Urbino

The Duomo

Last September we started the Piero della Francesca trail, which took us to Arezzo, San Sepolcro and Monterchi. We had ideas of also going to Urbino, but eventually realised it would be too much. We resolved to come back this year. Yesterday, we went round the main sights: the Ducal Palace, Raphael's House, some of the churches. Today we are doing a walk around the walls.

We started at our hotel, the San Domenico, which is magnificently located (on the right in the photo below) in the Piazza Rinascimento (Renaissance Square) facing the Ducal Palace.

We turned right, at the church of San Domenico, with its exquisite porch ...

... and the cathedral on the left. Although spectacular from the outside, the cathedral has a much less interesting, in fact rather soulless, baroque interior.

We made our way towards the Porta San Bartolo, the southernmost gate, walking down a typical steep Urbino side street.

As we emerged onto the via della Mura, there was a fine view to the south towards the church of San Bernadino which houses the mausoleum of the Dukes of Urbino.

Here is our first proper view of the wall, looking west. We had consulted the Tourist Office before we started the walk and the very pleasant and helpful girl there has told us there wasn't much to see along this section. How wrong she was and how glad we were that we had trusted our own instincts. Maybe the locals are least well placed to advise the visitors!

We followed the walls past several bastions and round to the north west corner, where there were substantial fortifications, none of which lent themselves to a photo unfortunately. I had to content myself with another view of the surrounding hills.

Soon however, we arrived at the Ducal Palace - the symbol of Urbino - and things looked up dramatically. The Palace was built for Duke Federico da Monfeltro by the Dalmation architect Luciano Laurana in the mid-15th century and is a truly wonderful Renaissance building. It now houses an art gallery, where yesterday we saw two of Pierro's works: the Senigallia Madonna and the astonishing Flagellation. Raphael's La Muta, the silent one, also made a big impression.

Opposite the palace is the Teatro Sanzio, named for Raphael. I thought it had an almost art deco character and was perhaps built by Mussolini, but in fact it dates from 1845-53.

We dropped down into the Borgo Mercantile, a vast square housing the bus station, and walked through the handsome Porta Valbona of 1681.

We followed the busy via Mazzini for a while, then turned left to make our way to the oratory of San Giovanni (St John the Baptist).

Inside, this small church is entirely covered in wonderful frescos painted in 1416 by the Saltimbeni brothers.

We now climbed up to the Parco della Resistanza, which surrounds the Albornoz Fortress. It was built in the second half of the fourteenth century by the Cardinal Egidio Alvarez de Albornoz, who was in charge of reorganising the territories owned by the Church. No, I am not sure exactly what that means either. As with all such fortresses, there were many later changes, but all that now remains is the  imposing walls and some small towers.

The park does however offer a fantastic view over the city, with the Cathedral on the left and the Ducal Palace on the right.

We walked down to the Piazzale Roma, with its 19th century statue of Raphael. The house where he was born is just down the hill - naturally enough in Via Raffaello. You can see a fresco he painted while still a young man.

The route becomes rather messy here, but we eventually made our way down to the Porta Santa Lucia and walked outside the walls down to Porta Lavagine, where there is a little chapel built into the walls.

We now followed the Via della Mura again to complete the circuit.

Conditions: Hot, some clouds.

Distance: about 3 miles.

Rating: five stars. Just wonderful! All the better for having to work it out for ourselves, rather than follow a leaflet.

Wind Farm to Corhampton Down (Wayfarer's Walk 14)

Looking east

There seem not to have been many opportunities to walk lately, with our strangely busy social life and the uncertain weather, but today offered a chance to get out so I returned to the Wayfarer's Walk for the first time since June 16. I picked up the route at Wind Farm and followed a field-edge track shared with the South Downs Way to Lomer Farm, where the Wayfarer's Walk turned off to the south. It's all agricultural land here, but the view east (above) was very pleasant.

This is all part of the Preshaw Estate, and soon I was looking across to Preshaw Down.

The trail headed on along a long shallow valley with the splendid name of Betty Mundy's Bottom and then detoured through woodland around a rather grand looking house, mysteriously marked on the map as Betty Mundy's Cottages. Then along through the continuation of the valley to St Clair's Farm. I went just a bit further, along a narrow road heading south beside Corhampton Down before deciding that it was time to turn round.

All of this raises the key question of who was Betty Mundy. A bit of Googling reveals that others have asked, but no-one seems to know for sure. The best answer I found here is that it may be a corruption of the Latin beati mundae - the most blessed place in the world - a name given to the place by a Roman legion. Or Betty may have been a way-layer of sailors or a curser of cattle.

There was a nice view of the Bottom on the way back, with the sun behind me and my new Polarising filter on my camera delivering the promised bluer skies. This filter seems to have been a great buy. It reduces glare from sunlight on leaves, water and the sky, and makes the sky look more blue. I did a number of comparative tests and there seems no doubt that these claims are true. You may just have to lighten the foreground afterwards.

Conditions: hot and sunny, very still, puddles in the bits of woodland.

Distance: 6.5 miles altogether, 3.25 forwards. 49.75 miles - OK, call it 50 - now covered. Just about two-thirds of the way.

Map: Explorer 119 (Meon Valley, Portsmouth, Gosport and Fareham)

Rating: three stars. Pleasant enough, but no real drama.

Sightings

Not much to see in fact, apart from simply hundreds of young pheasants. I think I have read that 7m are released each year. Poor things, they know not what awaits them. Here is one gathering of twenty or so.

 

Butterfly of the day

Not many butterflies either: large and small Whites, several Speckled Woods, a Red Admiral, A Peacock. I was quite pleased however with this shot of a Speckled Wood with folded wings: normally they seem to roost with wings wide open.

The Bournemouth Coast Path: A review

We found about the existence of the Bournemouth Coast Path quite by accident: we noticed a guide book in the Poole branch of Waterstone's. Exploring the Bournemouth Coast Path by Leigh Harris is published by Countryside Books (more information can be found here.) It describes a route from Swanage to Lymington, but we felt that the core route was from Sandbanks to New Milton - the Swanage to Sandbanks section is part of the South West Coast Path, which we had already done, while New Milton to Lymington marks the beginning of the Solent Way, a possible future project.

The Bournemouth Coast Path dates from 1985 and seems to have been the invention of the author: well done to him! He is clearly pleased that it has been designated as part  of the E9 European Coast Path, which will run 3,125 miles from Capo de Sao Vincente in Portugal to Narva-Joesuu in Estonia. This (the E9) is obviously a wonderful concept, but seems to consist at present of not much more than a line drawn on the map. I have it on my to-do list to see what stretches of coast path are extant in Portugal, Spain and France.

We really enjoyed walking the BCP, which we did in four legs (listed below), a distance of 27 miles including the retunr trip along Hurst Spit. We were surprised by how varied it was and this reflects the route which takes you up and down the various chines that surround Bournemouth rather than simply following the promenade at the back of the beach. Also of course the route encompasses two harbours (Poole and Christchurch) and it was interesting to see how they were both similar and different. There are also two castles, at least on our route - Highcliffe and Hurst. We loved Highcliffe, but were a bit disappointed by the appearance of Hurst (we arrived too late in the day to go in).

We also learned a lot about the history, geography and geology of the area and, not least, were shocked to see how far Poole extended. We hadn't really clocked where the boundary with Bournemouth was, but now we know.

But perhaps the greatest satisfaction is that, as we have already walked the SW Coast Path to the western edge of Dorset at Lyme Regis, we can now say that we have walked every inch of the coast of this lovely county. And finally doing the Bournemouth Coast Path inspired me to devise a short town walk around Bournemouth.

Stages

1 Sandbanks to Bournemouth Pier

2 Bournemouth Pier to Mudeford Spit

3 Mudeford Quay to Barton-on-Sea

4 Barton-on-Sea to Hurst Castle

We had previously waked from Poole Quay to Sandbanks.

Stowe Landscape Gardens

 Stowe House

Stowe House dates from the 1670s, but its major development took place after it was inherited by Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham in 1711. Architects John Vanbrugh, James Kent and William Gibbs worked on the neo-classical house and its park, and from 1741 to 1751 Capability Brown, then at the start of his career, was Head Gardener. The result is one of the earliest and finest English landscape gardens.

In 1822 one of Cobham's descendants (the wonderfully named Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville) was made the first Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. This era seems to have marked the high point of both the family and the house, for the second duke, Richard Plantagenet T-N-B-C-G, ran up astronomic debts which ultimately led to the house being sold to become Stowe School in 1922. The landscaped garden was acquired by the National Trust in 1989 and has since been subject to a sustained programme of restoration.

Stowe is about midway between our respective homes and made an ideal place to meet our friends Sally and Malcolm.

You approach from Buckingham up the long, straight Stowe Avenue, passing through gilded gate-pillars to soon see the magnificent Corinthian Arch on the ridge ahead - you know immediately that this is going to be something special.

You walk down from the car park and visitor centre to enter the park through Bell Gate. A plan of the garden is available from the National Trust website and a bigger version can be collected at the ticket office. The most informative website - which I happened on while writing this post - is by John D Tatter, Professor of English at Birmingham-Southern College (Birmingham, Alabama, that is). It is a simply phenomenal resource and is the source of many of the details included in this post.

We decided on a broadly clockwise route so we turned left past two temple-like pavilions to get our first glimpse of the house across the Octagon Lake (see above). It is a wonderfully imposing sight, with an obvious Palladian influence. The algae on the lake surface is the only discordant note.

Across the lake we saw the first of many sudden views of the various monuments: in this case the extraordinary Gothic Temple of 1741, one of the earliest Gothic Revival buildings. These dramatic, even theatrical, glimpses are surely the greatest charm of the gardens.

Carrying on along the same path (Pegg's Terrrace), now with Eleven Acre Lake to the right, you soon reach the Temple of Venus, also seemingly influenced by Palladio. It was the work of William Kent and dates from 1731.

Just after this, across to the right, is a perfect view of the Rotonda. We discovered later that it is actually surrounded by a golf course, and closer up is somewhat spoiled by people teeing off nearby. From this vantage point however it is magical.

In the top corner of the gardens you come to the two Boycott Pavilions. They are named after a village which used to exist nearby and they once framed an entrance to the estate. Capability Brown apparently lived in one. It took us a few moments to notice that the further pavilion has a little tempieto on the top, which completes its design, while the nearer one does not. We then noticed that it was hidden behind the bushes on the left of the photo, fenced off and presumably awaiting the arrival of a giant crane to return it to its home.

We now doubled back and quickly turned left to pass the statue of Queen Caroline, wife of George II. It was in fact built in 1726 when she was Princess of Wales, and renamed later when her husband became king.

We followed the northern side of Eleven Acre Lake to reach the cascade which links the two lakes. The wonderful Paladian bridge which stands at the far end of the Octagon Lake offered a great view, although the algae was even worse here. We enjoyed the apparently choreographed movements of teh Canada geese.

We now headed towards the House, passing the Temple of British Worthies below us to the right. The busts are of great men such as Shakespeare, Raleigh and Newton. I couldn't avoid a shot with some modern British worthies.

More or less opposite is the Temple of Ancient Virtue. Inside are statues of Homer, Socrates, Lycurgus, and Epaminondas. The two last were respectively the greatest law-giver, and general of ancient Greece.

Just behind the Temple is the 13th-14th century church of St Mary (which the plan studiously tells us in not National Trust). It is interesting and spacious inside, but frankly ugly from outside and further spoiled by being coated in pebbledash.

We continued on our clockwise arc to the Queen's Temple and from the plateau behind it enjoyed a lovely view of the Greek Temple of Concord and Victory. I learned from John Tatter that it was originally known as the Grecian Temple but was renamed at the end of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) to celebrate British peace at home and victory in the field.

Looking in the other direction from the plateau there is the fine view of Lord Cobham's Pillar.

Built to commemorate his death, it also functions as a viewing tower. It is 35m high (compare Nelson's Column at 52m).

We headed on the come beneath the wonderful Gothic Temple. It had gradually become clear that it is triangular, with square towers on each corner. Two corners have a cupola, while the other has a church-like tower. The ochre colour gives it great added charm. A sign idicated that it is now owened by the Landmark Trust and so presumably you can stay there. I had to Photoshop a parked car out of my picture.

We then walked down the slope to cross the Palladian Bridge and enjoy this fantastic view back up the hill. The bridge was apparently inspired by the Palladian Bridge at Wilton House near Salisbury.

There followed a little side trip to see the Chinese House. It was apparently the first building in England constructed in the Chinese style and has been relocated to its present position by the National Trust.

Finally, we paused in front of the genuinely ruined Temple of Friendship, to admire a very picturesque collection of monuments (the one on the left is the Queen's Temple).

It was a fitting end (apart from walking back to the car) to a truly wonderful walk.

Conditions: cloudy, but quite warm.

Distance: about 4 miles.

Rating: five stars. Just fantastic.

Silchester and Pamber Forest

The main track through the forest

It was a nice sunny day so I thought I would pay another visit to nearby Pamber Forest and try to take some better butterfly photos using my new monopod.

I parked near the Calleva Arms in Silchester and walked south-west towards the forest, initially along a road but soon through woodland. I passed the Upper Inhams Copse nature reserve and at the entrance to the Pamber Forest reserve turned left following a track (marked blue on the helpful leaflet) down to Silchester Road.

I followed the road into Little London and crossed a field to join the main track which, like last time, I followed about two thirds of the way towards the top before turning right to again reach the entrance and retrace my steps to the Calleva Arms.

Conditions: sunny, becoming cloudy

Distance: about 4 miles.

Map: Explorer 159 (Reading, Wokingham and Pangbourne).

Rating: three stars.


Butterflies of the day

Fewer to choose from than last time: no White Admirals and just one rather battered looking Fritillary. There were lots of Speckled Woods basking in the sunny glades. I think the monopod helped this to be a reasonable picture.

Even more pleasing was this Peacock basking on the ground. The beautiful colours have never seemed brighter or more iridescent, and I had never previously noticed the checkered pattern on the tops of the wings near the body.

So overall I think the monopod was a hit!


Flower of the day

I saw quite a lot of this. I think it is Creeping Cinquefoil.

Barton-on-Sea to Hurst Castle (Bournemouth Coast Path 4)

Coast beyond Barton-on-Sea

We decided to break our journey down to Poole in order to complete the Bournemouth Coast Path. (The guide book includes a further section, but it is really part of the Solent Way, so we thought we would save that for a future project.)

We picked up the route on the grassy cliffs at Barton-on-Sea and walked along above the bathing huts and the beach. The view above shows the next section of coast, with a golf course on the inland side.
 
A  little further on the waves pour in onto the shingle beach, with the eroding sandstone cliff behind.

The view back shows Hengistbury Head clearly on the horizon

A bit further on we crossed Becton Bunny.

We then walked along the clifftop to reach New Milton - to be honest, largely indistinguishable from Barton-on-Sea.

At the end of the promenade, a shingle spit (reinforced with - for some reason - Norwegian stone in 1996-7) leads past the Sturt Pond towards Hurst Castle. On the landward side, a narrow channel of water called Mount Lake leads through the salt marshes.

While  on the seaward side the Needles remain a striking sight at the tip of the Isle of Wight.

As the tip of the spit approached Hurst Castle became clearer, with the Hurst Lighthouse bright in a little burst of sunshine to the left.

The castle was founded by Henry VIII in 1544 as part of a chain of forts built to defend against the threat of a Spanish invasion. The original castle is the octagonal tower on the left. It is a very good place for a defence: the channel across to the Isle of Wight is only three-quarters of a mile. Charles I was imprisoned here in 1648 before being taken to London to his trial and execution.

In Victorian times massive and rather ugly wings were built either side of the original fort, which was itself hidden behind a curved battlement. Guns were mounted here during the second world war. All quite interesting, but what you see looks like some horrific prison. 

Finally, there is the lighthouse of 1867 right at the tip of the spit.

The building to the left is the Acetylene Room which provided power for the lighthouse until 1970. It is apparently the last remaining complete example in the country, but how it functioned is a mystery to me at least.

Map: Explorer OL22 (New Forest)

Conditions: mild and cloudy, lots of haze, light rain at the end

Distance: 8 miles, including the return trip along the spit

Rating: three stars. Some interesting aspects, but overall the least satisfying leg of the Bournemouth Coast Path.

Flower of the day

I haven't managed to identify this tiny low-growing pink flower seen in the grass on the cliff-top.

Butterfly of the day

This Speckled Wood posed obligingly.

The Sugar Loaf

The Sugar Loaf

We met up with cousins Ruth and Jon to climb the Sugar Loaf.

We parked to the south-east of the mountain at Porth-y-parc and walked up a track gaining an immediate, but distant view of our target. At the top we entered an area of National Trust land called Parc Lodge and soon joined a sunken track bordered by oak trees in dappled sunlight, climbing all the while.

We emerged into a grassy field and then reached the bracken-covered approach to the Sugar Loaf and our first clear view. We walked up a grassy path, becoming rocky nearer the top and suddenly emerged on the long flattish summit.

The views were spectacular, but much diminished by the heavy haze. This was the view back the way we had come, a rare patch of heather failing to enliven the foreground. Abergavenny and the river Usk can be dimly glimpsed in the distance.

At the far (north-west) end of the summit, there was an impressive rock shambles and further hazy views towards both the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons.

After a break for lunch in the shelter of the rocks we descended the north face (ho, ho!) and followed another grassy track through the bracken, passing a pool with a couple of Emperor dragon flies engaged in a mating dance. A little further on we flushed some Grouse noisily into the air. Perhaps they knew the season was about to begin.

As we curved round to the east, the true nature of the summit became visible, with the initial slightly pointed view on the left and the rock shambles on the right.

 We continued on, now heading south, and enjoyed clearer views of Ysgyryd Fawr (pronounced something like Skirrid) on our left. Ruth told us that it was also known as the holy mountain on account of a legend that the large land slip on the other side occurred at the exact moment of Christ's crucifixion. I expressed some scepticism about this - how did they know? The remains of St Michael's chapel lie just behind the summit.

We entered a forest of oak trees, all of a similar age, but with improved dappling compared to the earlier ones.

At an isolated house called Summer View we did a dog-leg back into the forest at a lower level and followed the contours until we reached another track higher up from the parking point. We descended to reach the car and enjoy one last view of Abergavenny. The Blorenge, our next project, just intrudes into the photo on the right.

Conditions: warm, hazy, windy at the top.

Distance: about 6 miles.

Map: Explorer OL13 (Brecon Beacons).

Rating: four stars.