Out And About.

[mongers]

Then went over to Maiden Castle nr Dorchester. Supposedly the largest iron age hill fort in Britain, a complex mix of ditches and ramparts, set on a hill amidst the rolling Dorset countryside; not the most spectacular of settings, but worth a visit if you've the time for a picnic and a serious walk around its steep defences.

[Maladict]

Visited Portchester castle over towards Portsmouth, a rather nice Roman Saxon shore fort, most of the walls still intact, with a large Norman keep and castle in the NE corner and a early norman abbey church in the SE corner.

Stop reminding me of great stuff I missed out on. 
I remember looking at the castle from Portsmouth, knowing I wouldn't have enough time to go there as the historic dockyard would likely take all day to visit. 

[mongers]

I thought of Meri this afternoon, because I visited Wales. :gasp:

Didn't get done all I wanted to do, I got waylaid by the art collection in the Cardiff's National museum ; rather good, worth the trip for the Monets and Cizannes alone.

[garbon]

Some photos from a walk I took at lunch today. According to google - 3.5 mile round trip.

[mongers]

 

No need to ask where that is.


In contrast, the other day I got off the train early and walked 2-3 miles to this hill figure, because the hills looked nice from a previous journey. Quite big once you get up the hill and close to it, though it's of no antiquity, barely a couple of hundred years old.

[mongers]

Ended up walking along the top edge of the downs, around the closed military firing ranges and caught the train two stops further down the line in the town of Warminster.

Nice views from the top, despite the clouds, view looking across the Vale of Pewsey (dairy farming) towards the chalk escarpment thats crowned by a neolithic long barrow called Adam's grave. Those hills form the southern edge of the downs on which the Avebury complex is situated. 

[Syt]

Looks almost like Northern Germany:

[garbon]

No need to ask where that is.

Yes, I did figure the pictures spoke for themselves.

[KRonn]

Some nice scenery there Mongers, farming area.  I don't have anything like that near me. You got there by train - is that area a good ways from you or do you have similar areas near where you live, and where you bike ride?

[mongers]

Some nice scenery there Mongers, farming area.  I don't have anything like that near me. You got there by train - is that area a good ways from you or do you have similar areas near where you live, and where you bike ride?

Only really in the next county, so barely 45 miles away, an area I'm planning on visiting quite a bit once summer subsides.

We have some good farming around these parts, but the general agricultural depression means my local farms do little more than make hay and rent fields out to horse breeders or beef farmers.

I've had lots of tall trailers loaded with hay going past the house over the last couple of weeks, which is nice to see the land being worked.

Other areas, particularly the downlands have a more normal level of arable farming; weirdly coming back that way last weekend I came across this, several fields of only poppies. 

[Zanza]

Hiking trip in the Alps coming up next weekend.

[mongers]

Hiking trip in the Alps coming up next weekend.

  :jealous:

Have fun.

[sbr]

At my buddy's house with 9 other people pre- gaming for the Motley Crue/Alice Cooper concert in a couple hours.

[Zanza]

Hiking trip in the Alps coming up next weekend.

  :jealous:

Have fun.

Poor weather with lots of rainfall and low-hanging clouds made it impossible to reach the summit we had aimed for. On the way down, one of my friends sprained his ankle, so we had to skip the tour we had planned for the second day... 
We still had fun in the evening drinking in a nice alpine hiking hut. 

[Zanza]

And something for the history nerds here: Two weeks ago, I visited the Burg Hohenzollern.

The castle is located on top of Berg (Mount) Hohenzollern, at an elevation of 855 meters (2,805 ft) above sea level; 234 m (768 ft) above the towns of Hechingen[n 2] and nearby Bisingen, to the south. Both are located at the foothills of the Schwäbische Alb. The castle was first constructed in the early 11th century.
When the Hohenzollern family split into cadet branches, the castle remained the property of the Swabian branch of the family, who were the dynastic seniors of the Franconian/Brandenburg branch that later acquired an imperial throne. The castle was completely destroyed after a 10-month siege in 1423 by the imperial cities of Swabia. A second, larger and more sturdy castle was constructed from 1454 to 1461, and served as a refuge for the Catholic Swabian Hohenzollerns during wartime; including during the Thirty Years' War. By the end of the 18th century, however, the castle was thought to have lost its strategic importance and gradually fell into disrepair, leading to the demolition of several dilapidated buildings. Today, only the chapel remains from the medieval castle.
The third version of the castle, which stands today, was constructed for King Frederick William IV of Prussia between 1846 and 1867. The castle was built under the direction of architect Friedrich August Stüler, who based his design on English Gothic Revival architecture and the Châteaux of the Loire Valley.[1] The castle was built as a family memorial, thus, no member of the Hohenzollern family was in permanent or regular residence when it was completed. In 1945 it became home to the former Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, son of the last Hohenzollern monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who is buried there with his wife, Crown Princess Cecilie.

And a gratuitous shot of the city of Tübingen: