So I recovered from my 'foot' cold in a couple days, but I still had some papers to finish up. My personal deadline to get the papers finished was this last Friday (i.e. yesterday), and I hit my objective sick or no. So I wasn't technically going to go anywhere this weekend and take a break. I have a couple tests next week, so I thought I would study for my tests, refine my essays, be a good student... Naw! So I planned a trip to a little town to the northwest of York called Richmond. Richmond supposedly has a pretty nice castle with a tower that isn't destroyed and you can go up into. But this trip involves more than just a bus. I have to get on a train and go first to Darlington, a place where I have never been before and catch a bus from there. So I got up early this morning, and I went down to the train station. I bought my ticket for Darlington, and I got on the train. Now, I have no idea where I need to go in Darlington to catch the bus I need to go to Richmond, but I figure I can work that all out once I get there. I am used to going places I have never been before and finding my way pretty easy now.
So when I get on the train, this Scottish guy ends up sitting next to me- he is going to Glasgow way up north. He ends up getting screwed out of his seats because the trains are all messed up- it is the first time I saw something like this happen. The English complain all the time about their trains, but I find them quite reliable. I think they are a little expensive, but other than that I have never really been jerked around. So the Scottish guy starts pleading his case to me- he is pretty upset. Once he is done, he starts asking me where I am from, etc. So I end up having a really good conversation with this guy. I do this sort of thing all the time, I just rarely write about it because it is such a common occurrence. Anyway- so I have a great conversation with this guy, he is busting up at all my adventures.
So I get off the train at Darlington, and I get lost in the city. Literally, I have no idea where the bus stop I need is. I walk around, and it took me about an hour to figure it all out. I heard from a lot of the locals that Darlington is a dump, but I just found it to be town that is a little worn around the edges. It is not like the place is Leeds or anything. So next to the busstop is this little fleemarket, so I go there while I wait and wander around. Funny, the flee markets here in England sell pretty much the same old cheap crap as the ones in the States. I thought that was funny.
So the bus comes while I am in the market, and I almost miss it. The bus rolls on out to Richmond- it took about a half-hour. Richmond is this town nestled in this hilly region with the castle being in the center of town. The River Swale wraps around the backside (southern) of the castle, and I think I was more impressed with how pretty the town was and the river than I was the castle. It was just a beautiful little town- the kind of place I don't think I could ever get tired of living in.
The castle itself was founded by the cousin of William the Conqueror and Lord of Brittany, Alan Rufus in 1070. William had an especially difficult time suppressing the Anglo-Saxons in the north of England. In general, the north has always kind of been a place of rebellion stretching waaay back in history with even the Romans having issues with the northerners, and the English Kings later had problems with rebellions up north. Curiously, the castle in Richmond came before the town, which is different per some of these other castles in England. A little market town soon grew up around the northern side of the castle, the southern side even to this day does not really have much on that side- aside from the Swale river. I thought the most curious note about the castle though was that it served as a prison for conscientious objectors during WW I. During the draft at that time, you could get out of being shipped to fight on the front if you could prove to a judge that your objections arise from honest belief. Of course, this was for the judge to decide. Then they would put you in a Conscientious Objectors Corps which then made the weapons and supplied the troops but didn't fight. For some men of course even contributing to the war in any way was against their beliefs, and that is when they got shipped off to Richmond castle. There were 16 famous objectors that stirred national media at the time and were thrown into the castle/prison. Even some of their graffiti still exists on the walls today. I looked at the basic info on these guys, they came from all strands of life- one was a priest, one a Quaker, one a coal miner, etc.
Anyway- so I walked around the castle, and I took some pictures which you can see. After that, I had lunch in the castle gardens. They have these tall trees along the northern bank of the Swale, and in the trees were all these crows' nests. Man, let me tell you, crows are some loud ass birds. They were squawking and carrying on, it was crazy. I never heard anything like all that commotion before. While we are on the subject of birds, I have to say that the bird that has had the biggest impact on me here in England has been the swan. They are unbelievable. I love'em. I want to own some property some day just so I can have a couple swans in a pond or something. Here in England the swan is the Queen's bird. Every swan in England belongs to the Queen, and if you mess with any swan you are in for some serious trouble. But let me tell you, swans can take care of themselves. They are some BIG, aggressive birds. I love the way they sound though. I cannot even describe it, but it is one of the most pleasing sounds I have ever heard. The University here is a wildlife preserve, and there are some swans on campus. They have little signets right now, and they are very defensive about their little ones. They are the king of all birds as far as I am concerned. I am sold.
Anyway, so after I had lunch, I went down and took the 'castle walk', which circles around the southern end of the castle, between the castle wall and the river. After that, I went down to the river and took some pictures from the bridge, river, and the falls. The weather here has been really grand the last week, so I spent a couple hours wandering around Richmond and just enjoying the day. No mud this week, but Richmond is probably the nicest little town I have seen here in England.