Tag: Repton

A Long Weekend 1: Setting the Scene, Kegworth and St Hardulph’s cave

The first in what will be a series of posts about my long weekend away doing family related things – setting the scene and telling the story of the first day..

I have been away for a few days, mostly without internet connection, doing various family related things. This post is the first of several I shall be doing about the events of those few days (Saturday 14 to Tuesday 17 August inclusive). Before getting into the meat of today’s post I will set out the most noteworthy events of the days in question so that you can orient yourselves.

THE ITINERARY IN BRIEF

I had a fixed return date of the Tuesday as I had an NAS West Norfolk related commitment that evening (I could only have stayed one further night anyway, as I have recently returned to work on a one day per week basis, that day being Thursday). The events between Saturday morning and Tuesday evening were as follows:

  • Saturday morning: travel from King’s Lynn to Kegworth in the east midlands for a barbecue at a cousin’s house.
  • Saturday afternoon: barbecue, followed by a visit to the cave of St Hardulph and a church that claims a connection to that story.
  • Saturday evening/night: Holiday Inn, South Normanton, with a supper at the Brewers Fayre.
  • Sunday morning/ early afternoon: South Wingfield for a thanksgiving service in honour of Ivy Helen Joy Handforth, daughter of a cousin of mine.
  • Sunday afternoon/early evening: travel from South Wingfield to Akeld Manor near Wooler, Northumberland.
  • Monday: Holy Island (Lindisfarne) and Bamburgh (Bebbanburg in Bernard Cornwell’s Uhtred series).
  • Tuesday morning: Brief exploration of Berwick Upon Tweed before catching a train from that town.
  • Tuesday late morning/ afternoon/ early evening: train journey in four parts: Berwick – York, York – Peterborugh, Peterborough – Ely, Ely – King’s Lynn.
  • Tuesday late evening: Steak Night at The Globe on King Street, King’s Lynn

I cover the important bits of Saturday in this post. Sunday may take two posts, Monday definitely will, likewise Tuesday.

KEGWORTH

My sister picked me up for the journey to Kegworth. We were a little late setting out, but arrived there at 1:00PM. Before the barbecue we took Covid-19 tests in preparation for the following day. The barbecue itself was excellent, and there were various relations present who I had met either rarely or in one case never before. We were among the last guests to leave, at which point we headed for…

ST HARDULPH’S CAVE

St Hardulph is generally reckoned to have previously been King Eardwulf of Northumbria. He spent his last years living reclusively in a cave in what is now Derbyshire (it is not far from Repton, which numbers CB Fry and Roald Dahl among its alumni).

There is one clearly sculpted column in the cave that looks very ecclesiastic – it may have originally been formed in the usual manner of cave columns by the meeting of stalactite and stalagmite but that is definitely not the whole story.

The nearby church is also quite impressive. I opted out of taking a look at Repton Prep School, being by that point very tired.

The journey on to to Holiday Inn South Normanton where we were spending Saturday night was reasonably smooth (one minor confusion involving a wrong exit from a roundabout, but that did not cost us much time). The rooms at the Holiday Inn were fine, and the supper at the Brewers Fayre was of acceptable quality.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

  • I took a number of shots of the fishpond at Kegworth.
  • Lavender at Kegworth, alive with bees, as it should be.
  • The Church, near where we began our expedition to the caves.
  • The column mentioned in the text (apologies on behalf of the mindless thugs responsible for it for the graffiti that mars the cave).
  • ‘Poor Man’s Orchid’…
  • …very popular with pollinators.
  • My father’s choice of drink with supper (two pictures)
  • My choice of drink with supper (three pics to show all the detail on the glass).