23 Sep. - Bracelands

 

Image: View from atop Belas Knap

The climb to Belas Knap - Neolithic long barrow - why always on heights?
But for a small (young?) wood, views to valleys in all directions - was Winchcombe their settlement?
This their highest peak + honour?
They lived - and hence we live.
Do we now honour them?

On to Newnham, by chance to stumble on the Severn Bore, except the tide was out + the rain started.

Through twists + turns, past diversions, under bridges, via Google Maps + AA Concise Atlas, a seemingly circuitous route brings us to Coleford + Bracelands through the Forest of Dean, abutting the Wye.

Tomorrow perhaps we head back into the forest, alive with ancient oaks.
What spirits live there?
Will they welcome us?
They have surely seen so much we have never known?

If a tree falls in a forest ...

Notes: It would have been a treat to see the Bore running at Newnham, but instead we met a local Council worker who told us tales of adventures, mishaps and tragedies on this stretch of the Severn.