I was struggling financially, but my dream of visiting Vienna was beyond financial boundaries. As soon as I had extra money made from English teaching lessons, the first thing I wanted to do was to go to Vienna. The land of Mozart, Hitler, Freud and others. The land of beautiful buildings, castles, cathedrals and palaces.

The Journey

The excitement before the trip was tremendous. After living 6 harsh months in Slovakia, the feeling of going to Vienna was indescribable. The one-hour train trip to Vienna was in a nice train, in a somewhat cold March day. Looking from the window, I could see the famous windmills of Austria, and huge wild rabbits running on the Austrian fields. As we passed each village, and as the time passed, the excitement grew and grew, Vienna was closer and closer. The pictures of the city were all in my mind.

The Arrival

An hour later after leaving Bratislava, I got to Vienna, accompanied by a good friend who had been to Vienna before and was very kind to show me around. The train station Sudbanhof looked like many train stations in Europe, tough the language and atmosphere was very different. We decided to go around Vienna by foot, we were time Millionaires and going back soon was not our plan.

The first palace

Belvedere was our first stop, a 10-minute walk from Sudbanhon, Belvedere is a beautiful palace made into a museum, with a nice, well architected and maintained garden.

The city center

We continued our walk to the city center. 20 minutes passed and what I saw made my mouth open. The ST. Stephen's Cathedral in Stephanplatz. A colossal Roman-Gothic Cathedral built in 1147. Hundreds of people were contemplating it, while another bunch watched street shows around the square and horse carriages took some others for a city tour.

The Schonbrunn

Schonbrunn Palace has to be seen to be believed. Our long walk to the palace made our body and legs tired. Standing at the front gate, the palace reminded Belvedere. Tiredness was affecting my thinking and I was already thinking about my trip back to Bratislava. We went around the palace; I continued looking at the huge clay streets around the palace, and when we got to the back of the palace and looked straight at the garden, my eyes couldn't believe in that they were seeing. The view was something that has been in my head until now. Miles of flowers and green, in what seemed like going up into the sky, until it stopped in a beautiful fountain and some building which look like half of Parthenon. For over 5 minutes I couldn't take my eyes of it, and all the expectations I had about Vienna were found in this place.

The trip back to the train station was long. It was already dark, people commuted home, and the city was even more beautiful when lit up. My mission was accomplished; the historical atmosphere filled my soul. Vienna was not beautiful as many had said; it was much more than that. It was beautiful and enchanting, a perfect place to live. I was sure that I would go back, as I have done for many and many times. And each time I go there, I feel like it's the first time, because Vienna is magical, it's just a beauty.

A wooden fortress built by Ethelfleda, the eldest daughter of King Alfred, was replaced in the 11th century with a wooden motte and bailey structure and later, during the 13th and 14th centuries, with a stone castle. The visible remains today are largely the work of Roger de Mortimer who was created Earl of March in 1328. He managed to have a great influence on English history. 

Between the years 1321 and 1331 he rebelled against King Edward II, escaped from the Tower of London and went to France with his mistress, Queen Isabella, the King’s wife. They invaded England, deposed the King and plotted his murder at Berkeley Castle. Mortimer was later arrested by Edward III, son of Isabella and Edward II, and, despite the pleas of the Queen, executed at Tyburn in London.

My route to his castle passed by the church of St James parts of which date from the same period. Perhaps medieval knights and their ladies passed this way. A narrow steepening track bordered by bushes of sloe and rosehips crossed a field and led to a kissing gate blocked by three ponies eager to pass the time of day for a while before allowing me through.

I had to duck through the gateway as the original ground level is covered by several feet  of collapsed masonry from the upper storey. Some excavations were carried out in the 1990s and some consolidation of the ruins done for safety but the layout is fairly clear. English Heritage now maintain the site and I followed their paths through the bramble tangles and nettles to climb up the steep slope to the highest point.

I leaned on Mortimer’s stonework to get my breath back and felt relieved not to have had to run up carrying weapons or armour. Jackdaws quarrelled around the towering remains and a buzzard circled over the woods below. I remembered the rumours of a red kite’s nest up here last year when its site  was kept quiet to give the birds a chance.A robin sang in the ferns and bushes which now fill the moat. 

The day was bright, crisp and clear and looking from north round to east I could see flat fields and hedges ringed by higher ground. Twenty thousand years ago this basin was dammed at one end by ice to form a glacial lake.    

Turning from east to south I could see the roofs of the village through the woods. The low late afternoon sun made ripples of shadow across the fields and hills which run from the south through west to north.

Breathing and pulse back to near normal I looked down into the castle grounds. In 1330 Roger de Mortimer brought Queen Isabella here to enjoy tournaments and other entertainments. Before that, Henry III sought refuge here after escaping imprisonment in Hereford castle. Earlier still, William Rufus visited a castle on this site in 1089 and, even earlier, King Alfred’s daughter Ethelfleda came to the village. 

Little used after the 15th century the castle was ‘decayed’ by Parliamentarian troops to prevent its use by Royalists during the English Civil War.  The castle structure has been stabilised by English Heritage and is now displayed as a romantic ruin.

There is a feeling though, an essence if you like, of the ghosts of those important characters in English history and of great plans they made here. Standing on top of the remains of Mortimer’s castle you can sense the pageant as well as the intrigue of the royal court.  

                      Arthur's Stone

The mound, about 80 feet x 60 feet, covered 9 upright stones topped by a huge capstone. This is estimated to weigh about 25 tons but is now broken. The entrance passage has a right-angled bend which meant it looked out towards Hay Bluff at the end of the Black Mountains.

This tomb, and others, along with settlements along this eastern ridge had a commanding view over the whole valley and also of the Black Mountains. There may be some sort of symbolic importance as the sun sets behind the dark, brooding shadow on the horizon. The Neolithic, latest of the three Stone Ages, was also a period of gradual change from a hunter-gathering to a farming style of life.

A Neolithic settlement has been found situated near the ridge between Arthur's Stone and the nearby Cross Lodge Barrow. Within a stone walled enclosure, which had a wooden fence on top, fragments of pottery, storage pits, flints and polished stone axe fragments have been excavated.

It has been estimated that around 250 people lived along this eastern ridge of the Golden Valley at the time Arthur's Stone was built. They seemed to have used the valley sides for settlement and burials while the fertile wooded valley floor gave them deer and boar to hunt and nuts, fruits and berries to collect. This area was gradually cleared for their allotment-type agriculture.

The Bronze Age is represented in these valleys by barrows, cupmarks and standing stones and the neighbouring hill forts were probably constructed during the Iron Age although other earlier settlements may have existed on their sites. This part of England is particularly rich in hill fort remains. About 50 sites have been recognised so far.

The area wasn't always as peaceful as it seems now of course. The Celts and Romans clashed all along the border when charismatic leaders such as Caractacus led guerrilla-type warfare against the invaders. Then the Welsh, Anglo-Saxons and Normans fought over the land for many centuries as the number of ruined castles shows. These motte and bailey fortifications are scattered all along the valley and indeed over much of the surrounding countryside.

The typical Norman stronghold consisted of a great, sometimes moated, mound (the motte) with a wooden pallisade or tower, later in stone, on top and surrounded by one or more courts or baileys.

There were two Norman castles near the source of the river. At Newton Tump (tump means mound or heap in this part of the world) a castle guarded the western end of the valley and close by, at the Bage, a steep mound 180 feet by 150 feet at the base with some stones and traces of a bailey can still be seen.

The first village on the river is Dorstone which also had a castle. Standing on the bridge and looking upstream I have the church on my right and the lane leading up to the Pandy Inn on my left. The shallow river glides by clear and pure now but, according to the local story, 350 years ago it ran red with the blood of slaughtered soldiers.

In the year of 1651 King Charles and Cromwell fought the Battle of Worcester. The King lost the battle and the war and fled to France. There were a lot of Scots soldiers in his army. Many were killed or captured but some took flight and headed for these hills. A group found their way up this valley, the story goes, and stopped to rest by the river. You can imagine them lying on the grass and perhaps soaking their aching feet in the river. Tragically, just at that moment a passing Welsh force ambushed and slaughtered them all. Where they rested and died was called Scotland Bank and is still marked as such on the map today.

In 1170 Henry II, who had fallen out with his Archbishop of Canterbury, was reported to have raged, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” . Some in his court took that as a royal order and Sir Richard de Brito was one of the four knights who set off to kill Thomas a Beckett in Canterbury Cathedral. Sir Richard came to Dorstone in the 12th century to establish a chapel as penitence for his part in the murder. His chapel was probably added on to an existing church.

The building which now houses the Pandy Inn was also built in 1185 by de Brito to house the workers who were constructing the chapel. It became an inn in the 16th century and has a room where Cromwell is reputed to have slept.

There are no remains of Dorstone castle today but it was held from the late 12th century by the de Solers family. It was re-fortified in 1403 by Sir Walter Fitzwalter against the uprising led by Owain Glyndwr.

Glyndwr was born about 1350, studied law in London and even served in the English army. Then, in his late 40s, he began to resent the way the Welsh were treated by the English. Following a dispute with his English neighbour, Lord Grey of Rhuthin, he became a rebel with a cause. Hundreds of people flocked to join his uprising and several English castles were attacked and captured.

He established a Welsh parliament at Machynlleth in 1404 and was proclaimed Prince of Wales. His wife, two daughters and a grandchild were captured and taken to London where they died but he escaped to live out his days, it is thought, with his remaining family at Monnington Court, close to this valley in Herefordshire. His final resting place is still a subject of much speculation and his ghost is said to wander through several of the border castles he attacked.

A little way downstream from Dorstone and set on a promontory overlooking the river valley are the ruins of yet another castle. This was Snodhill castle and again was fortified against Glyndwr. Said to have been given to the Earl of Leicester by Queen Elizabeth I he wasn't impressed and it was a ruin by 1560.

St Peter and St Paul are said to have been travelling from Rome and came to the Welsh border near Hay-on-Wye. They parted at a place now known as Gospel Pass and St Peter found his way down the Golden Valley and, following the river Dore, came to a pleasant spot where he founded a church.The settlement that grew around it became Peterchurch. St Peter blessed a well at a nearby natural spring and here he baptised his converts.

      Peterchurch Church

There has probably been a church here at least since the time of King Offa. The Saxon altar with its incised crosses is still in place. The Normans built much of the present church and their skilful design makes the place look much larger inside than from the outside. A stone spire was built in the 14th century but removed for safety in the 1940's. The replacement is in fibreglass and was lifted into place in 1972. Close up it does look rather odd but from a distance, and it can be seen for miles up and down the valley, it is quite impressive.

Another odd feature is an effigy of a large fish with a gold chain round its neck which hangs over the south door inside the church. One story suggests the fish was caught in the Dore with its gold chain in place. Another legend says St Peter caught the fish, placed the golden chain round its gills and kept it in the Holy Well. The story could also just be another fisherman's tale.

During the 16th century channels were cut along the valley to improve irrigation and this is certainly a very prosperous looking area. The floor of the valley is a patchwork of fields of pasture and cereal crops while the wooded ridges on either side give shelter.

A short distance downstream from Peterchurch is a small bridge over the Dore at either end of which is a tiny village each with a church. Vowchurch and Turnastone are only about a quarter of a mile apart.

The story goes that there were two sisters living in Vowchurch who planned to build a church in their village. For some reason they quarrelled and each built a church on opposite banks. The older of the two is reported to have stated that she "vowed to build my church before you turn a stone of yours". Thus the villages were named Vowchurch and Turnastone. St Bartholomew's stands on the one river bank while a short distance over the bridge and up the lane at Turnastone is the simpler but no less peaceful St Mary Magdalene.

Another story involving Turnastone tells of a time during the medieval period when it was quite common to have rituals centered around springs, stones, hills and trees. The Bishop of Hereford in 1409 heard of the worship of a stone and well in the parish of Turnastone and issued a proclamation: “It has come to our ears, we grieve to say, from the report of many credible witnesses and the common report of the people, that many of our subjects are in large numbers visiting a certain well and stone at Turnastone in our diocese where with genuflections and offerings they without authority of the church wrongfully worship the said stone and well, whereby committing idolatry; when the water fails they take away with them the mud of the same and treat and keep it as a relic to the grave peril of their souls and a pernicious example to others. Therefore we suspend the use of the said well and stone and under pain of greater excommunication forbid our people to visit the well and stone for the purpose of worship.” This was ordered to be read in every church in his diocese.

We leave the valley floor with its pastures and the ruined motte and bailey castles for a short climb up to the ridge of its western side. Up here it is so tranquil now that you forget the fighting and killing that went on below. Here among the winding narrow lanes is one of Herefordshire's treasures. St Margaret's Church is situated in a peaceful and rather isolated spot with magnificent views all round. It appears from the outside to be a small, 12th to 13th century church, a simple, remote, low-roofed building with a wooden bell-turret at its western end. Very nice but nothing special you may think, just one like many others. Step inside and the first thing you see is the wonderful rood screen and loft.

The delicate carving is simply delicious. When made in about 1520 it would have been richly painted and gilded but it looks gorgeous as it is now, faded to a pale grey-brown with the passing of time. This was one of the poet, John Betjeman's, favourite churches but we wouldn't see it like this if someone hadn't ignored the orders sent out in 1547, after the Reformation, to destroy all such images. Fortunately someone had a love of beauty and craftmanship as powerful then as it is now.

The game of fives or handball was played against the north wall at one time. There was a painted red line on the wall about two feet off the ground and shutters covered the glass windows. Such games were popular when the church was a community meeting place rather than just for worship. Apparently the lads at Eton school think they invented the game.

Travelling back down to the river and the valley floor I came to Abbey Dore and the remains of its wonderful medieval Cistercian Abbey. There are records of religious buildings in this area since the 7th and 8th centuries. The Cistercians founded the Abbey in 1147 on land provided by Robert, Earl of Ewyas Harold. The present parish church is but the eastern end, consisting of the presbytery, crossing and transepts, of their Abbey.

                        Dore Abbey

The Abbey accumulated more land in the Golden valley and beyond. The Dore has very productive agricultural soil but the granges linked to the Abbey tended to concentrate on producing wool. The sale of wool paid for the building work. Thomas Cantilupe, the Bishop of Hereford, consecrated the church but after the Dissolution, Dore Abbey fell into ruin and much of the structure sold off. By 1632 it was used to shelter cattle.
John Viscount Scudamore was responsible for organising and paying for the restoration. He had become convinced by a run of bad luck in his family that he had to make amends for living off the proceeds taken from the former Abbey. The new church he restored was re-consecrated on Palm Sunday 1634.

Of particular note is the oak screen made by John Abel in the 1630's. He was the royal carpenter to King Charles I. Also the original medieval altar, now in its rightful place, which was found at a nearby farm where it had been used for salting meat and making cheese.

As the river Dore leaves the Golden Valley it joins the river Monnow and goes on to meet the river Wye at Monmouth. The remains of another castle overlooks a village and guards this end of the valley. This is Ewyas Harold. Ewyas meant “sheep area” and Harold held the castle near what is now known as the village of Ewyas Harold at the time of the Domesday Survey. He was the father of Robert who founded Dore Abbey but little else is known about him.

The Domesday Survey or Book referred to the day of judgement and was named so because the facts in it were not to be disputed. In each district a Commission took evidence on oath then used a jury to verify the facts.

They had to determine:
• The name of the place, who owned it both then and prior to 1066
• The size of the holding usually given in "hides" which were an area considered suitable to support one family and depended on agricultural conditions
• The number of freemen, serfs and slaves
• The extent of woodland, meadowland and pasture
• The number of mills and fishpools
• The number of plough teams (using eight oxen per team)
• What the value of the holding was before 1066, at 1066 and after 1066
• Any other information thought relevant such as customs and local taxes

There was a castle at Ewyas Harold before the Norman Conquest. Edward the Confessor who reigned from 1042 to 1066 and whose upbringing and attitude was at least as much Norman as English had allowed several Norman settlers to come to this area. Among them Ralph who became Earl of Hereford and built the first castle in that city.

Ewyas Harold castle was built on land taken from the Welsh and held by Osbern Pentecost who passed it to his nephew Alured de Merleberge who later surrendered it to the eponymous Harold.

The castle must have been an awesome sight. It is situated on the end of a spur of land overlooking the confluence of the rivers and the southern entrance to the Golden valley. It is still impressive today, with a huge mound or motte over 200 feet in diameter at its base and 100 feet across the top. The motte is now covered with trees, bushes, brambles and nettles but there would have been a bailey defended by slopes, ditches and ramparts and possibly an outer bailey to shield the original village.

This lovely gently rolling landscape lives up to its name, the Golden Valley, whatever the season. It is a place of traditional farms, quiet lanes, paths and bridleways where you can reconnect with nature but if you dig a little deeper you can indulge your sense of history too.

These are the Kerry Hills at the edge of the Clun Forest and the border between Wales and Shropshire is not far away. All is very quiet and peaceful today. It wasn't always so as like much of the border country between Wales and England it has seen some violent and bloody action in the past.

To the north and west and so towards Newtown in Powys and the hills of Wales I am looking over the valley of the River Severn. There are lots of small streamlets draining off these hills and running down to join the Severn but I am not going to be in their company today. It will be 80 miles (130km) and a drop of about 1600 feet (490m) before I see the River Severn again.

Turning my back on Wales, which is a safer thing to do nowadays than it was in the centuries past, I will follow more small dribbles and streams which, as they reach the valley floor below, become the River Teme.

The Teme is one of our most beautiful rivers and its clean pure water has made the whole river a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). This first upper section is fairly shallow and fast-flowing, bouncing over its stoney bed. Bushes line the banks and sheep drink from it while dippers and wagtails bob around hunting for food.

The young river runs down its open valley between rounded hills and past the villages of Felindre, Beguildy, Dutlas and Knucklas to cross the border into England near Knighton. This is sheep country and, with little industry along the banks of the river, agriculture and its related activities are the mainstay of the economy along with some retail and office work in the towns. It is also a place for artists, writers, walkers and a good many retired folk.

Knighton stands on the Dyke built by the Mercian King Offa. The Dyke is a long earthwork consisting of rampart and ditch which effectively defined the border between Wales and England. The Saxons and Welsh had fought over the town for many years but the Welsh held it when the Normans arrived around 1075 and built a stronghold nearby. The struggle between the Welsh and English for control of the area went on however. Llewelyn the Great ruled in 1215 then the Mortimers took control on his death in 1240. They were faced by a hostile Welsh population and Llewelyn II regained power but the
Mortimers came back. The revolt led by Owain Glyndwr in 1402 led to further battles.

Nowadays Knighton is a bustling market town with some very steep narrow streets and surrounded by hills and woods. It is an attractive and very popular place to visit.

A mile or so to the northwest is another mound, Knucklas Castle which legend suggests is the site of a castle built by the father of Guinevere. She and King Arthur were married here, or so it is said.
The valley closes in downstream of Knighton where the village of Brampton Bryan and its castle sits in the gap between Coxall Knoll and the hills of the Brampton Bryan Estate. Coxall Knoll, topped with an Iron Age hillfort, is one of several places claimed to be the place where the Celtic leader Caractacus fought his last battle against the invading Romans.

Caractacus, or Caratacos to his people and sometimes Caradoc to us, was a charismatic leader who united the many small Celtic tribes or family groups to fight the Romans. He was eventually defeated and captured then taken to Rome and paraded before the Emperor.

Brampton Bryan castle in the centre of the village guarded a very important route from Ludlow up the Teme Valley past Knighton and so into central Wales. There is evidence of the occupation of this area in Roman times and several Iron Age hill forts can be found within a few miles radius. Saxons and Normans hunted in the forests and the area was also the haunt of Edric the Wild. He was a local folk-hero who fought just about anyone and everyone whenever he felt like it. Sometimes he fought with the Welsh, sometimes with the Normans and other times against both. Brampton Bryan was recorded in the Domesday Survey as belonging to Ralph de Mortimer. In 1172, Hugh de Mortimer and Bryan de Brampton founded the Abbey at Wigmore.

The River Teme near Brampton Bryan

The Mortimers were a powerful, land-grabbing family some of whom married into Welsh families. Gwladys, a daughter of Llywelyn the Great was a Mortimer bride. Some might say this was a cynical way to pacify the Welsh but it worked the other way too. Owain Glyndwr captured Edmund Mortimer and pursuaded him to marry one of his daughters before releasing him.
The family were major castle-builders in the Marches and some of them are particularly associated with Wigmore castle nearby. The visible remains at Wigmore today are largely the work of Roger de Mortimer who, created Earl of March in 1328, managed to have quite an effect on English history.

Between the years 1321 and 1331 he rebelled against Edward II, escaped from the Tower of London and went to France with his mistress, Queen Isabella, the King's wife who was known as "The She-Wolf of France". They invaded England, deposed the King and plotted his murder at Berkeley Castle. For three years after the murder of Edward II, Isabella and Mortimer ruled as Regents.
As soon as he achieved his majority in 1331, Edward III, son of Isabella and Edward II, had Mortimer arrested and, despite the pleas of the Queen, had him hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn.
Edward spared his mother a similar fate but banished her to Castle Rising in Norfolk where she spent her last 27 years, never seeing her son again.

The 13th century castle at Brampton Bryan was built by another Bryan but then his line died out without male issue. Margaret de Brampton married Robert Harley in 1309. The Harley family which also gave its name to Harley Street in London has owned the estate and lived in the village for the 700 years since. Fighting during the English Civil War almost destroyed the castle but some remains dating from the 13th to 17th centuries have been maintained in the gardens of the present house.

Most of Herefordshire's great families were Royalists but Sir Robert Harley was an exception. He spent much of his time in London dealing with parliamentary duties leaving his wife Lady Brilliana to run the family and the village. A royalist force surrounded the castle in July 1643 and Lady Brilliana took the entire village into her home for protection. There was just one casualty among the castle's defenders but they killed about 60 of the royalist army. The royalists withdrew and Lady Brilliana's fame spread far and wide. The strain weakened her however and she died a month or so later.
The castle was finally taken in the spring of 1644, sacked, burned and left a ruin but when the royalist cause was finally lost the Harleys claimed compensation and received the then huge sum of £13,000. A few years later, during the 1660's Sir Edward Harley built a new house which was incorporated into the present home of the Harleys in Brampton Bryan.

The river used to run south from here but twenty thousand years ago the area near Wigmore was dammed at one end by ice to form a glacial lake which blocked its route. Eventually the Teme forced its way to the north-east and now flows quietly on its present course. A few miles further
downstream it is joined by the River Clun also flowing down from the Kerry Hills. Together they flow under the bridge at Leintwardine, claimed to be the site of the Roman outpost of Bravonium.

The Bridge at Leintwardine

The Roman army had a hard time with the Silures tribe hereabouts and it is unclear whether Leintwardine was primarily a civilian or military settlement. It was certainly on Watling Street, an important Roman road, and a staging post on the route between the main Roman cities of Chester (Diva) and Caeleon (Isca) in South Wales. Some of the foundations of the Roman Town are covered by the church now but some years ago a stone believed to be from an altar to Jupiter was found.

Today Leintwardine is a lively village with a nationally famous butchers shop, one of the best unspoilt pubs you will find in Britain and a resident coracle maker. The river, sometimes slow, sometimes rattling over gravel beaches and rocks meanders on through lush farmland and woods towards Ludlow. Its waters are still pure and clear and now there are signs that otters have returned. These waters, the Leintwardine Fishery, are jealously guarded by anglers.

There have been many industries based in the woodland here. Coppicing produced wood for charcoal to fuel iron making which went on here from Elizabethan times and many oaks were felled to build ships. It took 40 to 50 acres of oak wood to produce a ship of the line in the 18th century.

Just downstream from Leintwardine the river enters the Downton gorge with more traces of Roman occupation but this area is better known for its iron-master, Richard Knight. Richard Knight was born and raised in Shropshire and having started building his fortune in the iron trade, married and moved to this corner of the Teme valley. At that time iron was produced using charcoal burnt in small furnaces having bellows worked by water power. This area with its coppice wood and the river was perfect.

The local industry had been started by the Earl of Essex in about 1595. The Harleys of Brampton Bryan were also involved. Richard Knight made a huge fortune and became one of the great names among ironmasters. He also owned two furnaces in Shropshire, one in Staffordshire and was owner or shared in almost all the ironworks in Worcestershire. His descendents went on to buy more land and estates including nearby Croft Castle and one of them, Richard Payne Knight, built a huge stone castle on the hill above Knight's original Bringewood Forge at Downton and landscaped the grounds in the picturesque fashion of the time.

Richard Knight died in 1749 and there are some wonderful cast iron tombs of the Knights which can be seen at the church in nearby Burrington. The manor of Burrington was held by Edric the Wild at the time of the Domesday Survey.

The Teme, here the scenic haunt of otters and kingfishers, sweeps calmly on. Sometimes it moves peacefully along green leaf-reflecting stretches where you can see coiling weeds and the shadows of ripples on the stoney bed. Other times it speeds up and there are small whirlpools where the water flows over underwater rocks or spills over small weirs or ledges of rock. The occasional heron surrounded by gnats and dragonflies stands watching the water .

Archaeological digs have found signs that people have been living at Bromfield for the past 5,000 years. There were beakers and pits from the Neolithic Period and a Bronze Age cemetery. The Romans had a large marching camp here around 48-75AD and an Anglo-Saxon cemetery has also been found. A Benedictine Priory was founded in the 12th century but only a gatehouse added in the 14th century remains. Nowadays the river is joined here by the River Onny and flows by some restaurants, outliers of Ludlow's food culture, and then on past one of the most magnificent sights on its whole route.

Ludlow Castle and Weir

Ludlow castle was begun by one of those Marcher Lords, Roger de Lacy, in the 11th century then enlarged during the 14th century to become a magnificent palace for one of the most powerful men in England at the time, Roger Mortimer. He's the one from Wigmore Castle mentioned previously. You can imagine the medieval pagent and ceremony that took place here. The castle came into the hands of Richard, Duke of York, in the 15th century and became embroiled in the Wars of the Roses. There was a major battle a few miles away at Mortimers Cross when in February 1461 the Yorkist army under Edward, Earl of March defeated the Lancastrians. He was soon to become Edward IV and in 1472 he imprisoned the two princes, who later became known as the "Princes in the Tower", at Ludlow castle. For many years this was also the centre of government for Wales and the Border Counties.

In 1501 Prince Arthur, brother of Henry VIII, lived here with his bride, Catherine of Aragon, before his tragically young death and later between 1525 and 1528 Queen Mary Tudor spent three winters at the castle. Ludlow castle fell into decay after all this activity until bought by the Earl of Powis in 1811 and it remains in his family.

Ludlow is one of those places that seems to have everything needed for the good life. It is a working town serving a large rural area yet is "steeped" in history and tradition. Perhaps I should say "marinated" as it has become renowned for good food and slow living. It has all the arts and heritage you could need, lots of small shops and businesses and the view from Ludford bridge upstream or down could not be bettered. There were watermills here to provide power to process local wool and overlooking the river is Whitcliffe Common where fossils show it was once part of a tropical sea in the Palaeozoic period.

The river is very much a part of Ludlow although fishermen and canoists compete for the space. A favourite kayak trip is to launch over the bank below the castle, pass through several rapids and over weirs, under the busy A49 and railway line to finish at Ashford Carbonell where a small but dangerous weir usually means lifting out for a lunch break. With any luck at appropriate times of the year you may see salmon leaping the weirs in the opposite direction.

Ashford Carbonell was named from the Carbonel family of Normans but there has been a ford here for much longer. It is now a quiet, peaceful village but was once on the pack-horse route from Wales to the river Severn at Bewdley.

Just downstream is the tiny village of Ashford Bowdler with its church, St Andrews, perched high on the river bank. So close to the bank was it in fact that in 1906 the entire chancel collapsed into the river. The chancel was rebuilt but by 2001 it became obvious that major work was needed. A new enlarged retaining wall had to be built to encase the original one to make the church safe.

The river passes Little Hereford where St Mary Magdalene church has a marvellous Norman tower and Burford's gardens to flow under the medieval bridge, which was updated by Telford following flood damage in 1795, at the "Town in the Orchards", Tenbury Wells. As well as its fame for fruit trees the town became popular for the mineral waters discovered in the 1840's. James Cranston designed the Pump Rooms in the 1860's and Tenbury Wells thrived. The apples, pears, plums and quinces may not be harvested so much now but a fine crop of mistletoe and holly is auctioned each Christmas.

Just a little way downriver from Tenbury Wells the river runs close to the A456 and driving here just after dark one evening I glimpsed a blur of brown feathers, a Tawny Owl, and felt it skid across the roof of the car. I stopped and went back to check if it was hurt but couldn't see it on the road. Hearing a rustle of leaves in the tree overhead I looked up then dodged smartly to one side as a load of owl-poo hit the ground. I'm not sure if it was a nervous reaction from the owl or an act of revenge but he seemed ok so I left the scene quickly.

Much of the river here is claimed by one fishing organisation or another and one treads quietly and carefully along the bank when anglers descend for competions. The coarse fishing is excellent and the Teme is famed for its barbel. I have never met a fisherman who is also a canoist. The two are utterley incompatible. Neither can see the point of the existence of the other. It is a pity as a canoe would be the perfect vessel to explore this part of the river but anglers always seek to ban them.

The Shelsley Walsh area certainly isn't quiet, at least not on race days. This is the venue for the oldest motorsports-venue-still-held-on-its-original-course in the world. The noise is incredible when cars accelerate from 0 to 140mph while climbing the steep hill which they can do in 20-odd seconds. Some cars, the historic ones, do it just a little more slowly.

The river glides on through a lovely deep lush valley with high banks on each side and passes ancient churches and old houses in charming villages favoured by the retired as well as those who commute into Worcester or even Birmingham. This is a floodplain and floods are becoming more frequent. Tenbury Wells knows this to its cost having suffered flooding on many occasions. Most habitation keeps its distance, the river being overlooked by villages like Clifton on Teme, originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement on an old salt route between Droitwich and Leominster. Then Martley with its Norman church and the birthplace of Charles Hastings, founder of the British Medical Association.

These seemingly timeless rich fertile fields of pasture, cereals and hops have been farmed for centuries. Knightwick, for example, was granted to the church in Worcester in 851 by Beorhtwulf, King of Mercia and earlier still in about 786 land at Broadwas was granted to the same chuch by another King of Mercia, Offa. He of the Dyke back near Knighton. Broadwas is in a loop of the river which sometimes floods the nearby meadows. The church of St Mary Magdalene sitting in a hollow near the river has traces remaining from 1170. The villages of Upper Wick, Lower Wick and Rushwick are on the edge of the flood meadows where fertile soils supported orchards, hop fields and smallholdings. Several cider mills were in action near Broadmore Green.

The Battle of Worcester took place in 1651. The Royalists waited in this area near the Teme for the Parliamentarians to arrive. Cromwells strategy was to cross the Teme and cut off any Royalist escape to the west then force them into the city where they would be surrounded. The Parliamentarian army crossed the Teme probably at a loop in the river near Bransford Court and the Royalists were soon in retreat. This was crucial to the outcome of the battle and so to the history of the British Monarchy.

On and around Powick Bridge, further downstream on the Teme, had been the scene of the first skirmish between Royalists and Parliamentarians on 23rd September 1642. This was also the site of the last major battle on 3rd September 1651. Cromwell had sent reinforcements over bridges of boats built near the confluence of the Teme and Severn. His greater numbers and superior tactics eventually defeated the Royalist army many of whom were from Scots regiments. These Scots were involved in the fighting at Powick Bridge and many were killed. Somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 Royalists were killed along with about 700 of Cromwell's army during the Battle of Worcester. About 10,000 Scots were taken prisoner and many transported to the New World. Some escaped and made off to the hills in the west. A group of them are said to have followed the River Dore up the Golden Valley in Herefordshire and stopped to rest by the river. You can imagine them lying on the grass and perhaps soaking their aching feet in the river. Tragically, just at that moment a passing Welsh force ambushed and slaughtered the lot of them. Where they rested and died was called Scotland Bank and is still marked as such on the map today.

The Memorial Plaque on Powick Bridge

It seems likely that apart from a few small craft and ferries the only commercial traffic on the Teme was along the short stretch between Powick and the Severn. The Bishop of Worcester owned two watermills in this area from 1086 which were involved in grinding grain to make flour.
There was a coal wharfe near Powick bridge and in the 18th century pig iron was carried up to a forge at Powick Mill. Large water-powered hammers were used to turn out bar iron much in demand for the emerging industries of the period.

By about 1760 they were producing sheets and rods of iron to supply, among others, the nail making factories. During the 19th century a mill here was used to grind materials for Worcester porcelain. A hydro-electric power station was built next which helped to light the streets and homes of Worcester from 1894 onwards. It was the largest power station of its type when opened and was later extended to include coal-fired steam turbines as well for when the water levels were too low.
This last section of the river now flows between high banks with flotsam stuck in the bushes after the floods, lots of rippling swirls and eddies and the wind ruffling its surface with catspaws.

Leaving thoughts of fighting and flooding, castles and commerce behind, I have come to sit on the bank where the Teme and Severn meet. The water simmers and whirls where their currents meet. I can hear the sound of the water flowing past, feel the wind blowing through the bushes and hear birds singing. A kingfisher just flew past, a tiny missile, a small slither of a rainbow shooting upstream. Sir Edward Elgar sat here listening to just these sounds and taking in the same sights (perhaps without the large plastic powerboat that just went by) while thinking about his latest composition. He loved this place so much that at one time he requested his body be cremated when he died and the ashes scattered at the confluence of these two rivers.

In the event he was buried next to his wife at St Wulstan's Church in nearby Malvern Wells. His birthplace at Lower Broadheath is also just a short distance away.

A large fish breaks the surface in the evening light and leaves a glittering sparkling shimmering swirl of water in its wake, just gentle bands of bright water spreading out as some swallows sweep by but such a beautiful and gentle end to my journey.

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After the defeat of Napoleon who had annexed the Principality, it became a sovereign country in 1806. To save costs, the army was abolished in 1868. Liechtenstein was a natural ally of the Austrian Empire up to its dissolution in 1918. After that, Liechtenstein got closely linked to Switzerland, using the Swiss Franc as currency and entering into a customs union with Switzerland. Liechtenstein depends on the Swiss army for its defence, though there is no formal treaty to that effect.

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The Prince and his family live and reside in Vaduz Castle above the capital. The Princes moved to Vaduz in 1938 permanently, before that they resided in one of their Czech or Hungarian Castles. The capital of Vaduz has 5,000 inhabitants and has an excellent art museum showing part of the princely art collection.

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Liechtenstein is one of those famous tax havens. Due to the German government involving itself in Liechtenstein internal politics, a major diplomatic impasse has been reached last year. As a direct result, all art works owned by the Prince have been repatriated from Germany and loan agreements with museums cancelled. The major income in Liechtenstein is still from banks and trusts.

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The language spoken is Alemannic, national language is German. It is the only country in the world with only German as a national language. Liechtenstein is a member of the United Nations. Liechtenstein has accredited only seven ambassadors worldwide; otherwise the Swiss ambassadors double in for both countries. Liechtenstein athletes on an international level usually form part of the Swiss national team in the same sport. The Football (Soccer) Club of Vaduz plays in the Swiss Superleague (Premier).

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To confuse the unwary, there are several Liechtenstein connotations due to a thousand years of family history. The Castle of Liechtenstein is situated near Vienna in Austria and belongs privately to the princely family since 1806. It had been the family seat until 1300 when it was sold. There is a new Castle of Liechtenstein just near the original one built in 1820 by the princes, but this has been sold to the local community. And last but certainly not least, there is Liechtenstein Palace in Vienna, Austria, which is owned by the Prince and run as an art museum, showing the greater part of the princely collection.

Friendly People

Many visitors to Scotland comment on the friendliness of the people in contrast to their visits to other parts of Britain which shall remain nameless. The country has its fair share of crime, particularly in the city areas, but assuming you do not wander around at night alone, you should enjoy a trouble-free visit. You will find people to be helpful and friendly in the disposition and very down to earth.

Beautiful Scenery

The Highlands are outstanding for scenery and well worth a visit. The mountains are majestic and the panoramic views that open up to you are breathtaking. There is so much to see on a round trip of Scotland with the opportunity to vist castles and distilleries which are dotted around the entire country.

Home of Golf

Scotland is famous as the Home of Golf with the main attraction for visitors being the Old Course at St Andrews. The area of St Andrews is a very pleasant place to visit and all the more so if you have a keen interest in golf as there are five main courses in one area.

Scotland is a place that will not disappoint should you decide to visit. With so many sights to see and historical background, it has so much to offer that more than makes up for the bad weather experienced throughout the year.

Arran is a small island, 20 miles long and 56 miles round, located off the south-west coast of Scotland.

Ferries run from the Scottish mainland to the Isle of Arran. Most people reach the island via Ardrossan which has a direct rail service from Glasgow.

The history of Arran is of strong interest to local Archeologists, tourists, and residents.

The first people on Arran to leave visible signs of their life and times here were the Neolithic people, who lived on the island in the period between 4,500BC and 2,000BC. They were farmers, and traces of their field systems have been found on Arran. However, they have left their most distinct legacy on Arran in the form of stone circles, standing stones and cairns. We do not know what these monuments were used for, but it is safe to assume that they had some kind of ceremonial function.

Machrie moor standing stones is a small ancient circle protected by a stone wall. Continue on the footpath and you will reach the main site, three-quarters of a mile across the fields.

Robert Pollock has produced an excellent guide with diagrams which details these and other circles on this site. Two of the circles have recently been excavated, and the amount of peat growth over the original prehistoric ground surface can be seen as a tidemark on the stones. Indeed one of the circles had completely disappeared under the peat.

Druid Stone is likely to be a Neolithic or Bronze age stone, despite its local association with the Iron Age priesthood. A druid was a member of the priestly and learned class in the ancient Celtic societies of Western Europe, Britain and Ireland.

Ruins of Lochranza Castle are located north of Brodick.

It features the striking ruins of a 14th century castle, a former hunting lodge of the Scottish Kings.

It has been claimed that Lochranza Castle has literary connections, being used as the basis for the castle in the Tintin adventure "The Black Island".

Brodick Castle is made up of red sandstone and it lies at the foot of Goatfell Mountain 1.5 miles out of Brodick; the main port on the Isle of Arran off the west coast of Scotland.

The name Brodick comes from the Norse words, meaning 'broad bay'. Arran means 'peaked island' in Gaelic.

It's a fascinating Island filled with mysteries and folklore. Visit now before the times destroy it.

In North Africa, there are 80 blocks of such pyramids scattered around the Egypt's Nile River, which have become one of the most miraculous places in the world. The highest pyramid called Cheops Pyramid and it was build by overlapping pile of boulders together. In the making of pyramids, Egyptians were not using any adhesive, glue or nails to attach the pile of boulders and one could even hardly find cracks or gaps among the rocks or stones from the overlapping plot. Nevertheless, the structure is extremely firm and strong that the sharp blades or swords could not even pass through. In addition, Egyptian Pyramids have experiencing 5,000 years of strong wind's erosions and yet these artifacts are remained not touch by the nature. They appeared to stand alone like warriors in the desert. These towering pyramids are such spectacular and superior buildings human had ever made on the Earth.

This is a mysterious place encountered in the Antarctic Island. People call it “a dry valley with no snow cover.” Antarctic is a place with fewer inhabitants and dwellers and thus some unexplainable phenomenon happenings in Antarctica remain mystery to the outsiders. Approximately 14 million square kilometers of the total area of the Antarctic continent have the snow cover. When viewing from the high sky, the central of the Antarctic is like a pot's lid plateau. Most of the areas vividly have their surfaces covered with snow with its thickness reaching 2000m and sometimes may attain the thickness up to 4,800m. In winter, the surrounding ice combines with the ice from the ocean to form up one smooth, large plateau to which people can hardly distinguish between the land and the sea.

Bermuda Triangle is located in Western North Atlantic, which comprises of seven major islands, 150 small islands, some islands composed of reefs group. Any high-tech devices or equipments will become malfunction when reaching this mysterious place and thus the survivors may have encountered problems to communicate with the outside world. Because of its extremely mysterious characteristic, people have called this place as a devil triangle.

In China, people have named this desert as “Moguicheng” or a city of devil. “Moguicheng” is famous in Xinjiang, China. When someone is strolling towards the castle in a sunny day accompanying with a gentle blowing breeze, one may heard a nice rhythm coming from the distance. The melodies are just like 10 million shaking bells, and sometimes one may feel the music like gentle flicking of 10 million guitars' strings. However, when cyclones come, bulks of sands are rising up in the sky by the strong winds, the sky turns pitch dark suddenly like a hell, and the nice music no longer heard but turns into strange sounds. The sounds resemble the roaring of the tigers, trumpeting of the elephants, and sounds by pigs that are being slaughtered, babies' crying, shouting of the women who are going to die, and alternately the sounds change to shouting, mourning and quarreling. The storms are then swirling aggressively by shooting up to the sky accompanying by terrified wolf growling sounds in the cloudy nightfall. People are wandering who had built this city and where do the sounds come from?

This island is legendary full of Surreptitious and specter. Westerners prefer sailing by venturing many historically strange events occurred here in the history of seafaring. In 1707, the British captain of the Andean Julius had discovered this land; however, it was strange that he could hardly reach this land. He later affirmed that this was not an optical illusion, so he marked the “land” on the map. 200 years later, the admiral Makaluofu and his inspection team who were sailing to the North Pole on their icebreaker vessel called "Ye Ermake," accidentally came across this piece of land. In 1925, Navigator called Woershi, too, passed through this land and he memorized the outline of the land. Nevertheless, the investigation team comprising of scientists, who sailed to this land in 1928 never found any islands as claimed by the previous navigators.

This place is located in Henan, China, and local people called it “bingbing bei” or the back of the ice. When midsummer approaches, people tend to move to places that are cool and refreshing. Although the change of four seasons, namely summer, autumn, spring and winter is an unchangeable law, in certain parts of the world, this theory seems not to be applicable. They are some fortunate people live in “warm” zone. This phenomenon is applying to people dwelling in the eastern mountain areas of Liaoning Province, China. They are experiencing warm temperature while other areas of China are experiencing the changes of seasons. Thus, this area has named after this phenomenon as "temperature anomaly zone." This "geothermal anomaly zone" extends from 1.5m out of the town of the left riverbank of Hunjiang to the end part of the right riverbank of Hun River and to the foothills near Guandian Province. The entire length for this "temperature anomaly zone" is approximately 15km, occupying the areas of approximately 106,000 square meters. The advent of summer is always accompanying with a decline of temperature in the area of "temperature anomaly zone." When the temperature reaches as high as 30 degree Celsius during the summer, the temperature is minus 12 degree Celsius at one-meter deep into the underground of this area, and the ice froze underground. When someone dips a drop of water one-meter deep into the underground of this area, the water will immediately turn into ice.

Shennongjia is located at the intersection of Sichuan, in Hubei zone, with the meeting of two rivers, namely China's Yangtze River and Hanjiang River. This region comprises an area of 3,250 square kilometers, accounting for more than 85 % of woodland. The average elevation is 1,700m, with the highest point of 3,105 meters, and with the characteristic of various types of climate. When speaking of Shennongjia, people here will think of “savage.” Since ancient times, large numbers of documentations have revealed the existence of savage roaming around this area. Legendary, people could even hardly identify the authenticity of the savage. The effort of collecting evidence on the existence of savage was initiating by the relevant departments from 1977 to 1980. They had collected savage hairs, footprints and feces left by the savage. This proved to us that a kind of bizarre animal might have existed in Shennongjia not long ago.

This is the famous ancient city of Teotihuacan in America, which called “death to the road.” This region stretched from a so-called main road of “death to the road” to the north-south roadway. In the tenth century AD, Ards heroes who were the earliest team walking along this way leading to a castle found nobody in the city, and thus they believed that the buildings on either side of the road were gods' tomb lands. In 1974, a Mexican person called Dayton • Halisi said that he had found a suitable unit measurement for all these streets and buildings at this city at the International American meeting. This unit length is 1.059m using a calculation from a computer. For example, the units for the Teaodiwakan snake temple, the moon and the Sun Pyramid is the height of 21, 42, and 63 "units" respectively with the ratio of 1:2:3 based upon the ancient calculation.

People not allowed entering this Kunlun Mountains as its name suggested as "The Gates of Hell." This valley is a death valley, which further claims the Kunlun Mountains "The Gates of Hell." The remains found in this valley were the furs, bones, skeletons of wolves, bears and hunters and some scattered lonely tombs, rendering the world in the death of a ghastly terrifying atmosphere. The Xinjiang Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources of a geological team in China had recorded a true story in the year of 1983 on a group of hungry horse that was grazing the grass and disappeared suddenly in the "The Gates of Hell." A herdsman went into the prohibited area of "The Gates of Hell" to search for his horse. After few days, he was found missing but the horse emerged at the foothill of Kunlun Mountains. Later, the herdsman was found lying on a small hill with his clothes badly torn off, barely footed, eyes widely opened with an angry look, a shotgun gripping in one of his hands showing that he was reluctantly to die. The miraculous thing was that no wounds or signs found around his body to show that he had attacked.

Canada Niagara Falls is the world's most mysterious places in the world. Niagara Falls constitutes a part of Canada and the border of United States, the New York State and Ontario, Canada, separating from the Niagara River by flowing northward from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario with a total length of nearly 30 miles. Located in the north, covering an area of 250,000 square miles, Niagara Falls is a smooth exit to these lakes. Its maximum water flow reaches 250,000 cubic feet per second. Niagara Falls is indeed very awesome.

This Geysering is a magical spring found in the upper part of the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet, China. The spring bursts out in a short while and stops for a while before following by other bursts. The burst goes on, stops and goes on. In other words, its eruption cycle is continuous for a few minutes, auto stop after a few dozen minutes; and followed by another burst and so forth. It bursts like an eruption with a huge, shocked sound. It vents out some high temperature steam from the mouth of the spring. The spring then expands immediately into one to two meters in diameter, and rushes out as water column as high as 20m into the sky. In addition to China's Geysering, in the place near Reykjavik, capital of Iceland, the Geysering is renowned in the world with its diameter of 20m. When there is drizzling rain, this water column can even soar up as high as 70m into the sky.