The C2C – Coast to Coast – route runs from western Cumbria, at Whitehaven, to Sunderland on England’s north-east coast and passes through a great deal of beautiful countryside.

The route is more suited to a mountain bike than to dedicated road bikes but has no particularly challenging sections. That does not mean it’s completely flat, but it does means you won’t be cycling along Striding Edge in a blizzard.

It is one of the great success stories for tourism in the north of England, and more than 10000 cyclists are said to complete the route each year. About half of the journey is on small roads, the rest on cycle paths and off-road sections (with a very occasional section, especially at the start and end, in a more built up region). There are various accommodation options along the route so a tent isn’t needed.

Downside? Funny you should ask…

Well it is 146 miles from one end to the other so unless you are Lance Armstrong you’re going to take more than one day to complete it. Occasionally people do it in two days, but very often cyclists prefer to make a holiday out of it and take a few days.

If you haven’t been on a bike since you were 16 and weighed 70 kilogrammes – and are now 46 and weigh 120 kg – you are going to find it tough, and a few months of practice first would be recommended.

Still lacking motivation? Each year there is a C2C challenge for charity where you have all the fun and suffering of cycling the route in two days while also raising money for a good cause. So you get fit, have a good time and raise money for charity all at the same time. What more could you ask?!

Anyway I’d do it myself if I had a mountain bike and lived a bit closer…maybe. See more details here if you feel brave.

Cornish Pasty Recipe

Ingredients:

• Short crust pastry (make your own: 1/2 lb flour and 1/2 cup of lard)
• Potatoes (peeled and diced into small cubes)
• Stewing steak (diced)
• Onion (diced—optional)
• Pinch of salt / Pinch of pepper / Pinch of flour / Dollop of butter

Method:

• Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and cut it to roughly the same size of a dinner plate.
• Place the pastry circle onto a piece of aluminum foil and place the diced steak, potatoes, and onions in the center of the pasty.Leave enough room so that when folded in half there is still room at the edges to pinch them together.
• Season the filling with salt and pepper, a dab of butter, and a pinch of flour.
• Fold the pastry in half and pinch the edges together. You may want to use a bit of water on your fingertips to help seal it.
• Fold up the foil around the pasty and crunch it together at the top.
• Cook in the oven at 375 degrees F. for about two hours. During the last half hour, open up the foil to allow the edges of the pasties to brown.

Scotch Egg Recipe

Ingredients:

• 6 hard-cooked eggs (cold)
• 1 pound (500gm) sausage meat
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup fine bread crumbs
• Vegetable oil for frying

Method:

• Peel the boiled eggs
• Divide the sausage meat into six equal portions
• Roll each egg in flour, then press a portion of sausage meat around it until the egg is fully sealed inside the sausage.
• Dip each sausage/egg ball into the beaten eggs, and then roll them in bread crumbs.
• Heat the oil in a skillet to roughly 350 degrees F, then cook each egg for about five minutes, or until the sausage has cooked thoroughly and browned.
• Drain excess grease using paper towels and serve either warm or chilled.

Bread and Butter Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 loaf of white bread (unsliced)
• 1/2 pint whole milk
• butter for spreading
• brown sugar
• dried fruit or other soft fruit
• pinch of ginger / pinch of cinnamon / pinch of nutmeg

Method:

• Slice the loaf of bread into 3/4-inch slices and cut off the crusts. Butter each slice on both sides and place them in the bottom of a baking dish.
• Sprinkle the dried or soft fruits on top of the buttered bread slices, then follow with sprinkled brown sugar.
• Butter more bread slices and place them over the fruit.
• Pierce the bread a few times using a knife or fork, then pour the milk on top. When the bread is soaked, sprinkle brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg on top.
• Bake at 275 degrees F until the bread has risen a bit. Best served with vanilla ice cream or hot custard.

Author Credits

Article by Patrick Carpen. If you’re looking for recipes, take a look at the Platinum Recipes Collection. The Platinum Recipes Collection is the Internet’s Most Comprehensive Recipes Collection.

During the course of the next year or so groups of Royal officers visited each county and held public enquiries to determine the land ownership of that county, with the help of a local ‘jury’ or committee. Remarkably the project was completed in 1086 and covered more than 13000 landowners across the country, an astonishing achiecvement given the technology and information available, and the absence of efficient transport in many parts of the country.

The goal was to impose taxes according to the landowners listed wealth – and there was no right of appeal against what was entered into the Domesday book. Not surprisingly this made the judgements based on information in the book often unpopular. The book is often referred to with the alternative spelling of Doomsday – not unreasonable, since the words share the same roots and the book name means ‘book of doom’ or book of final reckoning’.

Another important goal for William the Conqueror was to set down clearly which lands were now in Royal ownership, and clear up any ‘uncertainties’ – again, all claims were indisutable once entered in the book.

Using a quite sophisticated approach for the time, the men sent by the King to complete the work used existing references and documents and many long-standing disputes over land-ownership were resolved as a result (whether resolved rightly or wrongly is rather harder to say…) Certainly this was of great benefit to future generations, as England emerged from the Dark Ages and the many conflicts over land that had taken place over the preceding centuries had left many entitlements to land unclear.

The benefits of the Domesday Book proved greater than anticipated, as a sketch of England at a point in time. This provides historians with a great deal of information about land ownership at that time, and also helps to provide a more clear picture of life in Medieval times and a feeling for how important towns were, communication links between them etc. The Domesday Book has a fascinating amount of information that is almost superfluous to the task in hand, entered for information and completeness only, and it is often these throwaway comments that are as useful as the main book itself.

The maps of the Domesday Book, in truth, were not always as accurate as they might be. The detail provided for certain counties – Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex – is much greater than for other counties: these three counties featured in the so called ‘Little Domesday Book’ with the others in the ‘Great Domesday Book’. London and some other important cities were not covered, and neither were certain northern counties such as Northumberland. Likewise estimates of wealth were not always very accurate, and we can only speculate about the level of corruption and bribery that might have been involved in the preparation of such a work.

Nonetheless the Domesday Book provides one of the earliest and most extraordinary works to be tackled on such a scale and is a fascinating document even today, almost 1000 years later.

The names of British cheeses can also ring strangely in American ears, and there are a lot of them to do the ringing. With over 700 types of cheese being made and sold in the Queen’s land, it can be daunting for a tourist to select one in the first place. With that in mind, here are some of the oddest-sounding British cheeses, and a brief guide to what lies beneath the laughable moniker.

1) Pantysgawn

Though it sounds like a gang of lady cheesemakers lost their undergarments, the Welsh cheese gets its name from the farm where it was first made: Pant-Ysgawn. The product is actually a soft, creamy-textured cheese made from goats milk. You can buy it in logs, like traditional goat’s cheese, and frequently with the addition of crushed peppercorns or fresh herbs.

2) Yarg

Could it be possible that this cheese was made by pirates? “Yarg! Avast me hearties!” Not unless there are pirates in Cornwall. Made from cow’s milk, Yarg is a semi-hard cheese made distinctive by being wrapped in nettle leaves, resulting in a unique, almost mushroom-like flavor. A popular variety is Wild Garlic Yarg, which swaps the nettles for garlic leaves.

3) Stinking Bishop

While there’s no doubt that Stinking Bishop smells strongly, it doesn’t completely explain the second part of the name. Why “bishop?” Why not name it Fetid Cardinal or Malodorous Pope instead? Molded into large, rinded wheels, the Gloucestershire cheese is said to have an odor resembling dirty socks and wet towels. The cheese increased in sales by 500% when it was used in a popular animated movie to revive a corpse.

4) Hereford Hop

The next popular UK dance craze? No, Hereford Hop gets its name from hops, the very same hops used in the brewing of beer. The cheese, which is made in Gloucestershire rather than Hereford, was revived in 1988 from a historic recipe, and has a rind made of toasted hops. The cheese has a beer-like taste that many people say goes well with –you guessed it– beer.

5) Caerphilly

In America, the word “Philly” in connection with cheese conjures up images of cheescake ingredients. In Wales, they like their Caerphilly even more than we like our cream cheese, so much so that the town of Caerphilly displays a sculpture of the hard, white cow’s milk cheese and holds a three-day festival to celebrate the product every year. The cheese is known outside of Wales for its noticeably salty taste.

If these selections don’t float your dairy boat, how about some Lincolnshire Poacher, a wedge of Fine Fettle, or a big slab of Croglin? Just remember that while British cheeses may have funny names, they’re seriously good. One thing’s for certain: they’re better than a big order of Bug-in-a-Bucket.

The story takes place on the north Devon coast, starting on the 12th January 1899.

At that time Jack Crocombe was in charge of the Lynmouth lifeboat. He received a telegram that a large ship was having difficulties just off Porlock, and was in danger of crashing on the coast.

The three masted ship called the Forrest Hall was being pulled by tug along the Bristol Channel but the cable between the two boats had broken, threatening both the ship and the 18 people on board. The anchors weren’t holding very well and the ship steering equipment was damaged and unusable.

Because of the poor weather conditions the nearby Watchet lifeboat could not be launched, and conditions in Lynmouth were no better so their own lifeboat also could not be launched. Jack decided that the best option was to launch their lifeboat from nearby Porlock – the rather large obstacle being that the boat would first need to be transferred by road from Lynmouth to Porlock

The journey involved poor conditions, a climb up one very steep hill (Countisbury Hill) and then a descent down another (Porlock Hill), with a boat and associated equipment weighing about ten tonnes, and a journey distance of about 20 kilometres. Horses and men were the only available resources at that time for undertaking such a difficult journey, which was to take place during the night.

Twenty horses and 100 men, women and children hauled the boat up the hill while another small team went ahead, widening the road as necessary so the boat could pass.

The women and children could not continue, and some of the men believed to continue was impossible. The remaining 20 men undertook to continue across Exmoor. Incidents en-route included a wheel coming off the carriage, roads needing widening, and obstacles too narrow to pass needed the boat to be taken off its carriage and dragged across the moors.

Going down Porlock Hill was no easier, given the weather conditions and the weight and size of the boat. Among the many challenges, it was necessary to demolish a garden wal in order to continue.

The storm had damaged the sea wall and made the usual approach to the harbour impassable but the team persisted and took a different road although it involved felling a tree to continue. By morning, less than 12 hours after Jack had received his telegram, the boat and crew were in Porlock.

The boat was immediately launched by its exhausted crew and in terrible conditions, and reached the ship an hour later. The lifeboat crew managed to get a new cable passed between the ship and the tug, and to raise the ship’s anchors, and the ship was successfully dragged from its perilous position and eventually to Barry (across the channel in South Wales), still accompanied by the lifeboat.

By evening, 24 hours after the original telegram had been received, the ship was safely docked and it’s crew had been saved – thanks to the incredible efforts and achievement of the lifeboat crew in the terrible conditions. At last the lifeboat crew could recover from their exertions – they spent the night in Barry, too exhausted to return the same evening.

The lifeboat still had to return to Lynmouth of course, which it reached just before midday on the 14th January. The only casualties in the story were a few of the unfortunate horses, which had been exhausted to death by the effort.

On a basic level he revolutionised the world of cotton weaving in the 18th century, bringing prosperity to a large part of northern England – especially himself. He achieved this by the use of the ’spinning frame’ – an invention which produced stronger cotton more efficiently than the existing ’spinning jenny’, and later through a water-powered variant called the ‘water frame’.

The exact inventor of the spinning jenny and spinning frame are slightly unclear, with various contendors (Thomas Highs, John Jay, Richard Arkwright, James Hargreaves). But 200 years later, knowing the name of the real inventor is perhaps less important than what followed.

The Industrial Revolution was a time of profound change in England, with new work techniques and practices having a widespread impact on the whole country. The raw materials were available, labour was to hand, power could be generated and the first industrial machinery had been invented. It needed one person with the inspiration to pull the ingredients together, and that was what Arkwright achieved.

It was he who had the greatest impact because of the work methods and innovation that he introduced. Mass use of machines, a focus on division of labour to improve efficiency, and a meticulous detail of planning meant that for the first time manufacturing moved away from being a small cottage industry, and to focus on mass-production based on efficient use of resources. The first factory had been invented!

Furthermore, in Cromford in Derbyshire Richard Arkwright took the process a step further – because of the lack of local workers and accommodation he built a large amount of housing near the factory. This isn’t to suggest that Arkwright was acting charitably, rather he was acting for the benefit of his own wallet, and was often ruthless in business.

His factories operated long, hard work days and made widespread use of child labour and he pursued his business interests very vigorously. The child labour aspect is important, because Arkwright deliberately chose a location where the adults were engaged in the lead mines, work that was unsuitable for children. The right of the workers in the village were small, they had little respite from work, and were usually obliged to spend their meagre earnings in shops also provided by the factory.

The transition from small industry to factory was not always an easy one, and as the industry boomed during the 1770’s Arkwright faced many challenges, related both to patents, which he spent a great deal of time defending (and ultimately losing); and to the use of machines themselves, in the riots against the use of machines that took place towards the end of the decade.

Many people tried to emulate the techniques, with or without the appropriate licences, with varying degrees of success, and by the mid 1780’s the patents had been lost by Richard Arkwright and were widely and freely used elsewhere.

Doubtless the innovations he implemented would have taken place sooner or later with or without Arkwright, but it was he who implemented them first and so it is to he that  the world owes a great debt, because the Industrial Revolution and its techniques were forever to transform the world as we know it.

Our knowledge of her life and actions is incomplete, but it is accepted that she was a person of royal birth who had two daughters. It is also said that she was fierce looking, with a strident voice and a great mass of red hair.

Following an earlier attempt at rebellion against the Romans by Prasutagus, about 10 years earlier, the Iceni lived a moderately peaceful life. This lasted until King Prusatagas died. It seems he had left a share of the territory to the Romans as his legacy, as a kind of ‘peace offering’.

The Romans who occupied England at that time took this as an invitation to occupy the region, and to plunder the wealth of the Iceni territory, and that of the neighbouring tribes.

Boadicea was not well pleased by this, and protested to the Romans. She was punished for protesting by being flogged in front of her family, and her two teenage daughters were raped.

As a result she called on the Iceni tribe to go into battle with the Romans. The neighbouring Trinobantes tribe joined forces with the Iceni for the battle ahead.

Ferocious battles followed, including great amounts of damage to the cities of Colchester, Saint Albans and London, which were each destroyed – London particularly in a terrible fire that killed many tens of thousands of people. Meanwhile the strength of Boadicea’s army increased, numbering up to 200,000 soldiers.

Despite the heroic images of the Briton tribes, they were also  a very brutal group, themselves very capable of acts of horrible cruelty, matching anything the Romans were capable of.

There is also the possibility that Boadicea and King Prusatagas were in league with the Romans, but that ’errant’ Roman generals moved in when the King died, because a Queen was not able to inherit such a territory. Thus the war was perhaps launched perhaps as a personal vengeance because of that, and the bad treatment suffered by the Queen and her daughters, rather than as a great ‘moral war’ against the oppressing Romans.

Whatever the reason, there were dramatic early victories bacause the Romans had few defensive forces in the region. It took some time for an army to be raised, and for them to catch up with the stampeding forces of Queen Boadicea.  However, after some months of destruction, Boadicea and her army were defeated.

This was surely inevitable, given the enormous miltary power and capabilities of the Romans at that time, although some historians seem to suggest that the Romans could have been forced to withdraw from England if events had turned out differently.

For the final great battle, the tribal Britons greatly outnumbered the Romans, and were so confident of winning that they had brought their families to watch from the edges of the battlefield. Many of the Briton soldiers were women, spurred on to great things by the speeches of Queen Boadicea.

The victory was not to be. In the final conflict there were 400 Roman casualties and 80,000 casualties among those from the Briton tribes. The Romans simply had tactical knowledge and weaponry that far exceeded anything possessed by the tribes, which enabled a terrible wholesale slaughter. For example, the battle was in a narrow valley, and the tribes had blocked their own retreat with supplies and equipment, thus trapping themselves at the mercy of the Romans.

Not killed in battle, Queen Boadicea committed suicide to avoid being captured, and the lands which had belonged to the Iceni were then put under a tyrannical Roman rule. The memory of ‘Boudica’ lives on, rightly or wrongly presenting her as the first British hero standing defiantly against oppression.

King Arthur – the story

Sometime around the beginning of the 6th century Prince Pendragon, a mighty soldier, was slain in a battle between the Saxons and the Britons. His brother, Uther Pendragon, took control, aided by the wise Merlin.

With the help of Merlin’s magic, Uther managed to seduce Igrain, by magically pretending to be her husband Gerlois (he had sent her husband into exile first). This trickery produced a child, Arthur, who was born at Tintagel.

For reasons of safety, Arthur was given to Merlin and sent to a knight called Ector for his upbringing. He discovered his magical powers only when he tried to pull a sword from a stone – and succeeded. The sword had been placed in the stone by Merlin, was only to be removed by the future king, and all previous attempts to remove it had failed.

With the help of Merlin, King Arthur ruled Britain. He also had the help of a magical sword called excalibur, a gift from the ‘lady in the lake’.

Arthur and excalibur were to be launched on a lifetime of adventures together, mostly heroic battles with his ‘Knights of the Round Table’ that were fought against the Saxons, from their castle in Camelot. Arthur was married to the beautiful Queen Guinevere, and had an evil half sister Morgan le Fay.

These battles over, more great incursions took place across Europe, until a large part of Europe also fell under Arthur’s control.

Many ‘related’ stories concern the knights, their adventures, and the quest for the Holy Grail.

All was going well until Mordred, another strong but evil knight, decided he shoule rule the kingdom. He formed his own great army and entered into battle with Arthur at the Battle of Camlann. Until now Arthur had always been protected from harm by excalibur’s scabbard, but this time it had been stolen by Morgan le
Fay.

Many were killed during the battle, which culminated in a fight between Arthur and Mordred themselves. Arthur killed Mordred, but died soon after from his own wounds.

King Arthur – the truth

The story of King Arthur as medieval hero started perhaps with Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century, or perhaps with earlier stories passed from generation to generation.

The story gained momentum with Chretien de Troyes and his stories of the Arthurian legend, which entwined Arthur with other great mythical stories – above all that of Sir Lancelot, knight of the Round table – and started the idea of Arthur as the medieval hero. The story of the Holy Grail appears to have been
added to the tales shortly afterwards, by a certain Robert de Boron.

The complete story as we now know it is pretty much the same as the final 15th century version written by Sir Thomas Malory.

In truth nobody knows if any of the story is based on fact, and if so how much. Some people are convinced that there is sufficient evidence for the story to be believed, others claim that really there is no evidence at all.

There is a long gap between the 6th century and the 11th century during which there is only the sparsest ‘evidence’ of Arthur, and even after that there are tales and adventures but little or no real convincing evidence – the documents that exist tend to be later rewritings of earlier, now untraceable, records and documents and incorporating later material with no evidence

In truth it seems likely that the stories of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are medieval fabrications, but perhaps they were built originally around stories that were passed down over the centuries of a real great knight (or even a king) who actually existed, who really was a hero, and really did win great battles. Or perhaps around a mythical figure, invented around the camp fires of the 9th century…

Anyone who has tried to trace their own family history will know how quickly facts become suggestions and evidence becomes vague, and how quickly mis-spellings and conjecture move in on fact – so we can imagine the difficulties faced by someone in the 12th century trying to trace facts about the 5th century…

Unfortunately the real story of King Arthur is likely to always remain an mystery to which we will never know the answer.

The first letterbox was actually a bottle, placed by a Dartmoor guide called James Perrott. Visitors to the isolated spot would leave their visiting card inside the bottle as proof that they had been there.

Some of the boxes are easy to find, and accessible from roads, while others are both in accessible places, and hard to find when you get there! The task might be seen as a mix of map-reading and orienteering to find the location, then puzzle solving (or treasure hunting…’take 10 paces north’) to find the
box.

The searcher will have a list of clues, ranging from the straightforward to the downright cryptic, and aims to find the letterboxes, which each contain a rubber stamp. The finder stamps the book in the letterbox with their own stamp, and their own log book with the stamp in the letterbox.

A compass is highly recommended, as is the Ordnance Survey leisure Map of Dartmoor. Sturdy boots and suitable clothing are advised.

There are many of these boxes hidden in Dartmoor – at least 10,000 are listed, and there is competition to have as many stamps in a personal log book as possible. Very few are immediately obvious to the casual visitor.

The boxes are usually small, waterproof tins. Traditionally ammunition tins have been used, but this practice is discouraged since the army use Dartmoor for army training practice, and it might be possible that a real ammunition tin turns up instead!

When hunting for a Dartmoor letterbox remember that there are rules attached to the placing of the boxes, essentially to ensure that the environment and ancient monuments are never placed at risk from careless placement.

The same rules apply of course to those searching for them – you will never, for example, need to dislodge a rock that forms part of a traditional stone wall!

For those who lack the patience or time to search for hundreds of obscure letterboxes, there are organised charity events with clues to a few of the more easily found and accessible boxes.

The Dartmoor Letterbox 100 Club maintains lists of the letterboxes and clues, and issues monthly newsletters. You can learn more about the 100 Club and purchase a complete catalogue of clues
here. There are various badges and car stickers that are awarded if you find lots of them – try for the special ‘5,000 boxes’ badge if you have plenty of time on your hands!

Note: the great success of Dartmoor letterboxes has led to them being introduced in many other places around the world, as a way to encourage people to venture into the countryside while also having fun.

There are several sections to the Code, that you should keep in mind when exploring the countryside.

Remember that the Countryside Code is there for the benefit of all – those who live and work in the countryside, visitors to the region, and future generations.

Be safe, plan ahead, and follow any signs.

Make sure someone knows where you are going, especially when setting off into more remote regions.

Many regions have weather than can change rapidly (especially on higher ground) and it is very easy to lose your bearings in dense fog.

Likewise, there are often important animal breeding grounds that should not be disturbed at certain times of the year.

Leave gates and property as you find them

If a gate is closed when you get to it, make sure it is closed behind you! But if it is open, it has probably been left deliberately open by the farmer.

If your path leads you to climb over a fence or stone wall…you are probably on the wrong path. Retrace your steps.

Avoid walking across fields of crops.

Protect plants and animals

Both wild animals and farm animals should be given a wide berth, both for safety and to avoid disturbing them.

Be extremely vigilant not to start fires.

Take litter home

Even small amounts of litter, perhaps above all those that are not quickly biodegradable, can rapidly spoil an environment, both by making it less attractive and by causing harm to existing wildlife

Control dogs properly

How sure are you that your well-behaved dog won’t set off after those sheep or get over-excited? In most circumstances in the countryside a dog must be kept on a short lead. Occasionally access to dogs may be limited or disallowed altogether.

Be considerate to others

Farmers, walkers, car drivers, cyclists – each has particular needs in the countrsyide. Be sure to respect the needs of others.

All obvious perhaps, but the Countryside Code is frequently overlooked or neglected. The well-known saying ‘leave only footprints, take only photographs’ (adopted by the US National Parks) is also worth remembering.