Thursday

Good evening peeps,

Noswaith dda,

Hah.

Well I finished my main sightseeing today.
I did sleep through the night, thanks to the exciting day yesterday. I woke with little pain or trauma, especially as I got up quickly and early.

I wanted a castle on my list of trips, but choosing a castle was hard work, the Welsh got a bit carried away with building castles.

It is funny seeing Wales as a tourist, and much better than living and working here was. It is nice to smell the mountains instead of the harsh salt-swept sea air that I do love in it's own way.

So anyway, last night I made a desperate stab at the map and chose Chepstow Castle.
Those who don't know the real me, I have been doing photo shoots and writeups of attractions and local interest places since I moved to Jersey, but back then it was a bit aimless and wobbly, and more recently it has become part of my training as a writer, and I send my writeups with photos to the attractions as feedback afterwards, so I overcome my agorophobia and autism by assessing the whole site busily and taking pictures and discussing what I see and experience, it is very rewarding.
I have always had an interest in history, archaeology and architecture, although I still can't fit anything into categories, but I enjoy having the interests without any strong knowledge.

I don't usually post writeups on here due to the location risk that remains from the church, police, journalists and cranks, but I feel that it safe to discuss Wales.

Anyway, Chepstow Castle is medieval, which means dead old, even older than the other castle I did a while back. It is a fairly big castle, but far from the biggest in Wales, and it is on the banks of the Wye. The castle's boast is that it has the oldest doors in the country at 800 years old.

What I will do again is do another blog with the photography, when I have time, the same as when I do the coal face pictures as a blog.

Chepstow Castle has a relatively low entrance fee, which makes it more attractive, it is also close to a few other attractions, these are some of the reasons I chose it, in desperation.

Finding my way through the town was tricky, I kept wandering in and out of England, and I arrived, I went to get a parking ticket, surprisingly reasonable cost compared to what we are used to, the only problem was, I was driving the Passat, and had parked it in a corner and walked to the ticket machine, and the machine asked for the car registration! Ha, I didn't know the Passat's registration. Back I went, got the reg, and then still struggled with the machine. I got it in the end.
Then I went and had a quick look in the tourist centre. I decided to go to the museum over the road before I went to castle.

The museum was OK, not remarkable, but not bad. They had a lot of stuff from the last century, so not that old, and some Victorian stuff too. The Victorian stuff was interesting, they had mangles, dollys and washboards. I liked the model steam engine on the landing. Downstairs they had a place where you could listen to and watch TV adverts from the 60s, which were funny. They did have some good stuff like coins and art and grandfather clocks, and a massive gramaphone. It wasn't the most wonderful museum, but it was OK.

So, I trotted up to the castle, and the staff were very nice to me, and I got my ticket and scuttled in with my camera and got on with my review.

Ooh, the views of the Wye from the castle wall were pretty lovely, it is a pity that the Wye and the Usk are so muddy, maybe I have been away so long that I forgot muddy rivers. At one point the castle and cliff go up very sheer from the river, and it made for great pictures.

I went down to the cellars and admired them, and wandered around what used to be the kitchen, and out into a tower. There were loads of children trying to do documentaries for their school project, and they were embarrassed by me wandering past and they fluffed their lines. I just wanted to get my pictures without disturbing them.

I continued on the castle walls, up to the towers at the end, there is a huge building called the Great Hall or Great Tower, and it is huge, you can go inside it too, and I did. I continued the castle walls to the towers at the far end and continued to take pictures.

Apart from the children, it was relatively quiet and I wasn't crowded at all. I went back, via everything, to the towers at the car park end, now those are intricate and lavish, they were designed by the Earl for guest accommodation if the King wished to visit. The children were being given archery lessons on the green open space as I left.

I had climbed many steps and I was exhausted, so that was the end of my tour, and it was all lovely. They are the only attraction I have visited this year that don't really have a cafe or substantial refreshments, so now I headed into town. I had hoped to  head on to Tintern Abbey, seeing as it was nearby, but despite stopping in town for food and drink, my exhaustion remained, and I knew I couldn't cope with the Abbey as well, it is frustrating being disabled this way.

So I took to heading home.

I forget that the Passat isn't Max, so I still say 'Go Max!', but Max never needed me to say that, it was a habit from Florence, Florence was an old lady, she didn't like hills, so me and mum used to go 'Go Flo!' when we went up big hills. But the Passat is a big powerful diesel, it doesn't need encouragement.

Out of Chepstow there were many miles of road cones, which was keeping the speed down as the workforce worked on the barrier, the road signs forgot to tell anyone in English what they were doing, so I helpfully translated it for you.

arafu, gwaith ffordd.

Slow down, roadworks.

The Welsh crack up at my use of the language. My cousins were lucky to grow up in Wales, fully bilingual, but I didn't live in Wales until I was a teenager and I took my Welsh certs as an adult.

I got home this afternoon and my sightseeing is pretty much over now. I don't intend to drive the Passat again, although I have really enjoyed myself. The huge endless Welsh roads always have my affection, I would love to go on driving them, and the M4, driving this big car. Because where I live, little car Max doesn't know what a motorway is, and in our insular space, the fastest Max knows is the dual carriageway on the avenue or the five mile road when the grockles aren't slowing us down. I miss the fast driving of the UK, and I can still drive fast and drive on motorways without any trouble, so it has been a delight. I will be back, I can't come and live here just because I love the roads and the freedom. I will be back and I will visit Tintern Abbey or other places next time.

This morning I put a load of laundry on, and when I got back, I hung it out and put a few of my friends' towels and things on to wash too, my friend had a big order that was only just finished in time, so they were in such a scramble for their holiday that they left towels waiting for a wash. And I include tidying and cleaning in my house sitting.

My friends were originally due to be away for the full week, but then they had to change plans because of work and bookings, and then they now have to return the camper that they hired tomorrow morning, so they will be home by lunchtime tomorrow, and then we are going to visit the last attraction that I wanted to go to, because one of them wants to see it too. At least they got a short break, they needed that, and the cat has been fine, I have got her medicine into her every day and looked after her, and she is happy enough, purring and things.

Tomorrow I will walk into town, it is a very short walk, but I don't need to drive anywhere, I am now back in my office as a freelance writer, and I will earn my living for the remainder of the week. This is why it will be a good career when it takes off, I can work anywhere, so being homeless won't matter.