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| Horningsham Church across the fields |
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A fine dry weekend provided the ideal opportunity to swap the wellies for walking boots and get out for a decent walk on the downs. The walk I chose was from the pretty village of Kingston Deverill in Wiltshire over Cold Kitchen and Brimsdown Hills to reach the attractive estate village of Horningsham and the magnificent viewpoint of 'Heaven's Gate'. Heaven's Gate gives a stunning view down onto Longleat House and its grounds. My daughter Heather kept me company as well as Phoebe our springer spaniel. The first spell of fine weather brought out numerous walkers, all relieved that the wind and rains have abated and everyone we met was in very high spirits.
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| Llandovery Castle |
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Wednesday saw me heading over the Severn bridge to visit our other daughter, Rebecca in West Wales. I took the scenic route through the Brecon Beacons National Park and stopped to have a look at Llandovery. Llandovery is the gateway to 'Kite Country'. The red kite was saved from extinction by a reintroduction programme in the wild area of mid Wales north of Llandovery and these beautiful birds of prey are now incredibly common. There is a very atmospheric castle ruin at Llandovery, a motte and bailey construction built around 1116.
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| The Harbourmaster Hotel, Aberaeron |
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| Aberaeron Inner Harbour |
The reasons for the trip to Wales were threefold. Firstly visit our daughter, secondly find a suitable base to organise some of our walking holidays on the magnificent coast of Ceredigion and thirdly visit the exhibition of the four 'iconic ancient books of Wales' at the National Library in Aberystwyth.
I had hoped that the coastal village of Aberaeron would make a suitable base for one of our tours and it certainly did not disappoint. It goes straight into my 'special places' file. A quick stop for coffee and cake at the Harbourmaster hotel in Aberaeron and then on to Aberystwyth to see the ancient books. For those with an interest in dark age history the books were; The Book of Taliesyn, The Red Book of Hergest, The Black Book of Carmarthen and the Book of Aneirin. These books predate the first printing press by centuries and were hand written by monks. Very few people were able to read these books (not even the aristocracy) so back in the days when they were written they would have been given an almost mystical status. I always enjoy being in this part of West Wales, you hear very little English spoken which serves to underline the fact that you really are experiencing another culture.
A four hundred mile round trip is a big day out, but I felt quite uplifted by all the visible history in West Wales. I must confess that I did allow myself to feel just a little smug after the rugby result on Sunday, though.
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