Clovelly & Helpful Labels

A picturesque Travel destination:
The Harbor of Clovelly, England

Blogger offers a useful search feature. This is called Labels. It allows you to assign different labels to a blog, and list those labels as a way to help readers find the posts that they really want to read. Formerly, I placed all the labels into one category, which I somewhat imaginatively called Labels, and located it on the left sidebar. That list grew over time, until it seemed to cover any number of topics.

I don't know how many readers search my blog, but two of the most easily definable categories are Authors and Travel. So I've split my labels into those two categories. To look up entries regarding a particular author, scroll down the blog until you see that author's name listed on the left-hand side. Click the name, and it will take you to all entries related to the author.

Another type of post that people really respond to are my travel articles. So if you're interested in researching a future vacation, or just wish to revisit articles I've written about particular places, you can find those listed in the Travel section, located in the left sidebar, directly beneath the Author section. 

If, for example, the above photo from Clovelly intrigued you, you could locate Clovelly in the Travel section, click it, and read all my posts about Clovelly. When you read those posts, you will notice that I visited Clovelly because the village was mentioned in Charles Kingsley's novel Westward Ho! So if you enjoyed those articles on Clovelly, you could click on Charles Kingsley in the Author section, and Blogger will bring up all the articles in which I cited Charles Kingsley. Not only would you learn more about this important nineteenth century novel, but you would also read posts from other places mentioned in the novel, such as Bideford and Appledore.

Alternatively, if you have nothing to do all day, you could just click on England, located in the Travel section, and read all my posts on all the places I've visited in England. Doesn't that sound like a pleasant way to spend the day?

Hopefully, this reorganization of The Dragon's Cache will help you locate any previous post you would like to read, or research places you would like to visit. 

Dragon Dave

Humor & Whimsy in Clovelly

The picturesque English village of Clovelly, along the northwest coast of Devon, is a tourist trap in the best sense of the word. Although they provide a parking lot, and you can park as long as you want for free (Yes, Parking really is totally free!), you then enter a visitor center where you must pay an admission fee. Along with a large gift shop, the visitor center boasts a cafe where you can buy lunch, drinks, or enjoy your afternoon tea. The best part of the visitor's center is a movie room, which is decorated on all sides by human-sized dioramas illustrating all aspects of life in the village. Then the room darkens, and the movie tells you more about Clovelly's past and present.

Upon leaving the visitor center, you walk down the main (Or should I say only?) street of Clovelly. It's a steep descent, and you need to watch your footing on the cobblestones. But at least you don't have to worry about cars, trucks, motorcycles, or even bicycles passing you. Unlike most modern English towns and villages, Clovelly is still ruled by the family that has lived for generations in the nearby manor. They may not be the Cary family, as depicted in Charles Kingsley's novel Westward Ho! But they've decided to preserve the historic appeal of their village by ruling that only humans and animals shall walk the streets (Sorry, the street) of Clovelly.

I wonder how they feel about pogo sticks?

Sleds like this are a common sight. They help shop owners, residents, and donkey's carry items up and down the hill, and help the milk man deliver everyone's daily pint, yogurt, and clotted cream.

Yum, clotted cream...

Of course, that doesn't mean that folks in Clovelly don't get tired of walking up and down that hill. (Especially after having tea and scones with that delicious clotted cream). Visitors likewise revel in making those steep descents and ascents. So local businesses thoughtfully provide visitors with no end of shops offering homemade fudge, ice cream, and all other sorts of goodies. I'm not sure if all that refreshment makes walking easier or more difficult, but it's their attempt to help keep everyone's spirits up. 

In Clovelly, there's no distinction between residents and visitors. It's everyone against the hill. So residents decorate the fronts of their homes with flowers, whimsical displays, and humorous mottos. 

Signs such as these read:

Please: No Singing, No Dancing, No Swearing.
This is a respectable house.

Happiness is being owned by a cat.

I can only please one person per day.
Today's not your day,
and tomorrow doesn't look good either.

After all, complaining just drags every one's spirits down, right? And no one ever wants to get dragged down, especially not in historic, picturesque, clinging-to-the-side-of-the-hill Clovelly.

Dragon Dave

Pursuing Jesuits with Charles Kingsley at Clovelly

In Charles Kingsley's Elizabethan Era novel Westward Ho!, one person Amyas Leigh distrusts is his cousin Eustace. This has less to do with the fact that Eustace and his father are Catholic, than it does with the fact that Eustace often lies to him. One thing that Amyas, his brother Frank, and his friend Will Cary discover is that Eustace is secretly working with the Jesuits. One evening, the brothers follow him, and discover Eustace meeting two Jesuits who have landed in the dead of night along the shores of Clovelly, a village a short ride from Bideford, along the northwest coast of Devon in England.

While Queen Elizabeth allowed her subjects to practice Catholicism, she forbade missionary activity is forbidden. So the Jesuits lie about their names and identities when they sneak into England. They also hide the tracts they have smuggled in. 

Through Amyas' life and adventures, Charles Kingsley links religion with nationalism. The Pope has blessed Spain's efforts to invade England, depose Queen Elizabeth, and forcibly convert all British citizens back to the true faith. Given that, it's not difficult to understand how most English citizens of this era might have viewed their fellow Catholics as disloyal and unpatriotic. 

Tension and fighting between England and Spain will ultimately culminate in the Spanish Armada. Compared to that massive attack on England, the nighttime landing at Clovelly at first seems an entertaining but insignificant event in Kingsley's novel. But the discovery of the Jesuit landing, and the resultant fight, will alter the course of Eustace's life, and by extension, significantly affect Rose's future. Before, he may have wrestled over his love for Rose (Yes, he loves the Rose of Torridge as well) and his yearning to join the Jesuits. The encounter, and resultant fight, force Eustace down a road leading to heartache, treason, and death.

It's easy to walk along this rugged, forested coast, and imagine Amyas, Frank, and Will Cary defending England against a small incursion of tract-carrying Jesuits.

So thick are the trees, bushes, and flowers outside Clovelly that, at times, all sight of the coast and the ocean disappears. Beware the temptation to venture off the path though, or you might find yourself unexpectedly falling into the sea. If that happens, you'd better hope a few of those evangelical Jesuits are trying to beach their little boat along this rugged Devon shoreline. Sometimes, we all need a helping hand, even if that hand belongs to a tract-wielding Jesuit.

Along the coastal walk, one place to stop and rest is this heaven-sent gazebo.

There, beneath angels' wings, you can rest, eat your lunch, and imagine pursuing Jesuits with Amyas, Frank, and Will. 

Or you can follow my wife's lead, and take a moment to sketch some of the beauty surrounding you, amid a landscape little changed since Charles Kingsley wrote Westward Ho! in 1855.

Dragon Dave