I feel a bit bad because I didn’t visit the birthplace of my ancestors in Tibberton. It was closer to Gloucester than where we were and it probably didn’t have any other redeeming features and we wanted to get cracking on with our Wales tour. You are probably relieved that I am not prattling on about my family history anyway. Instead I will find something else to prattle on about.
We scheduled a few stops of interest on our journey. First was Tintern Abbey.
What a glorious morning we had. The Abbey, like most other places, was only open to limited visitors who had booked online more than 24 hours in advance, however, no-one needed to pay to see the Abbey because it was wholly visible from all sides. We stopped in the car park for morning coffee and enjoyed the view as well as the sunshine. The Wye valley does look glorious. The Abbey story is similar to many other Abbeys. It was a Cistercian Abbey and was ruined by the Dissolution of Monasteries.
Next location was Chepstow. We passed the racecourse and parked close to the centre and the old but substantial ruined castle. I think we will see a few castles on our trip.
The interesting fact about the castle was that it was built by William Marshal who was the first knight of the realm to sign the Magna Carta. He was by all accounts a brave Knight who fought to defend Henry II, Richard I and John in various battles. The town was compact and had some nice old houses, especially going down to the riverside. We had lunch and moved on again.
This time to Caerleon. We are starting to feel more like we are in a Wales now. It is a small town near Newport that has a very interesting history. It’s Roman Amphitheatre is still quite visible.
The Romans fortified the town to fight off the Silures tribe. There is an old Roman Bath and a Museum here too.
Caerleon also has a castle. We couldn’t see much of it although the walls can be seen on other sides. The interesting thing is that according to Geoffrey de Monmouth (an 11th Century historian) the true location of Camelot and Alfred Lord Tennyson stayed here whilst he wrote stories of King Arthur that repopularised the myths in the Victorian Age.
Finally we moved on to our new CL. One that has electricity this time. It is in a small village north of Pontypool. We all should know what Pontypool is famous for? It’s Front Row of Graham Price, Bobby Windsor and Charlie Faulkner, who played 19 times together for Wales and also played for the British Lions in the 70’s. More importantly Max Boyce sung a song about them. Max Boyce was funny. I remember him telling stories and repeating with pride, “I was there”. He is worth a look up on YouTube. I warned you that I would find something else to prattle on about!
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