Looking down . . .

. . . instead of looking up.

So many times have I been down there, crossing the bridge or waiting at the lights to cross the bridge, and have looked up at the imposing outlines of Barnard Castle. Today we visited the Castle . . . and looked down.

After leaving our daughter at Darlington station to catch the London train, we wandered back home via two defensive sites, separated by many centuries and neither of which we had visited before. 

The Iron Age fortifications at Stanwick, North Yorkshire, are impressive.  An unassuming sign and stile lead you to some steps and then you are on the top of the ramparts of the huge Iron Age trading and power-centre of the Brigantes, the most important tribe in pre- Roman northern Britain. Some 4 miles long, the defences enclosed an area of 766 acres. A fine crest walk through trees and, today, excellent views across the sunlit surrounding countryside - (see extra).

Barnard Castle is much later, first built in the 11th century, but an important strategic site above the River Tees, probably from Roman times and before. The Castle went through many changes over the centuries and is now a ruin, but still impressive and far more extensive than we had thought. ( I had to shoot into the sun, hence the light is not quite right, but I was focusing on the bridge anyway.)


And it was still good to look down for a change!