Another day, another 300+ miles in the car and another set of vivid memories to store away.
Yesterday we headed north towards Birmingham following a very meandering trail that started in Oxfordshire with a visit to the Uffington White Horse (seen here in a pic on the internet because I could not get a good shot
http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/uff/uffair.jpg).
This journey took us initially over a rise and into a sudden change of scenery from forested to open plains - huge open plains in fact with large tracts of unfenced agricultural land broken here and there by the odd hedge but otherwise open for 100s of acres. It was such a sudden change from the small, fenced in and cluttered countryside that existed on the approaching slope of the rise that it quite took my breath away. As we drove into it I also discovered that we were driving through an area known as The Valley of the Racehorse. Lots of very schmick looking facilities to ogle as I drove through this area as you might imagine. Not so many horses to see though as it was still quite cold and most would have been in their stable complexes at that time in the morning. The GPS guided us through another series of interestingly dangerous roads until pointing us up a steep hill to the right. Unfortunately there was a sign saying "not suitable for motorised traffic" so we drove on a bit until we came to another unsignposted road and headed up it. We found a carpark and a series of signs that pointed to the Uffington Castle, White Horse and Dragon Hill. So, it being nice and sunny out we got out of the car and headed off on a trek to see what we could see.
It was beautiful and warm in that nice sheltered car park so I was very much looking forward to the walk. The warmth was deceiving however as we found when we climbed the 20 odd steps up from the carpark and onto the bald, open hillside over which flowed, with surprising vigour, a wind that I think must have come straight from the Russian steppes.
Oh. My. God! I would wager the wind had a chill factor of -10 degrees and we had to walk directly into it to get where we wanted to go. We made it maybe half a mile before we were so miserable that we decided we didn't really need to go all the way to these locations as we could see them from here. Hence the lack of any good photos. It is now 24 hours post fact and my hands are STILL like ice. Brrr.
Anyway, our next stop was very close by - in theory. We drove on following some small signs and ended up on a dirt track between two hedgerows with nowhere to turn around so we had no choice but to continue as the track got nastier and nastier. I hoped we had no oncoming traffic because there was no way we could turn anywhere or allow someone to pass. Furtunately no one else was mad enough to attempt driving along that way or even be up in the mountains on this freezing day so we got where we were going.
The place we were looking for was Wayland's Smithy which is a 5000 year old burial mound that is also the legendary habitation of the Saxon god of metal working, Wayland. Here's a website about this place if you are interested.
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/oxfordshire/featured-sites/waylands-smithy.htmlHere's a pic of me in the entrance of the barrow - I did not see any evidence of barrow wights btw
And here's the smithy itself.
It's a lovely location and I noted many shod hoof prints on the trails surrounding the area so it looks like a well used hacking trail. I must remember that for future visits to England as I'd love to ride this area some day.
We left Wayland behind and headed next to Cirenchester to look at a Roman amphitheatre. That was a bit of a fizzer really as Cirenchester doesn't appear to take it's history very seriously. The best that can be said is that they haven't yet built over the amphitheatre so its earthworks are still there but it's part of a space where people walk, ride bikes, walk dogs etc and is not protected at all, surrounded on one side by a hospital and on the others by housing developments. And no signage of any sort. Shame really but it's their city I guess
From here we headed to a place called Longford near Coventry. The reason for this visit was solely for personal historic interest. It seems my great, great, great, great grandparents used to be canal boaters and the publicans of an Inn there in 1815 so my Mum wanted me to go and see if it still existed and get some photos. Short answer, yes, the Inn is still there and I got pics of it and the canal. I also had a half pint of Guinness there as it seemed appropriate. Here is The Longford Engine:
and a canal boat going under the bridge next to the inn
We sat on the edge of the canal and ate fish and chips in the sun. It was cold but very pleasant.
By now it was 2pm and we headed south to Kenilworth castle and spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around its impressiveness. Here are some pics of that.
and this is probably the pic of most interest as it is the old castle stables (now converted to tea rooms). I WANT! In its day it had two stories with stables below and hay loft and grooms quarters above. But is it a gorgeous interior with the floor on the second story removed leaving just the massive timber vaulting.
Today I'm not going anywhere as I need a break from travelling around and need to get some admin work done associated with our going home. All being well I expect to be back on the road again tomorrow. I tell you what I am making huge use of my membership of English Heritage! One annual fee and I get into all these places free. I've already got well more than the membership fee back in savings
