Category: Castles

Seven from Carcassonne

I didn’t expect to be going back to Carcassonne in 2024. A few years ago, we began our cycling trip along the Canal du Midi here. I wrote extensively about the trip at the time. But then my son, who recently moved their family to Canada as part of a job promotion, announced he had booked a few days in Carcassonne to allow the … Read More Seven from Carcassonne

The Fury on the Horizon

It’s a steep climb from Kendal’s town centre up to the old castle that still stands guard over this ancient town. Once there, you are greeted with 360 degrees of lovely landscape, ranging from the north end of Morecambe Bay to the Lakeland hills. Just to the north-east lie the less visited Howgills. I always glance across, as the view of hills and dales … Read More The Fury on the Horizon

A most unlikely castle…

James Dawson had an eye for a view. In 1840, he stood on the spot from which the photo below was taken. and decided to buy it. His advisors explained that he couldn’t buy all of that, but could have the land down to Lake Windermere, on which he could more or less do what he wanted… planning control were not expected along for … Read More A most unlikely castle…

Only a Horse and a Sword

We become habitual in our thinking. It’s a good idea (and fun) to play little games with our mind to help us look at things differently. One of these is to look at things in a ‘zero-sum’ way: that is, to consider life as a vast journey of ‘bought and sold’: acquisition, usage and disposal… Saladin, (Salah ad-Din) the legendary first Sultan of the … Read More Only a Horse and a Sword

The way to dusty death?

We were in Ulverston, Dean and I. We’d just climbed the famous ‘Hoad’ – a tall monument on the top of a tall hill that looks like a lighthouse… but isn’t. There’s some important symbology in that, but we’ll return to it later. He was on his way back from Somerset to northern Scotland – the Glenlivet area of the North Cairngorms, where he … Read More The way to dusty death?

Five Faces of the Macbeth Human

Exploring the faces of the ‘human condition’ should be consuming our world at the moment. We might reasonably conclude that understanding the heights and depths of our shared experience, as we drain the planet of its living life, would be of interest to us. But we don’t… Instead, if we ask any questions at all, we spend months looking at things from a political … Read More Five Faces of the Macbeth Human

Broken village

The beautiful Northumberland village of Etal, one of a local twin, has a fine ruined castle; but this blog is not entirely about castles… The picture above is the castle at Etal. It was constructed in the middle of the fourteenth century by Robert Manners, a Norman descendant. It consists of a residential tower in the ‘Pele’ style; a gatehouse and a corner tower … Read More Broken village