Walks Round Harrogate

                                          ( Harrogate to Knaresborough )

From Harrogate to Knaresborough is a walk that well repays,
There is much to give one pleasure through its very lovely ways ;
By the high road via Starbeck, or the footpath, which you will,
There you're finding spots of beauty in the valley and the hill.
Here are woods to tempt the wanderer, there, the pleasant waterway,
Rock and Castle, Bridge and Turret, what a bounteous display,
Full of history are its places, full of interest the show,
Breathing tales of War and fighting in the centuries ago.
Cromwell's doughty band of warriors, where such beauty now appears,
Met in conflict fierce and devilish with Charles's Cavaliers,
And it's cause for reverent gratitude to think the lovely place
Is a scene of peace and quiet in the present year of grace.
There's a Dropping Well at Knaresborough by the Mother Shipton Inn,
There's a cave (they say her birthplace) that your interest will win,
There's St. Robert's Cave on further, midst its shadows, you must know,
Eugene Aram hid his victim, whom he murdered, years ago ;
You should see St. Robert's Chapel which is hollowed from the Cliff,
At its entrance is a doughty knight in armour, standing stiff,
Near the Chapel is Fort Montague that's hewn out of the rock,
From its height of wondrous beauty it is ever taking stock.
Pressing forward on your journey, the old Manor House you see,
Many gabled, finely panelled, as a Manor House should be,
There is romance in this building, as Historians know well,
And some stories we could learn of if its walls could only tell.
Wander on, and pass through Plompton, rock and lake and wood abound,
Everywhere the traveller gazes there a beauty spot is found,
Till, but very little further on, the tired but lucky one
Reaches Knaresborough and pauses, for the happy journey's done.
What a blessing that such beauty spots in Yorkshire charm the eye,
What a feast, a wealth of colour, to the traveller passing by,
We are grateful that such country, which our feet in reverence touch,
Is a part of dear old England, and the land we love so much.