Captain's Log

Fountains Abbey

‘Where are you heading today?’ asked the National Trust greeter in the ticket office of Fountains Abbey.
‘Well, I was going to have a look at the abbey and then head into Ripon to have a look at the cathedral’ I replied.
‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible. There’s construction work taking place at Studley Lake and you won’t be able to leave the National Trust area’ she gleefully informed  me. Damn! Scuppered at the day’s first hurdle. My plan had been to have a look at the abbey and then follow the River Skell, along a very pretty valley to Studley Lake. From there I’d enter Studley Park and follow public footpaths into Ripon. I’d spend some time having a gander at the cathedral and then make my way back to Studley Park and maybe see some deer fighting. It was the rutting season after all. Well made plans never survive first contact with the enemy. To give her credit, the greeter unfurled a map of the area to show me a possible alternative. I knew the location pretty well though and had reformulated an alternative route before she even had time to point out the Visitors Centre on the map. I thanked her for her attempt to help and then left her to console the next unhappy customer. 

Studley Park

On yesterday’s walk I’d enjoyed limitless blue skies. Today the weather looked a bit more mixed. Light rain drifted over me in waves as I headed towards Studley Park. There was a woman wearing a high viz vest and a Ranger arm band, near to the gate to the entrance to the park. ‘Aye, aye. Here come’s trouble’ I thought, but she mysteriously walked away from the gate as I approached. I stepped through the gate and entered the magnificent natural world that is Studley Park. You have to pay (the National Trust) to enter the enclosed Fountains Abbey area. Studley Park though is free to all. Apart from the gorgeous rolling landscape and ancient trees, the first thing you notice is the dramatic St Mary’s Church. It is a gothic masterpiece designed by William Burges. It seems taller than its length. There’s an obelisk near the park’s entrance gate that competes with the spire  in height. I walked around the church enjoying the gothic detail and then towards the park road that heads towards Ripon. 

Stags

Studley Park is a great place to visit if you want to see deer and stags. They are never far from the roads and trails. You shouldn’t be of a nervous disposition though if you visit in the rutting season. The park resounded to the unearthly growls and bellows of the stags. It was a bit unnerving and I felt slightly vulnerable. As I walked down the straight road, some red deer trotted across the road about 100 metres ahead of me. I walked a bit further on and then a muscular stag followed them. It stopped, looked my way and bellowed. I looked around at what nearby trees I might scarper to, if the beast decided to inspect me a bit more closely. I can proudly say that I managed to out-stare it, since it evidently lost interest in me and wandered off in the direction of the deer. I continued down the road keeping a canny out to see if he had set up some sort of ambush. The park road was long, straight and went downhill. Huge trees flanked either side of it. At the end of this avenue, maybe a couple of miles away, I could see the large structure of Ripon Cathedral. The road had obviously been designed with this view in mind. I crossed a cattle grid at one of the park’s entrances and departed the park. I could relax a bit now, knowing that I wouldn’t be skewered on the antlers of a stag.  

Road To Ripon

The long road stopped just after the gate. I turned left into the village of Studley Royal. I doubt whether there are any council houses in Studley Roger. The front garden of one house rather bamboozled me by displaying  a selection of curiosities. The one that puzzled me most was a fairly large boat that was positioned upright on its stern. Wooden shields were attached to its hull. I was so baffled by this that I made a wrong turn and ended up in somebody’s garden. I soon corrected myself though and found the footpath that headed out of the village towards Ripon. 

The footpath wasn’t the most interesting one that I’d walked along. The surrounding landscape of fields was pretty enough, but you couldn’t actually see it because there was a hedge on either side of the path. I suppose the walk through Studley Park with its avenue, trees and stags had set my expectations a bit higher than normal. I was relieved when I got to the end of this avenue of hedges, but then disappointed when I realised that I’d now have to follow the B6265 into Ripon. There was a pavement to ease the way, and so it wasn’t dangerous, but the road was busy and noisy. It was only about 10 minutes though before I reached the houses of Ripon. The road took me by the cricket, rugby and football clubs. Tennis courts then came into view. They certainly like their sports in Ripon. This led me into the old ‘spa’ area. The Spa Gardens was a park area that was small but nicely maintained. Nearby was the old Spa Swimming Baths that were cordoned off and looked as though they were in for some reconstruction work. I read a notice from the council asking for suggestions from the public as to how the building could be reused. Apparently swimming baths were now available in a leisure centre.

I was now nearing the centre of Ripon. The streets were quite narrow and these led me to a large market square area which had a large obelisk in its centre. They certainly like their obelisks in Ripon. It was 25 metres high and is recognised as the earliest surviving freestanding civic obelisk in the UK. It was designed in 1702 by Nicholas Hawksmoor. Every evening at 9:00 pm, a hornblower dressed in traditional livery sounds a charter horn at the four corners of the obelisk’s pedestal. The ritual has been ongoing since the 9th century. It sounded exciting, but unfortunately I’d planned to be in Stockton at that time this evening. 

I continued through Ripon’s narrow streets, lined with cafes, takeaways and beauty salons. Eventually the end of Kirkgate was dominated by the west face of Ripon Cathedral. It was no Lincoln Cathedral in terms of scale, but it was aesthetically pleasing enough as I carried out a full circuit of the exterior of the building. My Captain’s Log of my visit inside the building can be seen in Ripon Cathedral. 

Studley Lake

After visiting the cathedral, I made an unremarkable return journey to Studley Roger using the same route along the B6265 and also the footpath with its avenue of hedges. Rather than repeat my journey back along the long road through Studley Park, I decided to head off towards Studley Lake. Initially this meant following a stone track that headed southwards past Plumpton Hall. The landscape opened up to the east and the top of Ripon Cathedral dominated the view of the town. Maybe the building didn’t look that big up close, but it certainly dominated the surrounding area from a distance. Well…until they repurpose the Spa Swimming Baths as a 100m high ferris wheel…that’s my suggestion put forward to the council, by the way. Beyond the cathedral, the North York Moors loomed on the horizon like a giant wave. I could even see the white horse on its flank. 

The stone track narrowed and dropped down into a wooded valley. This delivered me to a substantial iron railing that signified the boundary of Studley Park. Fortunately, the railings were to keep deer in, rather than people out, and so I stepped through a gate into Studley Park. The OS map labelled this area as Chinese Wood. The stream that should run along the bottom of the valley had disappeared, making redundant the numerous stone bridges across it. There were plenty of mature Horse Chestnut Trees in the valley and the branches held a plethora of conkers. It was a good job it wasn’t the school holidays or else the kids would be throwing branches up to knock them off. Or maybe kids don’t do that sort of stuff nowadays. 

I reached Studley Lake and crossed a footbridge across its outlet. I could see where the extensive construction work was being carried out on the south end of the lake. I walked around the lake to the carpark. Just as I was about to set off on a grassy track towards St Mary’s church, there was a rumpus in the woods over to my right and I saw a number of deer moving rather swiftly away. Closely on their track was a massive stag. Even his muscles had muscles. He chased after a couple of lesser stags. They soon scarpered too. The beast bellowed an earth trembling, guttural roar. He turned his head towards me. Gulp. I backed away not losing eye contact and, then I hot trotted over the hill towards St Mary’s Church. 

Return

I met a couple of other lone stags before reaching the church. They were smaller and were obviously not up for a fight, whether stag or human. I reached the church and the road. How the weather had changed since this morning. It was now a beautiful autumnal, sunny day. I was disappointed that my walk was about to end. I’d been the first in the carpark this morning, but the place was almost full now. Fountains Abbey must be heaving during the summer. 

Despite my original plan failing at the first hurdle, the day had turned out to be excellent. I could always revisit Fountains Abbey once they’d sorted out the construction at Studley Lake. The scenery had been superb and the wander around Ripon’s town centre and its cathedral, turned out to be very interesting. The highlight though was watching the stags. I probably wouldn’t want to see them any closer though.