a look.

 

Their was very little information about this area apart from it was a gun emplacement. I'm guessing this was built later when the castle was used by the Border Regiment of the Army until 1959. 

(A little more about that later)

From their I took a walk up and along the castle walls.

Walking up one of the staircases their was an winch built into the wall.

I reached the top of the stairs and had a walk along the walls.

And further along I walked.

From here I took an image of the castles tower.

Further along the wall I noticed the replica cannons pointing out over Carlisle.

From here I spotted some thing else left from the Army's time at the castle.

Tucked away in one of the corners of the castle in an alcove was.

I really wasn't expecting to find this in the middle of a castle.


I'm guessing, and could probably wrong but this is an APC and a Cannon.

And a close up on the APCs View port and number.

From here I went over and had a look inside the main tower.
Here is it's entrance and the bridge over a interesting looking mini-moat.

Inside the tower their was lots of small corridors leading off into small empty rooms.

In one of the rooms I noticed things that had been scratched into the stone. Later I found out their are whole rooms covered in writing and other figures but unfortunately for me, it was closed when I was their.

Unfortunately after all that walking around I had to go home. Their was a massive amount more you could do and see at the castle, The learning centre and also the military museum which were also in the grounds of the castle, along with lots of other buildings. But we will save them for another time.

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Blackpool Zoo

I hadn't been to Blackpool Zoo for many many years so I decided to take a trip out and get some nice animal shots.

From my first impressions the place looked really good.

On entering the park itself you are met with their new exhibit, the Dinosaur walk. This is a path witch takes you on a trip through prehistoric time. Basically a lot of plastic dinosaurs. 

From their you go into the main part of the zoo.

Below is just a few of the 200+ images I took on the day.

As we arrived at lunch time we stopped and had some lunch, and this little guy had his eye on my sandwiches.

Ta-Dar, this little animal tried to impress me with his magic tricks but it just wasn't working.

This poor guy just looked really depressed. 

They have a really good exhibition of Penguins and Sea lions in their 'Active Oceans' Area

"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty penguin"

That's what this picture made me think anyway. 

Their were only two Otters at the moment but this one was busy sorting out his log collection

Pulling faces for the crowd. The rest were too busy eating.

Then were went to see the Lemurs, These guys are right posers.

Meditation classes were being taught by this Lemur

This just reminded me of a homeless person on the street, All he needed was an old hat to throw coins into. He did look very sad tho.

And we all left with smiles on our faces.

A very good day had by all. A great place to visit and one I'm sure I will visit again.

Pendragon Castle

After driving home from Aysgarth Falls I came across an old Castle.

After having a really good look around and taking some images I decided to return home and do a bit of digging into what it used to be (Apart from a castle obviously)

Pendragon Castle is reputed to have been founded by Uther Pendragon, the father of King Arthur. According to legend, Uther Pendragon and a hundred of his men were killed here when the Saxon invaders poisoned the well.

There are also claims that the Romans built at least a temporary fort here, along the road between their forts at Brough and Bainbridge. But (apart from legend and supposition), there is no real evidence that there was any building here before the Normans built their castle in the 12th Century.

The castle was built next to the River Eden in the Vale of Mallerstang in the late 12th century, probably by Hugh de Morville. Like the nearby castles of Appleby and Brough, Pendragon came into the possession of the Clifford family.

It was abandoned after a raiding Scottish army set fire to the castle in 1341, but was rebuilt in 1360. It was left in ruins by another fire in 1541, but was restored in the mid 17th century by Lady Anne Clifford.

The castle gradually fell back into ruin after her death - and now remains a romantic ruin, set in glorious scenery.

Well That's the information I found out about the Castle. It was such a nice stop off on the way home.

Below are the last few images I took.

This was a image taken through the collapsing walls.

And this is one of the hundreds of clumps of plants covering the walls of the castle.

Pendragon Castle was such a nice find, and with it being right at the roadside it made things even easier to go and have a look at it.

Aysgarth Falls

Today I took a trip over to Aysgarth Falls. A set of three waterfalls in the Yorkshire Dales.

The waterfalls are looked after by the National Park Authority and they have great walkways and viewing areas all the way up the river.

Apart from its amazing beauty the falls have a Hollywood claim to fame.

I started on the walk and the first thing I came to was an interesting Sculpture/Seat representing the falls.

 

From their the path continued till I came to the next piece of sculpture.

From their I came across the first viewing platform for the Falls.

The picture below is taken from the viewing platform.

From their I went further along the paths and took some images of what was around me.

I came to the last viewing point. From here you could go behind the barriers and get down close to the waters edge. From their you could walk along the river.

On the walk back I noticed some writing on the stones I was walking on.

Well that was it. A very nice walk and some amazing views. Highly recommended and with the well looked after paths and steps anyone could go. And with a Tea shop at the end the walk was even more enjoyable.