We spent a bit longer at Bletchley Park than anticipated, and it’s a fair hike to Judith's Madison's Barn in Newton, Lincolnshire, just east of Grantham. We arrive at dinner time and find it’s a delightful cottage not dissimilar to Thomas’ place that we’ve just left.
One question I posed to a couple of attendants at Bletchley Park was, did the Germans ever break Typex, the cryptographic system used by the Allies?
I didn’t get an authoritative answer, so had to consult the Internet:
German cryptanalysts examined it, recognised its strength, and abandoned the effort - leaving Allied high‑level communications secure throughout the war.
Essentially, Typex used five rotors chosen from a set of 10-14, giving a vastly larger keyspace than Enigma’s three rotors (later upgraded to four for the Naval Enigma). While the Allies cracking Enigma was significant, the Germans not cracking Typex was just as significant.
Our destination tomorrow is Woolsthorpe Manor, birthplace of Isaac Newton, arguably the greatest scientist that’s ever lived, though Albert Einstein is perhaps on a par. Through school, through Engineering school, and more recently through my STEM teaching, Newton’s laws of motion, actions of forces and gravitational theory have been absolutely fundamental. What he came up with in the 1600s is still highly relevant today, from building bridges to sending spaceships to Mars. I’ve been wanting to visit his birthplace (and also his lab when the black plague disrupted his Cambridge studies) for as long as I can remember.
Day 1 - Woolsthorpe Manor
Another perfect autumn day. There’s been some light rain overnight, but it’s cleared to mixed cloud and sunshine, and a comfortable 21 degrees. We’re booked in to the 10.30am guided tour, and it's an absolute treat, even for Pauline. Very little maths and science, but lots about Newton's birth, family, and upbringing.
From her teaching experience, Pauline speculates on whether Newton suffered from autism spectrum disorder, based on his intense focus, solitary habits, and difficulty with social interactions. Our guide tends to agree, but there's never been a firm diagnosis.
It's awe-inspiring standing in his room and looking at his desk:
Apparently an Adelaide physics professor was so overcome seeing this that he had to sit down for half an hour and just take in the moment.
The famous apple tree is still there. The original trunk blew down in a storm, but the base regrew, and the tree is still producing apples.
The story is that Newton was sitting under the apple tree in 1666. He saw an apple fall from the tree and began wondering:
Why do apples always fall straight down towards the centre of the earth? Why not sideways or upward?
This observation led him to connect the falling apple with the Moon’s orbit, inspiring the idea that the same force acts on both. Over time he developed the theory that gravitational force between two bodies is proportional to their masses divided by the square of the distance between them. Mind-blowing for the time, but Newton was quite modest about it.
He said later. “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”, referring in particular to Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler. It's a phrase I quote to my STEM students because it underpins the scientific method - new knowledge builds on prior knowledge. Evidence is key!
Back to Judith's Madison Barn, and Pauline whips up dinner. Our standard method of operation is that we buy ingredients at a supermarket and prepare dinner in-house around three nights out of four, and go out to dinner the other night. Or we might have a slap-up lunch. Depends a bit on the finances too - it's easy to spend pounds like dollars here, whereas in reality each pound is costing us $2.30. But hey, we're travelling, so try not to think about it too much.
Day 2 - north to the Pigsty
We're in no big hurry, so have a bit of a sleep in and check out of Madison's Barn on the dot of 10am. All we have to do today is get to the Bottom Pigsty at Fowl Green Farm House in Commondale, buried deep in the moors about 80km north of York. I'm debating whether the name should get a marketing award, but can't decide whether it should be in the "best" or "worst" category.
It's a three hour trip, and as usual we create over half a dozen waypoints to keep us off the major arterials. The little Yaris is nimble enough to cope with narrow country lanes without issue.
It's time for a flat white as we hit Messingham, and as usual a horde of cyclists (just gone from the photo) indicates the best spot.
As often happens, staff pick up on our non-local accents and try to guess where we're from. This typically results in 10 minutes of conversation as we describe our journey, and they either recount their time in NZ, or their desire to visit. I regret not bringing a bunch of Kahuimanu BnB business cards.
A forgettable journey? Far from it. We delight in passing through small villages off the beaten track, and also some huge wind and solar farms located on flat farmland around Goole, east of Leeds. Around 100MW all up. Good to see Britain embracing renewable energy on land as well as at sea, and idly speculate on the outrage if wind turbines sprang up in the middle of prime Waikato dairying land. At least we have the Tauhei solar farm near Te Aroha built and ramping up to full production, but the wind farm on the slopes of the Kaimais near Paeroa remains unconsented. Nimbyism is slowing down this one.
We arrive at Morrison's supermarket close to our destination and load up with supplies. We're 25 minutes on the way to our BnB, Pauline's driving, and my phone rings. It's Pauline. I end the call so we don't incur roaming charges, and figure it must be a random "handbag" dial as we went over a bump.
I fossick in Pauline's handbag for a phone which isn't there.
Shades of Antigonish:
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there!
He wasn't there again today,
I wish, I wish he'd go away!
I fossick again, every pocket, to find a phone which isn't there.
I ring Pauline on WhatsApp, and a lovely lady from Morrison's answers. "Oh yes, we have your phone. It was left at one of the self-checkout stations. You can pick it up from Customer Services".
An hour later a rather sheepish Pauline is driving through the exact same spot. But at least she has her phone - it could have been much worse. Our first "forgettable" moment.
We get to the Pigsty, and of course an obligatory pic for the grandkids.
It is perfectly fine, and we settle in for our four night stay. I just hope the people in the Upper Pigsty don't eat all the swill before it gets to us.
Judith has written us a great guest review on Airbnb. In a private note she says that a small suction cow with a slot mouth was left behind in the bathroom. Oh no! I bought that cow in Vietnam 20 years ago and it has huge sentimental value. It's accompanied me on every trip to keep my toothbrush off dirty surfaces, and I still use it to this day. But unfortunately not today. I ask Judith to ditch it - I can hardly ask her to post it on to some unknown address. Now I just hope I don't pick up some horrible disease for the remainder of our travels due to a dirty toothbrush.
I look sheepishly at Pauline, and we reflect on our second forgettable moment of the day. By the time you get to our age you don't make mistakes like this, or is it a sign of an increasing frequency of senior moments?
But hey, we're in Yorkshire for four days. Lots to see and do. We'll but this behind us. Stay tuned.
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