Where did you ride today?

[Mr Gee]

Not so much, where did I ride but where will I ride today.

My mate Phil's funeral today, so will be escorting the hearse, on our final ride together.   

[Pommeroy]

Not so much, where did I ride but where will I ride today.

My mate Phil's funeral today, so will be escorting the hearse, on our final ride together.   

A tough day for you, but a fitting way to mark your respect for your mate. I hope it went well.

[grog]

Great thing to do Sir👍

[GSXKING]

Despite the grey skies we headed to Kenilworth for brunch today. We choose to dine at McGinns as we know the owners very well.
Stockmans breakfast is the best option.
Once we had eaten and drunk coffee, we took a sprint up to Mapleton Hotel for a celebratory drink after my good news on Thursday. 🙏🙏
Home over Bald Knob, Woodford and Mt.Mee.
320kms door to door in quite pleasant weather.

[Rynglieder]

Monday, I went through Stourport, Bromyard, Ledbury, Ross on Wye, Monmouth and down alongside the River Wye to Chepstow and visited the Castle.

Nice, That's one of my favourite runs too although I tend to linger at Tintern rather than Chepstow.

I know what you mean by the ride back though, after riding the Wye Valley the A48 isn't so attractive.

Pete.

[Rynglieder]

Not much of a ride today - just out to Craven Arms and back, around 70 miles.



For the first time in years I'm having some company on my European excursion, so I took the Z1000 to met up with my mate Andy to talk through some final arrangements.

He's only gone and bought a new bike for the trip 

[Mr Gee]

Monday, I went through Stourport, Bromyard, Ledbury, Ross on Wye, Monmouth and down alongside the River Wye to Chepstow and visited the Castle.

Nice, That's one of my favourite runs too although I tend to linger at Tintern rather than Chepstow.

I know what you mean by the ride back though, after riding the Wye Valley the A48 isn't so attractive.

Pete.

I had stopped, at Tintern the week before. 

[GSXKING]

He's only gone and bought a new bike for the trip 

That's the same bike I have Pete. Great allrounder also. Mine is 2015 with 210,000 kms.

[Rynglieder]

He's only gone and bought a new bike for the trip 

That's the same bike I have Pete. Great allrounder also. Mine is 2015 with 210,000 kms.

He seems well chuffed with it so far, although he's only ridden it home from the dealer in Derbyshire and then this little ride.

It will get a through testing next month when he follows me through the Belgian Ardennes and out to the Mosel Valley in Germany.

I can't recall what mileage he said was on it, but it's 4-5 years older than the GSX1000S GT that he chopped in for it.

[Mr Gee]

Monday, I went to Tretower castle and Manor House.

The home of the Picard family. So now, you know where Jon Luc grew up, before he joined Star Fleet and became Captain of the USS Enterprise.

Started out, as a wooden structure in 1100. Then around 1200 that was replaced by a Stone Castle but there's not, an awful lot, of that left, as around 1300, they abandoned it, in favour of the fortified Manor House. I suspect using much of the stone from the Castle, as it would appear that the modern day farm, has done for their buildings. 

[Mr Gee]

The Manor House

[Mr Gee]

The old Barn over the road was also, built of stone from the Castle

[GSXKING]

Time wasn't measured the same way back then. Imagine the logistics it took to gather the stones, timber and manpower to commence construction. Designing thinks that took centuries to build alone survive more centuries.
Thanks 🙏 for posting Mr.Gee 😁

[Mick_J]

Building large structures has gone through massive changes over the centuries.  1500 years ago it took years (maybe 30-40) to build castles, bridges, cathedrals and other large structures.  The Victorians perfected a lot of building techniques and could build large structures in 1-2 years, and there are a lot still standing and working.  During the war we could build ships in months and get them out to sea but things have not gone so well since.
Today Britain has perfected the immense skill of taking the piss when building large structures, we can now take many years to lay a bit of rail line that isn't really going anywhere, we can take many years to build a power station which wont be finished until 2030 (that will change) and it takes British craftsmen 8 years not to build a working aircraft carrier and we can do all these things at 3-4 times the original budget.

[Mr Gee]

Croft Castle. Started as a Wooden stockade, the Croft family have occupied this site since, 1085. Although it has, belonged to the National Trust, since 1953, they still, live there, to this day.

Round turrets at the corners, are remnants of the stone castle.

Building to the side, is the family Church.