Raglan Castle and Symonds Yat

Had a very pleasant meal out last night at The Farmers Boy at Longhope only a mile or so from where we are staying. The choice for T should have been more extensive but as with so many places that say they offer gluten free options there was out of stocks! Nonetheless there was enough left on the menu for Tara to decide on a warm salad & I had belly pork followed by ice cream for Tara and a 'double' pie for me. Half rhubarb, half apple, also half was a crumble topping and half was a pastry topping. All very good.

  The weather was kind to us today so we set out for another castle ( you can never visit too many castles.... I think), this time it was Raglan, just into South Wales. I think there's an old Music Hall song about the castles that 'Enry knocked abart abit' meaning Henry VIII, though the two very different castles we've visited this week were knocked about abit by the Parliamentary army of the English Civil War ( one of my favorite historical periods) long after 'Enry! 
Raglan is another splendid castle that still has alot left so you can see the grandeur it would have once had. In fact this one was very well appointed historically, its owner chose the wrong side in the English Civil War only to have it fall about his ears!
Finished our day at Symonds Yat with spectacular views down on to the |River Wye in the valley below.

Day out

It was a really nice day weather wise today, the best of our week away in fact. We visited a village called Wickwar in Gloucestershire. As you know  I collect medals amongst other things, and I have in my collection a 1914/15 Star to a Lance Corporal of the 3rd Bn,Grenadier Guards. Sadly he was killed in action in October 1915. He was from Wickwar. The War Memorial outside the church was odd as it didn't have any names on at all, in the church porch was a memorial stone with all the names on including my man Nathaniel George Toms. He was killed in an attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt, a very strongly held fortification during the Battle of Loos,he has no known grave. He was only 23 years old, got married in May of 1915 and went to France in July and killed on 6th October.
 Every Remembrance Sunday all the names of the fallen are read out in the church which I think is a nice touch. There's another memorial in the village hall that we didn't see and he's remembered on the Loos War Memorial in France.
Tried to find where he and his family lived in the High Street  but was unable unfortunately.  A few years ago Medal News magazine published research I'd done into L/Cpl Toms, I'll have to post it as a blog another time. Wickwar does have a very good tea rooms that we had lunch in, couldn't take Ida inside unfortunately so sat outside.

Memorial stone in the church porch

The village recently had a scarecrow competition, didn't realize these were at first!

  We drove on to a really interesting place in Wales called Caerwent known in Roman times as Venta Silurum. There's alot of Roman structure and walls left, the outer town wall  which was quite spectacular as well as alot of the footprints of buildings including shops and a farm house within the town. The church as two large pieces of inscribed stone, the bigger one a statue plinth of  Governor Tiberius Paulinus , the smaller an altar block dedicated to the god Mars still with an indent on top for a flame. It's well worth a visit, its all well signposted, I had a kick around in any molehills I saw  especially around the wall but found nothing. Time Team excavated in 2008 and discovered more buildings and a  penknife handle depicting two Gladiators. There is still much that hasn't been excavated  at all so there could be more goodies to find!

Plinth and altar stone in the church

Pleasant walk

Went off with Ida today to walk in the Forest of Dean. Quite a climb to start with but it eventually evened out by this time time we were in the forest proper. There's wild Boar round here and I passed a few signs that stated 'Feral Boar,' unfortunately didn't see any, I expect they are far too wiley for that,but did find what I think are boar tracks and could definitely hear them.
Plodded along with Ida, who was enjoying all the sniffs.  I wasn't absolutely sure what track I was on, just the general direction. Turns out I was pretty accurate as I was able to ask a dog walker once we'd joined civilization again. I was of course hoping to find a pub for a beer  mid walk, the dog walker only knew of one & that was off where I was going so it was a 'dry' walk. Only had one brief stop. I had a slice of cake (left for us by the cottage owner which was nice) and a couple of treats for Ida that we'd been given at Goodrich castle yesterday.
The forest paths were a mixture of close woodland with various types of tree to wider paths with fields with hedges Heard some raptors overhead, couldn't identify them though. Some of the paths were quite muddy, not surprising  as the rain has been torrential. Still very pleasant walking though.
All went well and we were near the final descent back into Mitcheldean when we came to a field  of cows. Mixture of cows and bulls to be exact. Now I'll happily walk across a field a of cows but there was what I think was a youngster who came galloping over and in fact kept with us very keenly as we walked round the edge, then the old bull looked up menacingly at us & I decided it probably wasn't such a good idea. Tried to go round the field but that proved impossible, looked at going across the field with the bulls and cows again and did climb over the style but got such a death stare off the bull thought better of it! Could have back tracked but seemed a shame to do that so tried to cut across with the intention of then finding a way down.  We were able to follow some styles so it was a path,there was some strange monoliths on the hilltop near us, couldn't quite get to them, one was like the stones on Easter Island. Many of the styles round here just aren't made for dogs, so four times I had to lift Ida over. She doesn't like being lifted and was no help when I had to do it, I was very conscious of getting all four legs over the style before I could put her down & she's no lightweight! She saw a deer and almost bolted but she's very good and didn't move when I told her to stay. Climbed one style that pretty well crumbled as we climbed over it only to find thicket, brambles and nettles everywhere and no clear path. Stumbled around there until I decided we were getting nowhere fast. When we climbed back over the style we'd climbed across I noticed a sign that stated it was private. Bugger! Pushed on anyway and eventually got out onto the road I thought we'd find. There was a really good view point on one of the bends that looked towards the Severn Estuary, a great view. The road walk down the hill was bit of a sod. Bloody great articulated lorries were belting up the hill passing what seemed like inches from us. I should probably  have braved the field with cows and bulls! Got back OK, we were out just under four hours & I think we'd only walked about 4 miles which is slow but alot of the beginning and middle were uphill. Enjoyed it, as did Ida, I think!

Strange monoliths on a hilltop

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Looking towards the Severn Estuary

Probable Boar tracks

  

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Forest of Dean

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Forest of Dean: Got a cottage on the edge of the Forest of Dean for a week, not an area either of us know so thought it might be nice. Lovely little cottag...

Forest of Dean

Got a cottage on the edge of the Forest of Dean for a week, not an area either of us know so thought it might be nice. Lovely little cottage with a very pretty garden that we hope to be able to sit in,its all enclosed so Ida can wander round as she likes. Although the cottage is excellent  the 'village' of Mitcheldean  is abit odd. Lots of new (ish) builds and quite a few businesses closed down, including two pubs. The two remaining pubs don't do food which is disappointing, we went to one last night , The White Horse, because they  had a singer appearing there called Stuart Earle. He was very good. Lots of his own compositions and a couple of covers including  'The Seeker' by The Who and 'Running Down the Dream' by Tom Petty. I'd say I'm not a big Who fan but the more I hear of their stuff the more tracks I seem to like, I may have to invest in a CD of theirs!
  The pub however was like the village, run down & abit tatty. The barmaid  cleared the table we sat at and wiped it down, though it was just as sticky when she'd finished! Beer was fine but it was London Pride or Doom Bar! Nothing remotely local, the other pub should be better as its the tap room of a local brewery so the beer will be good, that's not open every day though. 
Weather started well today but soon clouded over with intermittent heavy showers, but it didn't stop us going out. Years of standing either getting wet,cold or windswept on football side lines has meant the weather never stops us doing anything. Anyway, we went to Goodrich Castle, about six miles from where we're staying. It's one of the best castles we've been to in a long time. There's enough of it left to get a real feel for the grandeur and dominance this castle had. Built in 1101 it was on the site of an older structure. The Keep, small by Medieval standards has the same footprint as a Roman watch tower. The audio tours are always good in places like this,though it got a little disjointed as we kept diving for shelter when it started raining again. The castle had quite a peaceful existence up until the English Civil War when it was initially held by Parliament  then Royalists under the command of the High Sheriff of Herefordshire Sir Henry Lingen occupied by them from 1643. On the 10th March 1646 led by Colonel John Birch Parliamentary forces laid siege to the castle and using mortars such as 'Mons Meg' beat the garrison into submission. it was left pretty well uninhabitable (though Birch helped by stripping the lead from the roofs and doing his best to make sure it couldn't be used defensibly again) It was never rebuilt. 'Mons Meg' still resides in the castle and is a formidable looking weapon.It must have terrified the Royalist garrison as it knocked great chunks off the castle!
While we were looking round we spotted historian, archaeologist and broadcaster Professor Mark Horton there as a normal punter it appeared !   We got round most of the castles audio tour but by now getting cold and wet we adjourned to the coffee shop. The staff at this castle were all very friendly, and most it seemed gave Ida a treat! A good day out.

Garden of our cottage for the week. 

Evening drinky poo's

Dinner at The Man of Ross in Ross onWye

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Millennium Window installed in 2000 made from 15th century glass.  

Mons Meg

    

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Sabaton new album

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Sabaton new album: Sabaton are a band I first heard a couple of years ago and have a few of their albums ( this is their ninth studio album). Their albums are...

Sabaton new album

Sabaton are a band I first heard a couple of years ago and have a few of their albums ( this is their ninth studio album). Their albums are all about wars and conflicts ranging from the military tactician of ancient  China General Su Tsu  to an album called Last Stand with tracks about Rorke's Drift and Bannockburn with others besides, they also have an album about their native Sweden detailing the Swedish  Empire of the 17th century.
Their music is loud, energetic and tells stories. With my obsession with all things World War One to hear their new album was entitled 'The Great War' was immediately of interest to me. It came out on the 19th July but my copy from Amazon arrived on the 18th!
It has eleven tracks covering many aspects and counties involved in the war which I thought was a good all encompassing approach.
The first track 'The Future of War' is about the advent of the tank (the first major action involving tanks wasn't until 1917 so the tracks aren't in any chronological order) , its a good opener for the album.
Next we have 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' which goes east to cover Lieut TE Lawrence's exploits in Arabia another rattling good track that also mentions how the Arabs were betrayed  once they had helped win the peace. Track 3 is called '82nd All The Way' and tells the story of Sergeant Alvin York from Tennessee. ( a great film called Sergeant York starring Gary Cooper is one to catch if you haven't seen it) York, a much decorated soldier took the surrender of 132 German soldiers! The guitar solo by Chris Rorland in this is particularly good.
Track four is about an action on the Eastern front when the Germans gassed Russian troops to take Osowiec fortress in NE Poland. The track is called 'The attack of the dead men.' This is from the German reaction when they stormed the fortress after the gas attack. The few survivors appeared with bloody rags to their mouths due to the gas, the Germans took flight because it was as if the dead were attacking them. The incident is known by the title of the track. It's a good one and tells the story succinctly.
Track five is the only track on the album that I take issue with, entitled 'Devil Dogs' is about the US Marine Corps attack on Belleau Wood in June 1918. The song keeps on referring to the troops as the USA Marines, they were never called that and such a schoolboy error I find quite irritating. They have always been the US Marine Corps. Rant over.
Strangely enough the track  that annoyed me the most is followed by my favourite track called 'The Red Baron.' It of course refers to Baron Manfred Von Richthofen a brilliant German fighter ace. He was eventually shot down over Northern France and buried with full military honours by the Australians. A rattling good track with a great machine gun type score. By far my fave of the album.
'The Great War' features the Third Battle of Ypres, better known as Passchendaele of 1917, another good track that in some ways sounds like one or two of the others, not that I'm complaining!
'A ghost in the trenches' is about the Canadian Frances Pegahmagabow credited with killing 378 Germans and capturing a further 300, how he didn't get the Victoria Cross I do not know, the lyrics of the next track 'Fields of Verdun' do perhaps leave a little to be desired. The rhyming of  Verdun, begun, run, son, one and gun are going down the road of Eurovision!
'The war to end all wars' deals with Armistice and just how many were killed. It beggars believe. 'In Flanders Fields' ends the album, its a short track sung by a choir so has little relation to Sabaton, it ends the albums very quietly and is a bit naff if you ask me. Sabaton aren't a quiet band, I get what there're doing, it's all rather sombre which I understand but I just think they could have finished the album with a bang and it goes out on bit of a whimper which is a shame.
On balance its a good album. I like Sabaton so they'd have to really cock up to get a thumbs down from me, it does sound like a lot of their other albums but that isn't nessaccarily a bad thing!