I’m attempting to cycle and paint my way around the coast of Britain. In this chapter (episode 20) I recount these stories
Railway bridge at Newbiggin
Alongside the railway at Ravenglass
Beckermet chapel and a brother Martin moment.
St Bees Man
First glimpse of Scotland at Workington
King Edward I at Brough by Sands
Carlisle Cathedral and the memorial to Woodbine Willie
The story of attempting to cycle around the coast of Britain #thecyclingartist #roundbritain
Enjoy! Share and Comment on social media https://linktr.ee/TimmyMallett
oh this is a nice spot right right by the railway line okay Laura and I have just come down this track here and we're heading across to the other side a bit of water in the way but just a moment there's a public Bridal way yeah okay there's quite a lot of it underwater Okay who wants to swim all right unusually this is a psychopath it's a very narrow cycle path and I'm going hang on it's coming to the end Plumbing here whoops just a minute around the corner wow now that is something else a little cycle path attached to the Railway Bridge all right coming over a Railway Bridge yep precariously get it just this is unbelievably utterly beautiful in the shadow of sellerfield nuclear site is a graveyard full of bluebells Oh and next to it these two ancient Celtic crosses and then there's this little church the church of Saint Bridget I love this there's been a religious institution here but donkey's years it was an old Monastery here for many years and then this very plain slate roofed church was put up in the 19th century it's only used three times a year now but when I look around I can see that it's got these extraordinary gravestones so it's been well loved yeah look there's a walkway of buttercups lovely there's a little door here let's have a look oh it's open good hands then we've got this sandstone altar wow this looks like the spot for a Martin Manor name tag hmm oh here's something unusual of the pews is a little step and that is to put your feet on but if it's cold you put hot rocks or coals underneath there and keep your feet warm there you go Central Heating in a little old church amazing isn't it there's the spot all right Martin you and me my bubba together in Saint Bridget's church beckerton Cumbria now this is Saint B's Priory it's a very special place because here in the 1980s they dug up Saint Bee's man you know the king of the car park story with King Richard you know the first two hours are free 500 years later well here we go this is even older back in 1367 a fella was buried funky area see where those bricks are there that outlines where exactly Saint B's man was found now for entrance ways you can't get much more spectacular than this with this lovely Stone Arch and that door wow I want a door that inside this is a real wow factor I like this now let's have a look at our Saint Bee's man Anthony delacy and he's found wrapped up in a lead coffin amazing he died in Lithuania and he was on Crusade and they brought him home in a lead coffin which would have weighed 70 80 kilos on top of his weight so you're talking about 150 kilos they loaded onto a ship brought it across the country this is what he looked like terrifying imagine opening the coffin and finding that oh they've got a lovely exhibition here to show you what happened when they opened up the hole outside and discovered this landed coffin and there's this body inside with the skin and tissues and all the organs and everything and because of that they were able to do a postmortem and to identify him exactly work out how long it taken him for to die what had killed him crikey what an extraordinary Discovery Saint Bee's man what a fella this is a nice Street Main Street in Saint beans nothing unusual about this apart from this house Nursery Cottage it's got something unusual on the side of the wall see that you know what that is it's a Boggle wrestling place for witches to park their Broomsticks so if you're a witch coming to some bees headphone Nursery Cottage in part your broomstick just up there was wind turbines that means it's windy yep then I just come Round the Corner and I've got one of those moments those special moments because I'm looking across the water here now we've got sheep in the fields and then we've got white caps on the water and beyond that we've got the hills of Scotland yep it's my first glimpse of Scotland I'm probably about 40 to 50 miles from the border with Scotland at Gretna so I'm a couple of days away from being over there but I'm looking at it and it makes my heart sing I realize I've done 2 000 miles from Paddington Station this is one of the most magnificent stretches of coastline and along right by the sea on a big wide platform here with the sound of the Waves crashing a view across the soulway first to the mountains of Galloway all along this Coast here there are these benches named after various Roman emperors in fact you've got the whole history of Roman Britain on benches between maryport and Allenby Isn't that cool here I am around the corner of Cumbria heading towards Scotland over the other side of the Solway first yay happy little Mallet reach our potential yes these little feet pedaling away has what's got me here amazing love it so thrilled it's a little strange to come across a statue of a king on this route just on Hadrian's Wall but this is King Edward the first famous Hammer of the Scots who died here in brat by sands on the 7th of July 1307 7. yeah it's one of those lovely little numerical coincidences that is always remembered he died at the age of 68 3 he'd been to see the monks a couple of days before at Lana cost probably to ask if they had any Imodium but he was getting considerably more painful and really suffering and when he was found dead in his least kept it quiet from the troops they didn't want to alarm anybody or alert the Scots in case it was a surprise attack and he was of course succeeded by Edward II his son the one who famously came to a Grizzly end with a red hot poker but that's another story this is Edward the first there's been a church in Breath by Sands for over 900 years and if it looks a bit like a castle with those turrets on top well it was used as defense especially when cross-borderlands you bring your wife and family and sheep and Cat heard them inside and when Edward Long Shanks because he was six foot two die they brought him to Lion state in here so they came through this tiny little door here oh down the steps and brought him in here so in a tiny little Parish Church like this they'd have his beer laid out here and people would come to pay their respects Edward the second came exactly and then this is the little defensive area here you see the gate it's where you'd hide everybody in this tiny little area here climb up the stairs to look out and make sure there's it was safe to get out it's weird isn't it tiny little thing to think that a Parish Church like this has had a king lying in stage in here is amazing one of the things I like about being inside Carlisle Cathedral is they've shortened it it's a tiny little uh Nave here it's like we've been cut in half but this end it has got a little surprise look at that roof whoa that's a starry starry roof I'm impressed with that but the thing I absolutely love and adore is a very modest Memorial somebody I think is an utter hero and here's the story during the first world war clergy were brought in to be chaplains to the soldiers Theodore Bailey Hardy was Chaplin to the king but he was also a chaplain in the first world war and he's known as Woodbine Willy and he would go out into the trenches and into no man's land with a packet of and he'd go and find the wounded soldiers and he would say it's only me brought you a city and he would then give him a blessing as these poor troops Lay Dying in the no man's land and for this he was awarded the MC the military cross and the Victoria Cross wow the chaplain and he died October the 18th 1918. just as before the end of the first world war and his memorial here reminds me that you know this bloke was an utter utter hero [Music]