Belas Knap Long Barrow
“You’ve reached your destination” my SatNave told me so I dutifully pulled over on to the grass verge. Sceptically I got out of my car and had a look around. I was parked alongside what appeared to be a footpath so it was possible I was in the right place…
Not wanting to take too many chances I whipped out my mobile phone and looked up my position on Google Maps. It seems I was indeed the right area. With the aid of Google Maps I headed off in the right direction and began trekking up a hill…
The temperature gauge in my car showed minus 2 when I pulled up and the frozen and slippery ground I was walking on confirmed it was correct! After about 15 minutes of walking/slipping up the hill that was littered with fallen trees, I decided enough was enough and turned around and headed back towards the warmth of my car!
Belas Knap Long Barrow is quite literally in the middle of nowhere so after studying the map I decided to go at it from a different angle so I started up my car and carried on up the road.
As the road started getting narrower and narrower until it finally turned in to a single-track road, I began to wonder if I was actually going anywhere near where I wanted to be. Either side of the single-track road was a hedge which has sheltered the road from the morning sun so it was still covered in ice/slush – it was great fun wheel-spinning up a hill with a car right behind you!
When the single-track road went from being tarmac to a pot-hole ridden dirt track I decided enough was enough and I’d do a U-Turn when I could. Just as I found a suitable place to turn around I noticed a public footpath sign pointing towards Belas knap!
Hailes Abbey
On arriving at the remains of the Abbey I was met with a locked gate. On reading the sign it seems I was a bit early…
…three months too early!!!
Luckily there is a public footpath that runs along side the Abbey so I took a few photos from their.
Notgrove Long Barrow
In complete contrast to the Belas Knap Long Barrow that I visited earlier, Notgrove Long Barrow is nothing more than some sad remains of a former Long Barrow.\
Witcombe Roman Villa
I ended my day exploring parts of Gloucestershire by visiting the remains of Witcombe Roman Villa. Although it was afternoon the ‘morning frost’ was still on the ground so I had to be careful when walking down the hill to the ruins.
PHOTO GALLERIES
If you want to view the photo galleries then please click on the relevant link below:
