Chepstow Castle, Wales

We spent another quiet if rainy night at Ladye Bay, then decamped and drove across the bridge to Wales, passing over enough of Bristol for me to see the natural outlet of the mighty Avon and one of the contemporary "floating docks" (that is, an artificial channel of the Avon that has been "locked" to make a small harbor). Our goal was to see Chepstow Castle, its ruins, one of the earliest Welsh castles. It was begun, in stone, not wood, in 1067, by William the Conqueror, finished off and improved by Edward I, and improved even more by Roger Bigod. (I think Bigod is Middle English for Bigdog; whatever).

We found our way to Chepstowe and easy street parking there,
literally a walk in the park to the castle; as it turned out, this was
the first of several miles we walked in the Wye Valley; I wonder
now what the river Wye may have to do with David James Duncan's
charming novel The River Why, which I read early in my Montana
period; did I miss something important, something Welsh?

Attacking forces' view of castle

Entry view

Great Hall; note if you can (click to enlarge) the
thin red line of bricks about 1/3 of the way up;
these are recycled Roman bricks

Interior

Traces of interior splendor; the castle declined
and disintegrated naturally; it was captured by
the Parliamentarians in 1648, but was never
"slighted"

Overlooking the Wye

Sally port

Last interior view