Spied through a hole in the wall

Skenfrith Castle

It was a fine day today (as it turned out, much better than the succeeding days), so we set off on a trip to Wales. The Welsh hills look a bit forbidding here, but, in reality, the sun shone brightly almost all day.

This bit of tourism was the fault of Dan Snow and his 'Norman Walks'. We watched the programme about the "Three Castles' Walk" on the previous evening, and decided on the spur of the moment to abandon all the work we had planned and enjoy a bit of Indian Summer.

The photo graph is taken from inside Skenfrith castle, and I liked it because you can (just) see the very interesting tower of Skenfrith church. Tennyson said "the splendour falls on castle walls", but I found the "shadows cast by castle walls" fascinating, especially as here the holes produce a spotlight effect.

Grosmont castle was onviously a quite luxurious dwelling, so it was fitting to find a large scale picnic in progress within.

The final castle of the three is called White Castle. It was heavily fortified, and to get inside, you had to pass through this gatehouse. equipped with portcullis, drawbridge, and so on. And that entrance is already protected by the outer part of the castle where I am standing.

I thought that the water in the moat made good reflections of the walls. This is just one example of a particularly quiet patch.