Road Trips
Protected: Cotswolds & Wales Road Trip: St Annes Head Hike
Cotswolds & Wales Road Trip: St Davids and Roch Castle
St Davids served as our base of operations for the next several days in the heard of Pembrokeshire, in southern Wales. The town is named after the 6th-century Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and also serves as his resting place. As a cathedral city (the weirdest one we’ve ever encountered, as you’ll see), St Davids qualifies as a “city” in the UK beginning in the 13th century.
A small town square at the heart of St Davids with its cathedral looming over the town:
Don’t see it?
How about now? Just massive and looming over everything, right?
What the hell? St Davids cathedral sits in a depression at one edge of town, well below the rest of the structures in the municipality.
You have to look down from town into a grassy pit to actually catch a glimpse of the cathedral.
The cathedral, with the tomb of its celebrity saint namesake, became a reasonably prominent pilgrimage site in the middle ages. “At its height, the city was visited by many pilgrims, including noblemen and kings such as William the Conqueror in 1077, Henry II in 1171, and Edward I and Queen Eleanor in 1284. Pope Calixtus II decreed that two pilgrimages to St Davids were equivalent to one to Rome (“Roma semel quantum dat bis Menevia tantum“). This allowed a vast income to be raised from visiting pilgrims in the Middle Ages.” (From here.)
You gotta walk uphill from the cathedral to get back into town. St Davids is to the town / cathedral relationship is what Snowshoe is to ski resorts.
“The monastic community was founded by Saint David, Abbot of Menevia, who died in 589. Between 645 and 1097, the community was attacked many times by raiders, including the Vikings; however it was of such note as both a religious and an intellectual centre that King Alfred summoned help from the monastic community at St Davids in rebuilding the intellectual life of the Kingdom of Wessex. Many of the bishops were murdered by raiders and marauders, including Bishop Moregenau in 999 and Bishop Abraham in 1080.” (From here.)
Construction of the current cathedral began in the 12th century in typical Norman martial style, and has been renovated, rebuilt, expanded, and remediated multiple times over the centuries. Notably, the floor of the cathedral slopes, resulting in a height difference of almost 4 meters from one side to the other. Four freakin’ meters of slope.
The community’s 14th-century Bishops Palace, now a ruin that was hosting a RenFest-type affair during our visit (we declined both jousting and presumed turkey leg offerings).
For anyone who’s read Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Tales, King Alfred’s sanctimonious asshole scribe, Asser, actually grew up in St Davids and was a monk in the monastery here until Alfred recruited him.
Back in town – surprise! – fish and chips and mushy peas! Pretty good exemplars of the dish. The day before, after our hike, we arrived at the same pub (The Bishops, which made it into the first pic above) at around 2:55 and wandered around until we found a free table. Sat down, then tried to order at around 3:02. Nope – kitchen closes at 3:00. No exceptions, apparently. We headed out and down the street to an entirely different place to get some lunch. Today, we got our priorities in order, since we arrived close to 3:00 again, and ordered first at the bar, THEN found a table.
So. Our Wales Castlepalooza would not really be complete unless we STAYED in a castle. So we did, here in St Davids. Our first view of the castle from the road coming in from the north, the day we arrived from Conwy and Snowdonia:
Roch Castle:
Roch Castle was built in the late 12th century as part of the march – the borderlands between England and Wales. “
At the time of its construction, Roch Castle served as one of a group of border strongholds that fortified Anglicised Wales from the independent Welsh to the North, guarding the Flemish settlers who inhabited the surrounding “hundred of Rhoos”, and it also served as a lookout for the bay of St Brides to ward off invasions from the sea.
The first known inhabitant of the castle was a Norman knight by the name of Adam de Rupe. His name probably derived from the rock on which the castle was built, “de Rupe” being “charter” latin for “of the rock”. This name however was soon changed to the Norman (or French) “de la Roche”. Adam de Rupe’s ancestors were of the first rank of Norman families and had the province of the “hundred of Rhoos” committed to their care (probably) by Henry II. Their authority extended from Newgale to Milford Haven. Benton Castle marked the other extremity of their domain. However, the Castle of Roche was the family seat, and a member of the family was visited with the hereditary title of “Comes Littoris”, or “Count of the Shore”.
A legend recounts that Adam de Rupe erected his abode on a rock as a result of a prophecy that he would die from the bite of a viper. His precaution was in vain, as he met his fate when a viper, carried into the castle in a bundle of firewood, bit and killed him.” (From here.)
The coat of arms at the gate incorporates the elements of the legend. “The one raven above holding a snake in its beak and a basket of twigs in its claws represents the story of Adam de Rupe, the Norman knight who built Roch Castle. He was cursed to die of a vipers bite, so he placed his bedroom at the top of the tower away from snakes, but a snake hiding in a basket of firewood bit him and he died. A further two Ravens with outstretched wings on the shield makes a total of three Ravens. These honour Llewellyn ap Gruffudd, the last prince of Wales’ shield, which was of three Ravens. Around the shield are blue and white bands representing the blue of the sea and white of the surf of St Davids. The motto, “bid ben bid bont” from the Mabinogion and spoken by Bran the giant as he laid himself over the River Liffey for his armies to cross, “be a head (leader) be a bridge (facilitator)”.” (From here.)
The de la Roche family held the castle for more than 200 years. “When Thomas de la Roche of Roche died in 1420, he left no sons. Thus, the direct male line of the de la Roches ended in this year. He did however, leave two daughters who inherited the castle. Daughter Ellen married Edmund de Ferrars, fifth lord of Chartley, and daughter Elizabeth married Sir George Longueville. By the reign of Henry VIII, a contemporary Lord Ferrars and a Sir John Longueville were the owners of the property.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it is recorded that the Earl of Essex and the Earl of Longueville were the possessors of Roche. It then passed to their descendants who maintained possession until 1601. About this time, the castle and “manor” of Roche passed to the Walter family of Rosemarket (apparently by sale). The Walter family was an important family of Pembrokeshire. About 1630, William and Elizabeth Walter gave birth to a daughter, Lucy, who became a mistress of King Charles II bearing his child, the Duke of Monmouth.” (From here.)
“Parliament became extremely restive under King Charles I, and soon openly rebelled under Cromwell’s leadership. In 1644, King Charles garrisoned many of the castles in South Wales and supplied a garrison for Roche Castle under the command of Captain Francis Edwards of Summerhill (he being from a neighbouring estate). On February 17th, 1644, the castle was attacked by Cromwell’s troops under the command of Colonel Roland Laugharne. After a fierce siege, the castle was surrendered on February 25th, having been badly damaged by cannon and also by fire.” (Also from here.)
The rock base under the castle, exposed in a sitting room on the first floor.
Main level of the castle, hosting the common areas.
Modern castle common area and viewing platform. They definitely modernized the castle.
Pretty good view, at that.
Heading up to our room, at the top of the castle.
The de Rupe room, but, of course.
View through the room’s tower walls to the countryside and coast below:
Wales played Ukraine during our stay during the World Cup qualifying round; Wales won and earned a slot on Group B for the World Cup. We assumed we could watch this at the pub down the road with a bunch of rowdy Welsh, which we were looking forward to. But it was Sunday, and the pub served their weekly Sunday dinner, then closed before the game, which we absolutely could not believe. So, we watched it in the castle, instead.
Pretty cool digs!
Protected: Cotswolds & Wales Road Trip: Pembroke Castle
Protected: Cotswolds & Wales Road Trip: Caerphilly Castle
Protected: Cotswolds & Wales Road Trip: The Baths of Bath
Protected: Cotswolds & Wales Road Trip: Stonehenge
Cotswolds & Wales Road Trip: From Southrop to Bibury
We spent our last couple of days in the Cotswolds (Part 2, with Wales in between the two parts) poking around the hiking-distance villages of Southrop, Fyfields, and Eastleach, and driving one day to Bibury. As you’ll note below, “village” is a bit overblown of a descriptor for the first three settlements. Even “hamlet” is stretching it a bit. They were all tiny. But super charming. Bibury shares some of the small stature with the others, but, as you’ll see, it’s recognized nationally for its utter cuteness and so draws visitors in a way that the other three absolutely do not.
Our first hike the morning after we arrived in Southrop from Bath, via the unplanned stop in Stonehenge:
The UK trail system and access across fields continued to reward us with beautiful bucolic views and the occasional livestock encounter.
This way to Eastleach:
A picturesque row of cottages in Eastleach built in 1875:
The last one of which is topped by a clock tower – the architect apparently simply thought it would be a nice addition:
We agree.
The village’s tiny war memorial:
Back in Southrop, the 12th-century St. Peter’s church one morning on the way to a hike:
It’s got an unusually grand Norman arch over the north entrance for a tiny little church:
But the herringbone stonework clearly identifies the structure as late Saxon (of which not many remain in England) – predating the Norman adornments:
Pretty cool church graveyard, including an unusual casket-shaped stone ornamentation on one of the tombs:
Poking around Fyfields:
And a day trip to Bibury to see what the fuss is all about and also to grab some lunch. Here, you can mail a package AND pick up presents!
Bibury dates as far back as the Domesday Book (1086) and was once described by William Morris (one of the founders / originators / champions / whatever of the Arts and Crafts movement) as “the most beautiful village in England.”
And THIS is what all the fuss is about – Arlington Row:
Originally built in the 14th century as a wool store. . .
the row of structure later was converted into weavers’ cottages in the 17th century.
More Thomas Kinkade-y cottages elsewhere in town (which was, indeed, super charming – its reputation is definitely well-earned).
And lunch – and for Cod’s sake it’s finally not fish and chips!
Back in Southrop, we were ensconced at a village-within-a-village: Thyme (which scored it a Top 20 lodging location for WolfeStreetTravel):
And after 2 weeks of charming English cottages, finally one of our own to stay in at Thyme:
Pretty awesome (and huge) barn converted to a restaurant:
Our last evening to hang out before heading to London:
Our cottage came with a pretty essential feature:
One to London and then home!
Protected: Cotswolds & Wales Road Trip: London
Cinque Terre and Back to Tuscany: Volterra and Borgo Pignano
Volterra claims the spot for the final Tuscan town we’d visit on this road trip. Located in the west of Tuscany, Volterra – like its eastern counterpart of Cortona – did not make it to our Tuscan biking itinerary back in 2004, which focused primarily on central Tuscany. We’d remedy that oversight on this trip.
Volterra definitely qualifies as yet another hill town – long climb to get from parking outside the walls to the center of town.
Entering the walled town through Porta a Selci. Originally an Etruscan gate into a walled settlement, the current portal dates from the 16th century.
To the right of the gate is a plaque depicts soldiers entering Volterra with text in Italian reading: “This brings the soldiers allies Entered Volterra 40th anniversary of Liberation 9 July 1944 – 9 July 1984.” The US 88th Infantry Division’s drive north up the Italian peninsula in WW II took it first to Rome, then on to Umbria and Tuscany. On May 8, 1944, the 88th “launched an attack toward Volterra on the 8th, taking the town the next day. (From here.) To our knowledge, this is the first Tuscan (or even Italian) town we’ve visited that was the site of a WW II battle.
Heading into the historic center by way of a fairly picturesque – albeit less-than-charming – main thoroughfare.
Crowded evidence that we’re getting closer to the center of Volterra:
Finally reaching Palazzo dei Priori, in the actual center of town:
Volterra’s impressive 13th-century town hall, the Palazzo dei Priori:
With its complement of governing family coats of arms, as we’ve seen in every town on this trip:
Nice little market buzzing in the piazza the morning we arrived:
Across the piazza from the town hall lies the Palazzo Pretorio, which once served as the office of the mayor and as apartments for the Captain of the people’s guard, the Pretorio. The palazzo’s tower dates from the 13th century and is called the Torre del Porcellino – Tower of the Little Pig – because of (or resulting in? sources are unclear) a statue of a pig on a little ledge to the right of the uppermost window.
Volterra’s other tower around the corner, the cathedral’s 15th century companile, which appears way more Lombard than Tuscan to us.
And the super-Romanesque and very modest cathedral itself, dating from the 12th century (which actually replaced a 9th-century structure that was destroyed in an earthquake in the mid-1100s):
The mildly bizarre Chiesa Della Misericordia (Church of Mercy):
The church has been converted to a museum of vintage ambulances:
A word that we’ll take the opportunity to highlight as absolutely hilarious in German, as helpfully demonstrated in this brief video, which several Werners already have been subjected to:
Heading down one of the hilly town’s picturesque streets:
And ending up at another gate in the town’s walls – this one much older than our entrance gate:
Volterra’s Etruscan Porta all’Arco (Arched Gate) was one of the passageways through an extensive 7-km-long defensive wall built between the 4th century and 3rd century BC.
Heading to our final destination of the road trip a few miles outside of Volterra. . .
The destination itself: Borgo Pignano. After staying in towns our entire road trip, we opted for borgo in the country for our final night. An Italian borgo is a small hamlet or settlement, and many have been transformed wholesale into hotel complexes that incorporate the old village’s structures. In our case, the manor house served as the main hotel, while tradesmen’s shops and houses have been converted into villas, the spa, a restaurant, etc.
The little borgo’s old town church opposite reception:
The best repurposed structure in the borgo? A town warehouse converted into a museum of vintage Italian bikes, motorcycles, and cars from Italy’s golden age of style from the 1940s to the 1970s.
1964 Fiat 600 Seicento Multipla, nicknamed “the Sisters’ car” since it was a common conveyance for nuns; occupancy six.
1973 Legnano Roma Specialissima. Legnano was a major player in competitive cycling from the 1920s through the 1940s, and their bikes won 15 Giri d’Italias and two Tour de Frances. Bianchi rose to power from the 1950s on, and eventually bought Legnano in 1987. Suite Campy groupo.
1973 Poghliaghi Record. Poghliaghi exemplified Italian artisan frame making, and he only made between 100 and 1000 bikes, butEddy Merckx rode one to victory (we assume in the Giro? it wasn’t the Tour, according to this site cataloguing the bikes that won each year). Another suite Campy Record groupo.
1958 Piaggo / ACMA Vespa 400 microcar. “The 394cc two-cylinder two-stroke motor. . . could propel the car and 4 occupants to a top speed of 51 miles per hour, eventually.”
1947 Bianchi Aquilotta da Corsa, used in the years following WW II when Italians began competing again with motorcycles and mopeds.
1947 Alpino 63 Bicarbuatore, also built for racing in the post-war years.
1948 Fiat 500C “Little Mouse:”
1930s Gloria Garibaldina:
Sporting innovations such as wooden wheels and one of Campagnolo’s first derailleurs, which you needed to manually engage by reaching behind you. One lever loosened the axel and the other moved the chain to change gears. Freaking wild.
1954 175cc MV Augusta:
1954 Iso Rivolta Isetta 250, a three-wheeled Italian microcar or “auto-scooter.” Iso’s prior experience was manufacturing refrgerators. . .
Another 175cc ride – a 1956 Moto Morini:
Final evening in Tuscany!
Thus endeth the trip:
Cinque Terre and Back to Tuscany: Trip Overview
On the heels of the Slow Roll through the South of France and over to San Sebastian, and in response to 18 months of unfulfilled, backlogged travel aspirations stymied by the pandemic, we headed back to Europe less than a month later. This time to Italy.
We had two goals for this trip:
- Finally visiting and hiking the Cinque Terre – the five tiny and charming towns along the Ligurian coast of Italy south of Genoa. We’ve been interested in traveling to the Cinque Terre for years, but the charm and beauty of the towns has always been accompanied by a well-earned reputation of being overrun by tourists. We don’t like mobs of tourists, so we never went. Then: pandemic. As soon as Italy opened back up, we beelined it there to experience the region before a resurgent tide of of humanity could reach it.
- Returning to Tuscany. Unsurprisingly, we’re fans of Tuscany. Surprisingly, we have only spent 5 days there, biking between five Tuscan towns during our only previous visit in 2004. Quintessential Tuscan towns, to be sure – Montalcino, Montepulciano, Siena, San Gimagnano, and Florence – but such a short time to spend in an area that was immediately so appealing to us. So, we thought we’d remedy that and head back to get a more immersive experience of the area (and hit two towns that occupied the eastern and western extremes of our 2004 bike route, and that we missed, as a result).
Here’s the route for the trip, starting at the top left:
We started the trip in the Cinque Terre – flying into Pisa, then taking a series of trains to get from the airport to our home base town there. We then trained back to Pisa to pick up a car and head into Tuscany, rotating slowly clockwise to visit or stay in towns around Florence before heading back to Pisa to fly back.
We spent the first 3 days exploring the five little towns of Cinque Terre, comprised of Riomaggiore at the southern end:
Followed by Manarola:
Then Corniglia:
Vernazza (our home base for our stay in the Cinque Terre):
And finally, Monterosso, the northernmost village and the only one with an actual beach:
We hiked the only trail open between two of the towns during our stay, and had to hop a train or a boat to see the rest. A little disappointing not to be able to hike through all five, but we made out okay.
After killing the Cinque Terre, we headed back to Pisa to pick up our car (taking advantage of a delay in the car’s arrival by trotting up the street from the rental office to quickly check out the leaning tower). We then drove a short distance to Lucca in northern Tuscany. We’d spend only a day there, but Lucca turned out to be an unexpected highlight of the trip. The town was protected by fully intact, thick Renaissance walls, the 4k circumference of which you could circumnavigate by bike or by foot (which we did):
It offered a cool Torre Guinigi in the middle of town, with oak trees growing from the top:
And one of its piazzas retained the oval footprint of the ancient Roman amphitheater that previously occupied the space:
All of this added up to make Lucca a historically and atmospherically appealing highlight of the trip.
From Lucca, we headed south to Cortona, driving around the urban core of Florence and stopping for a bit in Fiesole at the recommendation of our niece, Tara. Fiesole sports, among other features, a remarkably intact Roman amphitheater, which was being put to use while we were there by an Italian band shooting a video. As you can hear, the 2-millenium old amphitheater’s acoustics still work!
We reached Cortona, and settled in for 2 days there. Our bike trip in 2006 took us through the center of southern Tuscany, so we missed the two famous hill towns on the periphery: Cortona on the east and Volterra on the west. Cortona was worth the wait.
Cortona’s Palazzo Comunale in the center of the small town:
Cortona also was the site of our second Air B&B of the trip (and only the fourth rental we’ve tried during our travels). We’ve always stayed in some flavor of hotel on our trips – more than 200 of them so far – and we’re now dipping our toes into the rental approach on this trip and previously on the Slow Roll. Generally, they’ve been positive experiences. In Cortona, our place sported a view over the Chiana Valley, which worked out quite nicely for evening Brunellos:
From Cortona, we headed west to Siena in the absolute center of Tuscany, and spent 3 days in and around town, which we had pegged as having Uzès-like potential as a longer-term destination for us in the future (nope – a much bigger city than we recalled from our bike trip).
But, it turned out that Siena itself would not be the main attraction of our stay there. Instead, it would be truffles. Without intentionally planning for it, we found ourselves in Tuscany during truffle season, much to our delight.
White truffles at dinner in town one night (when all we were looking to do was to grab some pizza and ended up here purely by happenstance), at a restaurant featuring a menu designed to pair with white truffles, which they served by the shaved – and carefully weighed – gram:
Black truffles the next day, foraging in the woods by a winery about 20 minutes away from Siena. The Italians use trained dogs to find truffles in the forest, rather than the pigs used in France:
A very successful foraging foray!
Trying out another Air B&B with another amazing view, this time from a private roof deck in the center of town:
After our time in Siena, we continued west to Volterra, stopping on the drive over to the tiny, but heavily fortified hamlet of Monteriggioni:
Where the final activities of a cyclocross race were winding up:
Monteriggioni was fortified because it served as a forward base of the Sienese during the Renaissance against any attempted incursions by their arch-enemy to the north, Florence:
Variations on a theme: after Monteriggioni’s walls, we ended up in heavily walled Volterra. We spent a day wandering about the eastern outlier in Tuscany that we missed in 2006 – it did not disappoint:
And then, as a departure from our stays in towns throughout the trip, we headed to a borgo – an entire village converted to a hotel – in the countryside outside Volterra for our final night:
One of the village’s old buildings had been converted for use as a museum of vintage Italian cars, motorcycles, and bikes – very cool.
Early the next morning, we drove back to Pisa, dropped off the car (this time without incident), and flew home – another road trip in Europe successfully executed!
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