Chepstow Castle


Well, hello! Sorry for the blog silence, but I've been studying for my drivers' test. "Wait," you ask. "Didn't you pass your drivers' test back when you were a teenager, like TWENTY plus years ago!?" Why, yes, yes I did. But as an American now living in the UK, I get to take it again. Despite the fact that I have been driving for over twenty years, with nary a speeding ticket, accident, or even a parking ticket to my name, I have to retake the written and practical tests to get a UK license. No, this does not have to do with safety. I can drive for a year on my US license, and American tourists come and go on the roads with no problem. But as soon as I have been living here for one year, even if I have had no road incidents, I have to revert to a learners' license, pass the test, or stop driving. If I came from Canada (or Zimbabwe, for the record) I could just exchange my license for a UK without the test. But we Americans have to take the test.

I will write more about this whole process and all of its incredible absurdity in a later post, but I just wanted you all to know that for the past week during the kids' computer hour (which is when I usually blog) I have instead been studying the 400+ page UK road safety booklet. I just passed the written test yesterday, though, so now I can get back to life-that-matters. (Also, you should all be quite impressed that both Eric and I passed the theory test on the first try--the pass rate is just over 40%.) Now we have to take lessons and pass our practical exam, which is even more ridiculous than the written. Fortunately, we can safely drive on our American licenses for eight more months (presumably rendering the roads unsafe and endangering untold thousands as we do so...) so we can take a little break from our driving practice for the moment as we line up our lessons.

Anyway, a few weeks back, before I started memorizing tire-tread depths in all my free time, we went to Chepstow Castle in Wales. Every castle we've visited has had some unique or especially interesting feature. This castle was the kids' favorite so far, and I can't say I blame them for feeling that way, as it was pretty cool!

First, we parked the car. Eric, having practiced his manoeuvers for the upcoming practical driving test, managed to parallel park perfectly in a tiny city spot, so we got free parking! (On the test, if you hit the curb, or park more than twelve inches from the curb, you automatically fail. They bring a tape measure. That's not a joke.) Then we walked down this cute street of row houses, the charm of which this picture fails to capture:


The castle itself is the oldest post-Roman stone building in Britain. It was first built by a Norman lord, and remained in use as a defensive fortification until the 16th century, when it was mostly used as a house. It saw more action during the English Civil War, and then fell into disrepair.


You can see why they chose the site for the castle, surrounded as it is on two sides by the River Wye, and perched atop some pretty defensive-looking cliffs. I took the picture below from a window that overlooked the river and was used for supplying the castle from the river. They lowered a bucket (or something like that) down to the boats and raised up wheat, ale, etc.


The kids loved all the dark passageways and winding stairs of the castle, but my favorite feature was this totally amazing and well-preserved door. This was actually the front gateway to the castle. Can you see the little small-sized door for one person to sneak in and out of when they wanted to make sure the main doors were still closed? How cool is that? The door is 800 years old, and is the oldest wooden door in Europe!


This is the inner courtyard of the front part of the castle. We went up some pretty great spiral stairs to the top of that building you see ahead.


Here's another door on an inside room. Something about the climate or wood used here must have been especially conducive to durability, because in most of the castles we've visited all the wood has been mostly rotted away.


Here are some more pictures from various rooms inside the castle:




These people have a pretty cool view from their backyard!









See the pretty yellow flowers growing way up there?



We are going back to Wales this weekend, but I think we are going to check out some of the Roman ruins this time, because I've been focusing on Roman Britain with the kids, and have ordered some books from the library. It's always so fun to read and learn about something and then go there in person! That's one of my favorite things about living in Europe so far!

Comments

  1. Wow, 400+ pages of driving info! Congrats to you both for passing the written exam on the first try!
    Funny about the tape measure although I kind of appreciate being sticklers about the practical details given how in the Balkan countries, based on seeing how locals drive, I suspect there is not much emphasis on driver training nor enforcement of the rules. For example, in one village where we stayed the narrow one lane road was signed as being one way. When we were preparing to depart from our apartment we asked the host how to get out of town given the one way road. He said that while the road is a one way road, people often drive the opposite direction because there are no police and it’s sort of like the Wild West. Needless to say we chose to leave town in the correct direction.
    I continue to love seeing and hearing about your explorations, discoveries and adventures!

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, fortunately they have an abridged version you can buy (the whole process is intended to basically make money for the DVSA) so we studied that and it worked. I would appreciate the exactness of practical details if it actually related to driving in real life. But it totally doesn't. They test you on a particular way of driving and you automatically fail for a list of things that have nothing to do with safety (eg, hitting the curb when parking--that's what a curb is for!) And people here are crazy drivers after they pass the test. It's common knowledge that once people pass they ignore all the silly "driving for the test" tricks they learn. I bet the test is tricky in the Balkans too (although probably easier than the UK) but then ppl drive crazy afterwards...And if I had a license from Zimbabwe (where the test is easy to pass) I could just exchange it without a test. It's just the politics that mean we can't exchange our American ones (punishment for the Revolution! All the countries that didn't rebel can switch theirs!) I'll blog more about it all later...the whole process deserves a post in itself! In the meanwhile, we've resigned ourselves to hours of lessons and hundreds of pounds. (Oh, it's totally classist, too, b/c if you can afford to buy the study guide like us, it is easier to pass the theory...) I think the roads are safer here because of their good strict rules about drunk driving, and limits to how many tickets you can get and still drive more than their tests...But that's just a guess--maybe it is the test!?

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    2. P.S. And that one-way street story is funny! Reminds me of when we drove in Syria, and on the freeway a huge truck was barreling straight toward us on the wrong side of the road (courteously using the hard shoulder, but still!)

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    3. Thanks for elaborating, and I look forward to more!

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    4. Yes, there is lots to write about! We've found entire forums and articles on American expats and the silly test. The Wall Street Journal even had an article about it, about some guy who passed the practical test on his FIFTEENTH try! Oy. Here's hoping I can avoid double digits...

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