Goodrich Castle

My apologies for everyone waiting in anticipation for my next exciting update, it has been such a busy week. We went to a few more places and worked on our papers. For my first paper I chose to write about the use of anthropomorphism in fantasy literature! I thought that this was pretty interesting so I chose a few characters from the Magician's Nephew, The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis, as well as Phillip Pullman's the Golden Compass. Each authors view of animals and imbuing humanlike characteristics were different...C.S.Lewis having heavy Christian elements and Pullman being the opposite, the role of animals in the plots were essential but conveyed with different motives. So that was fun.

Wednesday July 14th
After breakfast Megg and I went out for a walk around Oxford with the intentions of getting coffee and looking for a post office to send our post cards. At the end of Broad street we turned left unto what I think is Cornmarket street, it is a slightly more commercial street with no cars but shops and people walk and reminds me of a similar space in Lyon. So we walked down this road and kept going and stumbled upon Alice's Shoppe, a small narrow gift shop that Alice Lidell used to go to buy sugar across from Christ Church. This was the most adorable gift shop and was filled to the brim with all kinds of Alice things- mad hatter tea in little top hats, pins, magnets, clocks (Megg got the White Rabbit) aprons, chess sets- everything! I got one of those pens where you turn it and and image floats by...I have been collecting pens..and pins! So this was a really great discovery. Afterward we walked through one of the college pathways and found Merton College where Tolkien went and Magdalen College where Oscar wild attended.

Thursday July 15th
I think that besides the first weekend trip to Wales, Thursday was one of the most exciting or fulfilling days- resulting in the good kind of exhaustion. Since plans were changed for the entire group the following week, Megg and I decided to use Thursday as the day to get to Goodrich Castle instead. Having family heritage associated with it, Megg was hoping someday to reclaim her castle ruins, but the journey seemed impossible. We managed to figure out the multipart travel route though and basically took a pilgrimage to the heart of England. We took an almost 2 hour train from Oxford to Hereford (where the Mappa Mundi is that we didn't have time to see), then managed to find the bus route to Ross-on-Wye, and from there we were lucky enough to get a ride on a shuttle that stops at Goodrich Castle lane. This last ride and the following hour was the best part of the day. It was compressed into such a short amount of time compared to the travel but it turned out to be a rich experience that was incredibly worth it. It was kind of neat to have made the trip on our own separate from the BSC group and visit a place so far a way. And it really did feel far away as this castle sits on top of a hill in the heart of England and it was regal.

It could be seen from the bus driving toward it, and Megg and I were dropped off in a very small, isolated town. Once off the bus, we had to run up the hill to make the best of time and a realization came over us that we were actually in the middle of England...of England! And it is this part of the country that extends into Wales that has been most beautiful to gaze upon.
The castle is made up of this magnificent red sandstone and is made up of several additions. The keep is the oldest part from about the 10th century, and the rest from the next 2 or 3 subsequent centuries. Megg and I charged through the castle and managed to get into almost all of the rooms, hallways, latrines, dungeons and stairwells in the next hour (and run back and catch the shuttle). One stairway was a spiral and it was so narrow and dark that a rope was added in so that visitors wouldn't fall- and the rope was made use of very well. What is also funny is that this castle was attacked by the Roaring Meg- a giant cannon during the English Civil war. A mote was also dug around the foot of the castle, all grown in with grass, and the giant mounds of red sandstone the castle sat on were weathered from the waters that had once been there. Literally this sandstone was red which made for a pretty awesome castle, and all of Ross-on-Wye was deposited with the sandstone because you could see mounds of it naturally or carved into structures coming out of the town. Exploring with speed was really fun, and I was glad my friend could visit a family-related place as i got to do this in Wales- and it is something really to be cherished! I love doing things like this.