I have decided that my trip home will follow a vaguely Arthurian Theme (blame the couple of pints of Procrastinator’s Peril last night). Some of the connections may be extremely tenuous but I am going with it!
First off though, I thought I would head to Hay-on-Wye for some literary nerding out. Hay bills itself as Britain’s first (only?) book town. It certainly does have a high concentration of book shops which I enjoy browsing through. At least those which were open, which seemed to be about half of them. I wonder whether there is something odd about Wednesdays, but I notice that by the time I am about to leave, some are opening up. It is getting on towards 11am by then, so perhaps Hay is just a particularly laid back town? Maybe they are up all night indulging in scholarly carousing?
Whatever the cause, my parking time is up. I was slightly tempted to hang about for the bookshop which had a fantastic selection of mushroom books in the window (I assume this is because it is autumn, rather than that they knew I was coming). Sadly, the shop of weirdness was closed too, so I cut my losses.
From Hay-on-Wye, it is a short drive to Arthur’s Stone, a 5000 year old passage tomb. Now it is an inevitable consequence of visiting the sort of places that I like to visit that I seem to spend a lot of time driving down single track roads. I find this quite nerve wracking as I am lacking the ability to confidently reverse several miles back up a track to a passing place if required. Luckily I only lost in the battle of wills once today and only had to manage about 100 feet.
So, our first connection to the legendary king. Interestingly, the sign says that associations with King Arthur had been made as early as the 13th century. Hardly a contemporary account then as Arthur is generally have thought to have been around in about the 5th century. Anyway, the legend is that Arthur fought a giant there and that the marks in the stone were made by the giants elbows, or possibly Arthur kneeling in prayer. Nothing like hedging. Apparently it was also the inspiration for the Stone Table in the Chronicles of Narnia too.
Driving away from the stones, I am once again struck by how beautiful the border counties are (especially in autumn). I have never really thought of spending time in Herefordshire, but it is stunning. Many, many cider mills too..
Could be worth another visit. I think back to Puzzlewood being Tolkein’s inspiration for mysterious woods in Middle Earth and can’t help but think of Herefordshire as the Shire. No idea what was in Tolkein’s mind, but this is how it looks to me.
And so on to Camelot. I should perhaps explain. I am heading to the Roman city of Wroxeter. Now this was one of the largest cities in Britain during Roman times and for several hundred years after the Roman’s withdrew, with Romans who had settled and stayed mingling with the local Cornovii people.
So why Camelot, you ask?
There is a school of thought that Arthur was possibly a Roman soldier, or descendent of such, who stayed and fought with the Britons, likely against the Saxon encroachment. Many of the stories about this place the activity on the English/Welsh border and of course there are numerous sites in Wales connected to the Arthurian legend. I visited one connected to Merlin a few years back (and interestingly had exactly the same walking issue that I had yesterday, so I clearly never learn).
The writer and historian Graham Phillips traces Arthur to some written records of a warlord called Owain Ddantgwyn, often referred to by his battle name of “The Bear”. Bear in Welsh is Arth. Owain apparently ruled from Wroxeter. Hence the Camelot connection. It certainly would have been a spectacular location during the 5th and 6th centuries and would have been visible for miles, so who knows? I gather it is somewhat controversial amongst the impassioned historical community.
Phillips has also identified a burial mound (so far unexcavated) on top of a hill which used to be surrounded by water, which he identifies as the Isle of Avalon.
Eat your heart out Glastonbury!
Whatever the historical facts (and let’s face it, most of the Arthur story comes from Medieval French pulp fiction), there seem to be a lot of connections with Wales and the borders and I can imagine the victorious Saxons rewriting history, laying claim to a legendary leader and relocating the legends to their core lands in the southwest. Food for thought…
Anyway, not still visible in all its glory, but you can judge for yourself.
I see the sign below and can’t help but agree with Seneca. I have exactly the same problem with people talking when I am trying to relax in saunas. I can’t help thinking that Seneca should have been a bit more stoical about it though!
And some interesting artefacts in the museum. Make of this what you will..
And then it is time to hit Watling street and head for home
Malta next. In true Tony planning style, I booked a trip based on Skyscanner showing that I could get cheap flights from East Midlands on a particular week and quickly booked before prices changed. I then started looking at tourist attractions, only to find that the Hypogeum was already booked up way beyond the dates that I had just arranged. Nuts. Still, there is loads of stuff to see. I will get on with “planning” that now.