Chepstow Castle

Today we had a walk round the lovely Cyril Hart arboretum in the Forest of Dean. There are some massive redwood trees, the most enormous oaks and several monkey puzzle trees, and it is a lovely cool and peaceful place.

Later we drove to Chepstow and whiled away several pleasant hours wandering around the town, down the river banks, and alongside the castle. We visited the castle many years ago, when our son was about 4 or 5, and he found it hysterical that in "ye olde days" the toilets in the castle were just holes set into the walls, where "the business" fell into the river, or if the tide was out, would fall onto the mud below (the Wye is tidal here as it is influenced by the massive tides of the Severn Estuary).

Today we saw boats a good 30 feet above the water, stranded in the mud, as the tide had ebbed and the flood was about to start.