Its my blog and I'll write what i want to

 It's  my blog and I'll write what I want to. April 12th

It's time to visit Czechia again, staying in the Pension Karolina, visiting Bilina Gymnasium High School and a couple of trips away from the mining town I first visited in 1993.

Bilina

                  My Bilina "car park" shot. Railway and power plant on a hazy day.

                                Boten, the basalt bump that dominates the town.

Stayed in the charming Pension Karolina again. A pub with four bedrooms and no food but the town hotel, the Lion, is still being renovated so it's Karolina again and Patkove house for breakfast, a walk of 15 minutes.

                                   Home sweet home. (Don't forget to lock the door when you leave in the morning!)

                                     Nearby house loves cats.

Gymnasium 

The school is a subset of the Most Gymnasium. Approximately 250 pupils aged 11 to 18 and in small classes. What I do is simple converstaion lessons in English. Ask me a question, I'll give you my answer. And they offer a whole range; Which football team do you support, What's your favourite Czech food, What about Brexit? What do you think of Margaret Thatcher's politics, and so it goes on. Their English is excellent, so is their interest and I still enjoy it.

                                        Pay attention girl. Me and Danisa and a class

I was in school five days and for one day went to Most,  a town a few miles away to have conversations with two groups of adults who are learning English. Mostly Social workers, working with addicts. 

One evening we went to a country and western concert in the town community centre. Three guitars, one banjo and a fiddle sang in Czech, I recognised Folsom Prison Blues and Help me make it through the night. The group were called Desperadi and they were good.

                           Czech school dinner, Not a chip or chicken nugget in sight

                          Fuzzy photo of Desperadi. I blame the beer.

On an afternoon off I walked to Kyselka, the Bilina spa, finally being restored and hopefully reopened.

                              The original Kyselka spring

                                        The spa at Kyselka

                    The pub across the railway line.

And away from Bilina                                                                                                                                  One of the teachers, Mary, with a couple of her friends, took me to the town of Melnik, a drive of about 45 minutes. It was Saturday, the town square was busy. An open air market in full swing selling almost anything, especially food and flowers. Just off the square is the town castle, one of several owned by the Lobkovitz family and apparently they still occupy part of it.

Melnik is at the confluence of the Laben (Elbe) and Vlatava rivers and the castle stands high above them.  Similar to of the other Czech castles I have visited, its unlike the strongholds such as Bamburgh which line the Northumberland Coast.

(Cesky Krumlov, which I visited last year, straight out of a fairy tale, but not Disney, and Cesky Sternberg which could have stood in for Colditz. )

we did the castle tour, well furnished rooms, plenty of historic items but the best grand salon had 22 framed pictures of European cities: Prague, Venice, Cologne to name but three. A unique collection apparently and well worth the tour.

                           Chateau Melnik from below and above

               Not the actual confluence, the water going off up the picture is a canal. The rivers meet a little further away. The Laben, or Elbe is a very busy river, goods arriving and leaving at the town dock.

AND THE NEXT DAY WE WENT TO PRAGUE

 A large group of us set off from Bilina for a couple of nights in the capital. Travelling by car to Teplice, coach to Prague, one bus ride, two metro rides got us to the Hotel International (Travel on Prague buses, trams and the Metro is free for pensioners of all nations, just have proof of your birthday)

              The Hotel International. Built in the 1950s to house visiting officers of the Czech army it has a couple of hundred rooms, conference halls and a small theatre. Occupied by the Russians in the 1968 invasion it also offered refuge to the stars and crew of the film "The Bridge at Remagan" before they removed themselves to Austria. Originally named something like Hotel Brotherhood  it is now run by a company with the name Czech Inn. And yes, it is based on the Moscow "Seven sisters" buildings.

Prague, as usual, was busy with tourists and the only one of the major sites we visited was the palace and cathedral complex which I've seen before.

                                   St Vitus' cathedral

                            Palace and sentries.

We visited the memorial to the many Czechs who suffered during the communist era.

              Memorial to the victims:

              205,486 arrested

              170, 938 forced into exile

              4500 died in prison

              327 shot trying to escape,

               248 executed.

On a happier visit we went to see the head of Kafka. A large statue made up of several segments which rotate, finally forming the whole head. Sadly my video failed.

                                               Franz Kafka.

We also saw the spitfire and the butterfly:

 The body is a spitfire, the wings open and close. There were a good number of Czechoslovakian pilots  (and Polish) in the Few who fought the battle of Britain in 1940.

And on another occasion we went to the Church of Saint Victoria which houses a 500 year old Christ Child and has several of the beautiful gowns that have been made for it over the years. I failed to see the child, it is in the Souvenir shop and I didn't go in!

BACK TO BILINA

We repeated the journey by metro, bus, coach and car to return to Bilina. The next two days I spent the mornings in school answering questions, explaining Brexit and discussing the merits of several English football teams. 

After school on one afternoon six of us went round the local power station. An introductory film,  a look atb transformers and a peep into the boiler room which, not surprisingly, was very, very warm, then up in a lift to a viewing platform some 125 metres (412 feet) above ground level. The mine was clearly visible, as was the cleaning plant and the network of conveyers that take coal to the power station. Some years ago a lovely man, George, showed me round the mine, the power station and a ceramics factory. Sadly he has had an accident and died.

                    Coal fired power station. It is very clean but has a limited life now.

                                                          On the top of the power station. 412 feet high

And to finish the day we went to Teplice for a concert given by a brass ensemble. Six brass instruments and a drummer, they played, among other tunes, Misty, Baby it's cold outside, Just a closer walk with thee, a selection from West Side Story and a selection of Beatle tunes. 

After one more day in school I came home.

If you ever read my blog "Tales from the Wigwam" you will know I have had a Total Knee Replacement. The new security scanners at Newcastle recognise this and wave you through. The older equipment at Prague does not and in spite of saying "It's my knee" hoping I would go through I was subjected to a thorough patting down, told to sit and remove my shoes which were carefully examined. I wouldn't mind but it all took place in the middle of the queue of fellow passengers who looked on, in sympsthy.

I thought this year might be my last visit to Bilina but I enjoyed it so much I think I will return.

Prague TV tower. There are babies like the one below climbing it!

Dukesfield, Dipton and the Devil

 Dukesfield, Dipton and the Devil

Today we're  off to walk from Slaley, a string of a village high above Corbridge. Head west on the A69, turn off at the A68, turn right for Riding Mill and once through there turn left for Slaley.

The walk is covered by OS OL 43 Hadrian's Wall. 

There is no car park in Slaley, we left our cars on the road by the church.

Parking outside St. Mary's Church Slaley. The church is 19th century. 

Having booted up I realised that I had left my camera at home. Two weeks ago I left my flask. Is this the beginning? But after walking 100 yards one of the team of five realised he had left his rucksack so I didn't feel too bad. I used my phone for a few pictures today. Some say you don't need a camera anymore but it's my preference to snap away on it.

Next to the community shop, which has restricted hours, don't expect to buy a tin of beans at 5pm, is the entrance to a footpath leading in a northerly direction and going gently down hill. Having crossed a couple of fields we came to a small wood with a marker, if you follow this route ignore the marker and continue in the fields.

We passed Woodfoot farm and reached a road, turned left and after a hundred yards or so spotted the ladder stile on the right,

               Watch out for this stile, and clamber over.

Once over we followed a woodland path on the edge of Dipton Wood until we reached a road (mile 2). We walked the road for a short distance before coming to this fine entrance, so we entered.

Walk this way.

At the end of the track is a farm, on the right of the farm is the entrance to a lovely long woodland walk above, along and near to the Devil's Water.

We crossed the stream by a footbridge to the path on the west side, walked a path through a field which would have inspired Wordsworth to compose a poem about daffodils until we reached Peth Foot. 

A slight error, we walked on but not far, before it was pointed out we should have used the footbridge to go to the east side.

At about 4.5 miles into the walk we came to the arches of Dukefield  and decided it was a fine spot for a Herbie. (Titans, an ALDI special, ginger biscuits and almond slices.)

A smelting centre for mainly lead ore dug from the surrounding hills.It operated from about 1666 to 1835. Only the arches remain, we sat on the edges of the water wheel pit for lunch, the wheel having gone years ago. The lead ingots were taken to Newcastle for shipping. The water wheel was to power bellows to heat the fire for smelting.

Lunch over we continued following the river to Mire House Farm. From the farm we took the soggy, boggy path through woodland to Steel Hall (mile 6) and from there turned through ninety degrees to head north east to Dukesfield Farm. Once round the farm we followed tracks across fields, then farm track then road, going past the interestingly named Palm Strothers, until we reached Slaley, changed and went home, it was only 3pm.

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2025.

The walk is 8.5 miles, field and woodland. A few short climbs but easy going. 

                                                 The start

How green is this valley

 How green is this valley March 21st.

Reduced to a team of three we are having a walk from Ingram in the Breamish Valley. North on the A1, turn off at Morpeth on the A697 and not far beyond Powburn turn left at the signpost for Ingram. After four miles, cross the bridge, ignore the car park on the left but turn left go round the houses and past the church to the car park and visitor centre/cafe/ museum. Free parking!

The walk is covered by OS OL 16 Cheviots and OS Explorer 332  Alnwick and Amble.

Weather forecast is good, dry and warm but overcast.

            Car parking at Ingram. My original photo had a traffic cone on the right but I've cropped it. Better?

By the car at the back of the photo is a duck boarded path through a small wood to the other carpark passing the church.

St Michael's church Ingram. 11th century with many changes
         

 We went this way, turned left, then right and walked through the tiny village of Ingram: a farm and a few cottages. Following the first signpost on the left we headed uphill on a grassy track. Dave, archaeologist and gadgie with a day off, passed us in a truck with a friend. They were off for a dig somewhere but we exchanged greetings.We left the track and followed a soggy footpath. still uphill to mile 2 at which point a steep descent took us to the gate and bridge across Chesters Burn.

A pair of gadgies approach  Chesters Burn.

Once across the burn and through the small wood (The Times would call it a forest: private joke) we crossed a field by footpath to Chesters itself.

Chesters farm house. This isolated building has been used as an outdoor centre and is currently being renovated. 

Beyond the farmhouse we followed a good track heading south for about half a mile before turning east on a footpath over Lumsden Hill. Once over the hill we headed towards Fawdon Dean but seemed to lose our way a little. Having struggled to climb a fence or two and wandered alongside the stream (See the squiggly bit on the map) we finally made it across and sat on a grassy bank near a rabbit warren for a Herbie, no sharing.

Lunch over and well off the route we crossed fields, befriended horses  and finally  hit the footpath that goes round Old Fawdon Hill.

                         Friendly but sorry, nothing for you.

The footpath met a grassy track and soon we were at Fawdon Farm. Turning left we followed a good track on the edge of East Hill which brought us back to the car park at Ingram.

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2025.

The walk is 10 miles with several climbs. Great views but it was rather misty today.

 A couple of Harry's pictures:

              Didn't mean to put first in twice.

And some of mine