Three Circles and a wedding

Visitors for the weekend- keen walkers like us so where do we go?

Wheather isn't great and they need to be off soon after lunch for a long drive home so it has to be nearby. There is a lovely circular walk taking in Stanton Drew stone circles and the viaduct at Pensford ( one of the party is abridge designer...) which we've done a couple of times so why not again

We parked the car in Stanton Drew and inspected the circles with our friends who had never seen them before.

There are a number of local tales attached to these stones. The most common tells how a wedding party was turned to stone by the devil for dancing on a Sunday. The devil disguised as a fiddler played on after midnight and the  wedding party were turned into stone as dawn broke. The dancers are represented by the 3 circles and the Cove ( actually believed to be the remains of a chambered tomb)  is the bride and the groom with the drunken churchman lying at their feet!. They are still awaiting the Devil who promised to come back someday and play again for them.

On from Stanton Drew to Pensford to marvel at the brick and stone viaduct. I wasn't the only one taking pictures now! The viaduct is just over 300 metres long and approximately 29 metres high. It is now disused but remains an impressive monument to Victorian engineering. Built in 1873 it was closed in 1968 following saftey concerns after severe flooding in the area.

Coming out of Pensford  is the one killer hill on this walk which goes up towards Norton Malreward ( named by a disgruntled Crusader  who was not too pleased by this gift from the king!) and then skirts past Maes Knoll Tump before descending slowly back to Stanton Drew. Lovely views of the  circles but it was too murky unfortunately to get any clear shots today.



Almost  time for lunch at the Druids Arms but just time first  for a look at the Cove in the back garden (yes the trees are in leaf-  this photo was  taken last summer!)