Brace yourselves. There have been many mighty adventures in the past two weeks. You might read this post and immediately think, "Holy smokes, 2 weeks?! More like 2 months." That would be a valid response.
If you use your imagination and turn upside down, you will see the head of the Uffington White Horse. Yes, those could potentially be his teeth. And yes, those are sheep in the background.
And that curious hill in the background? Dragon's Mount, where St. George teleported from the Middle East to battle his dragon. Impressive.
Then we travelled over to Oxford to spend the afternoon.
And while in Oxford, how can you pass up going past Tolkien and Lewis's old stomping ground?
I even took a picture of myself next to a sweet sword that's part of the ground. I would have happily taken up the pilgrimage, but I didn't know what it was, and I didn't think I could fit the sword into my duffel bag.
Naturally we pilgrimaged on our own to Tolkien's grave. I mean, don't normal people congregate in graveyards?
"Speak Friend and Enter." If only the elves had heard about punctuation. Yew trees at probably a St. Edward's church.
The next day we went to St. Fagin's castle. Yeah, I said castle. Also, walking museum covering how people lived throughout all time in Britain.
Look at that ancient British Pigsty. Albert was coveting a bit.
After St. Fagin's we went to Tinkinswood. It's a quoit (or cromlech if you're inclined)
Then Albert and I laid down in the ancient cremation pit at the Tinkinswood quoit. I believe there might have been the remnants of some nettles in that pit.
And once you've seen one quoit, you have not seen them all. Albert's in the shadows here of St. Lythan's Quoit.
Followed by a nice visit to Old Beaupre Castle. And yes, that facade added in the Elizabethan period does follow Palladian rules in column placement.
Phew, two days down. Starting the third. Gloucester Cathedral! Yeah, I've walked where Emma Watson has walked (Scenes throughout HP were filmed here).
And look at what I found in a bakery in Gloucester. That's right, vanilla slice.
No rest for the weary. We left Gloucester and sauntered over to Kenilworth Castle, the first Royal Castle of our adventures in Britain.
And from Kenilworth we drove to Stratford-upon-Avon. You guessed it, Shakespeare's corpse is in that building. Nice door. I saw the grave.
And what does one do in Stratford? Why, watch a Shakespeare play at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
And eat a Cornish Pasty.
The next day we travelled over to Tutshill (saw J.K. Rowling's childhood home), and then ran across the bridge, effectively invading Wales, and then went to Chepstow Castle. You guessed it, this castle served as inspiration for Hogwarts.
More Chepstow I think.
Leaving Chepstow we went to Tintern Abbey. Yeah, they removed the ivy to preserve the structure, but I can still see it inspiring romantic poets ages ago.
No stopping yet. Raglan Castle. One of the largest Marcher Lord castles we've been to.
That last photo was from the bottom, but that's not enough. So we climbed the tallest tower to get a shot from above.
Another day, another dozen adventures. Avebury (in this photo), is the largest stone circle in Britain. You might think "Oh, the largest henge!" You would be right, but also wrong. You'd be thinking of the rocks, but the henge is the ditch and pile of dirt.
And look at this large man-made hill called Silbury Hill. Why would someone build a hill, you might ask? The answer is that no one knows. But it's made of chalk.
A short little bit away we went to West Kennet Longbarrow, the longest barrow in Britain. We invaded the ancient home of the dead and sang Welsh songs in the grave.
Hopping back in the car we zoomed over to Salisbury. Look at that impressive crossing tower on the cathedral (404 feet high! The tallest in Britain).
The natural next destination was Winchester, where Albert and I saw Edward I's reconstruction of the Round Table. Henry VIII painted it and put it on the wall here at Winchester's Great Hall because the legs were falling apart.
And Winchester's cathedral has a very nice West Side. However, the crossing tower is the most disappointing in all of Britain.
Ending the day at Stonehenge we took a picture in front of the gate.
And were watched constantly by these birds of ill omen.
Waking up quite early we drove the width of Britain to get to Kent. And were rewarded with this nice view of the White Cliffs of Dover. And then we saw France (Unimpressed).
But then we went to Dover Castle and explored the secret WWII tunnels (Impressed).
When in Kent, visit every cannon fort that Henry VIII built (that is still standing). Walmer Castle first.
And go to the nice flint beach.
And then Deal Castle. So cannon fort-y. Followed by a 5 hour drive home.
If you're tired now you should probably take a break. But we didn't. The following day we travelled over to Caerleon.
We saw the baths, the barracks, the demonstration about soldier life, and then the amphitheater.
Wow, what an extensive castle! It's only the largest in Wales (Caerphilly).
This was a shorter day and we ended it at Castell Coch (That's Welsh for Castle Coch). One day you should ask me to see pictures of the inside.
After the shorter Caerleon-Coch day, we travelled over to Bradford-on-Avon to see one of the only Saxon churches still in existence. Square and powerful, just like the Saxons.
Then Lacock Abbey. I'll give you three guesses what movies were partially filmed here.
Couldn't answer? Well here's a clue. A certain Dark Lord was regenerated in this ancient pot.
Still haven't guessed it? Clue #2: The parents of a certain boy who lived were murdered in this house by that Dark Lord before his magic turned against him.
But enough of Lacock. Let's go to Bath! Here's the Abbey. Do you know what those ladders represent? Hint: Those are angels ascending and descending. And it's an abbey.
What a hip Royal Crescent. I bet all the cool kids live there. Well, rich kids. You need to be willing to cough up from 4-5 million pounds sterling to afford one of the smaller houses here. No wonder Jane Austen only hung out in Bath for a couple years.
In your mind you are thinking, "What a nice ballroom!" Nope, it's the nicest tearoom you will ever be in. All those fancy Jane Austen dances and parties in Bath took place in this Assembly Hall. The ballroom is opposite this room through the Grand Octagon.
And while in Bath, see a giant Roman bath. I drank the water (It comes out of a spout at the end of the museum) because that is what was meant by going to Bath to "take the water." And here you were thinking they bathed in it.
That Thursday we hopped in the vehicle and set out for Cornwall. Naturally we stopped at Glastonbury Tor (and climbed it), one of the many British sights that can either drive you insane or make you a poet. The power of the Celtic deities is strong here.
Next stop, Tintagel Castle. I don't think I took any pictures of the ruins because I was so impressed by the cliffs.
I stand corrected. Look at those ruins.
But then again, look at those cliffs. And yes, contrary to advice given to me, my heels are over the edge of this cliff that drops precipitously into the ocean and sharp pointy rocks. Sometimes Albert and I live on the edge (get it?).
And then we descended to Merlin's cave. Which almost immediately turned into a "Flee from the tide coming in" moment.
If you're asking yourself why they cut the tops off of all the trees, I have no explanation. But this is Lanhydrock, one of the most impressive examples of a Georgian Manor.
Then on to St. Michael's Mount, an island at high tide, connected by a causeway at low tide. The tide had gone out by then so we could walk to the mount.
Finally and fittingly, we ended that day by going to Land's End, where the land quite literally ends.
There I discovered what could only be regarded as a living Rivendell. Although it's not a homely home.
Day 2 in Cornwall began with us sallying forth to Chun Castle. Like the Uffington Castle, this is a misnomer, it being the remains of an Iron Age hill fort. The gorse here was thick and pointy.
A short walk away we visited Chun Quoit. Such rockiness and precision. Isn't it cool how you can see the ocean from practically everywhere in Cornwall?
Then on to Men-an-Tol which holds the distinction of being the most manipulated neolithic stone ever. Apparently traversing through the hole will increase fertility.
Lanyon Quoit used to be at least twice as tall. In fact, you used to be able to ride a horse under it. However, lightning blasted one of the uprights and they just shortened everything else because that's how you get things done in Cornwall. You must have a quoit, and if you can't have the tallest, at least you can have one.
Tromping through a creepy, tangly copse of trees we visited an ancient Celtic chapel. Apparently congregations were not that large back then.
Not easily outdone, the Pagan folk claimed this tree and the nearby magical spring to compete with the ancient Christian site.
And this is Carn Euny, the best preserved Iron Age village in Britain. Look at those round houses. It was in constant occupancy for 900 years. So that means the USA just needs to be around for another 663 years to match this tiny village.
And no trip to Cornwall is complete without a trip to St. Ive's. Unfortunately, I'm not interested a whole ton in beaches, so I walked out of St. Ive's down the coast until I was completely alone.
And this was my view. Not bad.
And to close out the adventures of the past two weeks, here is a wonderful sign from St. Ive's that I noticed while eating Cornish Ice Cream made from Cornish Dairy. And this is not a funny sign. This is a valid and very important warning. Vicious and sneaky birds, those seagulls.
We'll be going on many more adventures this upcoming week, and then I'll be in Cardiff for two weeks studying Welsh. But after that the adventures continue...
