August Bank Holiday - the last break before Christmas

so that's four months straight for us Brits!

Yep, whilst April / May have an abundance alongside December and January, apparently we have nothing to celebrate for a full third of the year!

Anyhoo, to catch up a bit. Monday was indeed the Bank Holiday hereabouts and with it expected to be a nice day i mooted a day excursion, Aunty Bev suggested a trip to Raglan Castle over the water in Monmouthshire. It was somewhere neither of us had visited, when i tried five years ago it was closed due to the pandemic. And so that's what we did.

I'm a sucker for a castle, Raglan is a very nice example, in constant use latterly as a country house until Cromwell decided to sleight it after the Civil War in 1648. Despite that damage and the ravages of time, what remains is quite impressive and well worth a visit. Monday the place was heaving, they had a 'History of Warfare' event on with re-enactors giving demonstrations of archery, knightly combat, Civil War pikemanship and more as well as more static stuff covering the Victorian era and C20th soldiering. It was a great day out and much enjoyed, a cool beverage along the road in Monmouth before we headed back rounded out the day wonderfully.

Tuesday ended up being a shorter ride than i had planned, another 'explore Bath' ride of 56km along with tea and bacon sarnie revealed more of hidden Aquae Sulis, this time on the steep hillside north of the city centre.

And so to today, Aunty Bev is visiting family in Cardiff so i'm hitching a ride with Foxy to get in a ride and hopefully take in some more archaeology i've long had on my to do list! Full report at the weekend. Its a bit cooler with a bit of light mizzle this morning but after lunch it should be bright and sunny. I'm sure the folk up in North Yorkshire would welcome even this amount of wet at the moment, the 'wild fires' of two weeks ago have reignited across a huge swathe of the moors between Scarborough (of fair fame) and Whitby (of Dracula fame), may they keep it under some sort of control.

Sunday will see some new Gaby, but for now,
Wiedersehn,
Madeline Anafrid