In praise of leisure and family

What a lovely day. The sun was shining and the village of Longtown was glowing - and I had my feet up:)

Grant headed off early on his cross country alternative route to Llangattock Lingoed. My conscience got to me eventually and I decided to explore Longtown. My hostess at The Crown told me there was a castle just up the road - as happens in these parts - so I meandered, resenting the hill but enjoying the quaint homes. The castle was worth the effort. It was a ruin but there was enough there to imagine its glory days. Built in the early 12th century, the land was gifted to two French brothers who’d supported William the Conqueror in the Norman invasion.

The castle was one of the Marches castles I mentioned a few days ago. The task of these fortresses being to control the unruly Welsh. It was destroyed and rebuilt again in the fourteenth century for the same purpose. The Welsh are a tough lot to manage it seems.

My wonderful cousins collected me in the late morning and we travelled to Llangattock Lingoed. Grant had already arrived as it was pretty much down the road as a wonky crow flies. We had a lovely few hours catching up at the Hunters Moon Inn. They are special people and it was such a pleasure to have this time and meet their new puppy. We hope to see their daughter, Hannah, again when we are in London.

We are staying at the rectory just up the road from the Inn. It’s beautifully restored and the hostess delivered perfect tea on a perfect tray to suit our perfect view - see pic. Between the rectory and the pub is a medieval church. Half a dozen homes and that is it.

Other than excellent pub and accommodation the other redeeming feature is that the town is actually on Offa’s Dyke Trail so we don’t have to do any backtracking tomorrow. Yay!

We are sitting in the pub garden on one of those perfect British clear blue sky evenings. A blackbird is giving us his best song, the locals are talking loudly enough that I can eavesdrop on their lives and dinner is about to be served. I’ve finished my antibiotics so can have a glass of wine again, so all is good with the world.

Three days to go. Each day long but no outrageous hills that I can see, so we are feeling strong and able. Tomorrow Monmouth on the River Wye. It will be Grant’s birthday so a good way to celebrate being above ground for 66 years :)Read more