WO2 Hamilcar looks at Wales

Hamilcar’s whirlwind tour of Wales - took in some historical sites. We began with Brecon and a tribute to the South Wales Borderers (The 24th Foot).

Brecon Cathedral holds the Colours in the Havard Chapel.

http://www.breconcathedral.org.uk/

The Royal Regiment of Wales museum is nearby.

http://www.rrw.org.uk/museums/index.htm

Private Robert Jones VC, who fought at Rorkes Drift, lies in Peterchurch cemetery.

We then flew off on a religious angle and Tintern Abbey was the first stop. When we turned up the Junior Bearer just looked at it all and exclaimed 'Kaputt'. If he got hands to it - it would be even more kaputt. Whilst we explored the site we came across a small cell within the Abbey. The Junior Bearer had a good look around and I said to Oma 'Tell him this is where the naughty boys go' - unknown to me she was saying those very words to him in German at the very same time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintern_Abbey

On the way to Tintern we stopped here at Dore Abbey near Pontrilas

http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/Herefordshire/Abbeydore/AbbeydoreDoreAbbey2004.htm

And now for a pleasant interlude - man, boy and bear go fishing. A Werther's Original moment for Blue-Sophist! Some fish were caught!

Drachen hunting at White Castle with my 'not so very bold' chum

He had the sword and I had the bow and arrows. As we walked down through a wooded area I pointed out dragon footprints to him. He told me we would fight the dragon together, then he quickly realised if he had the sword he would be a lot nearer to him than me. There was a sudden exchange of weapons!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Castle_(Wales)

Something for dog owners

I think there were 8 pups in the litter and all have now gone to good homes.

A Sherlock Holmes mystery

Many years ago I worked at Pendarren House, Llangenny. I was told it was the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A few years ago I read an article in a paper that said he used to have friends in Clyro by the name of Baskerville. I have been fiddling around on Google and found out the house was owned by John Andrew Doyle. This morning I searched on Baskerville, Llangenny and found someone trying to trace a relation's details, the person he was trying to gain info about was Thomas Baskerville born Llangenny 1771. It stated that he married and moved to Herefordshire.

Pendarren House is now owned by the London borough of Haringey.

And now we move to Clyro, Herefordshire.

We used to keep horses just above Pendarren House with a posh old boy called Lycett. One of the many books written about Conan Doyle was by Andrew Lycett. - just a coincidence maybe?

Another interlude entitled extreme transport

The train is parked outside Big Pit museum in Blaenavon. If you ever go to Blaenavon take 2 coats with you - it has half a mile of railway track straight to the nearest pub. The track looks like it has been laid by a load of ARRSErs at midnight just after they left the pub.

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/bigpit/

We had intended to start the bus and give it a run with the Bear. However, the batteries were ( in the words of my little friend) kaputt. When I do manage to get him going, I will organise a massive ARRSE crawl.

And of course, what little boy can walk past a really large tractor. His eyes nearly popped out when he saw it.

A brief history of Monmouth, the birthplace of Henry V

We start with the Monnow Bridge, bear and boy.

http://www.castlewales.com/monnow.html

Now we move onto Monmouth Castle itself. The photographs were all taken in and around it.

www.castlewales.com/monmouth.html

Sgt Braille would, of course, take issue over the claim of the “Senior Regiment of the Reserve Army” as the Royal Jersey Militia is actually older – but had a break in its existence after WW2.

Just a few odd ball pic's around the trip

For those of you who watch the Antiques Roadshow this is the closing scene.

I put the Bear on the car in a nearby carpark. We were in the middle of nowhere and the wind was blowing really hard. Then a car-load of people pulled up in the road and they stopped to watch me. I was standing there with only one shoe on because I was tying the bear onto the car with my shoelace. They must have thought I was crackers.

The next pic is the opening scene from American Werewolf in London (and sometimes American Werewolf on Hay Bluff).

And that's the end of the tour folks. I'll leave you lot to come up with a caption.

And Hamilcar got on his bike and took off again.