Down in Nemphett Trubwell

 If you find life a race, you just can't stand the pace,
Come with me to the West Country - the perfect hiding place:
Pack your bags, and make your way to Somerset, and I will lay Ten to one you'll wanna stay down in Nempnett Thrubwell


Well with a name like that who can resist Nemphett Thrubwell? Especially with a barrow nearby called Fairy Toot! The name is evocative and it's said to be the haunt of fairies and goblins. Not that there were any in evidence today. If they had any sense they were all somewhere much warmer...

The Fairy Toot is extremely badly damaged and no virtually unfindable ( I'm reasonably confident but not 100%) that this is it. Originally it was a large chambered longbarrow but its just a low mound now with some ash trees on the top of it.


There were snow flurries beating down so we beat a hasty retreat and on to Felton Common. A quick dash across the top of the common down into Felton for some lunch and then a more leisurely re-ascent on to the common.

This is now a nature reserve but it's too early in the year for much to be seen.

There are large rocks scattered about, many buried in the undergrowth and an unusual pair of linked bowl barrows both surrounded by ditches.







Some of the locals were about  - including this rather cold looking buzzard who was kind enough to pose nicely for me








Back down now and headed for home via the famed Nempnett Thrubwell.  The village, such as it is, is just a collection of farms and houses spread over a maze of minor roads and an evocatively named "Awkward Lane"! 

 The church is above the rest of the village and I'm just glad we didn't meet any traffic coming the other way... Couldn't go in as the building was locked.

A bit of a let down really - no frogs as big  as dogs or pigs doing Irish jigs to be seen! Or at least not today!

Turkish Delight - A city to launch a thousand ships

Ever since I read the tales of this city it is a place I have longed to visit. As a child I never thought I'd ever have the opportunity so whilst in Turkey this was the must see and personally the highlight of the whole trip.

Where then? Well if the post title hasn't given it away then this will...

 Yes - unmistakably Troy. This (rather dreadful) horse was put up to give the visitors something to photograph... You can if you want to climb up inside and stick your head out of the body. We didn't bother but it took a while to be able to get a clear shot like this.

 With some high anticipation I was half expecting the site itself to be a bit of an anticlimax but it was far from that.

True, the remains are less spectacular than some of the sites but given the quality of the "reconstruction" we saw elsewhere this was no bad thing.

The site is huge. And overgrown. But that didn't matter.

We saw red squirrels playing in the trees and tiny tortoises bathing in the hot sun.

 
Some areas are much tidier - a testament to the destructive archaeology of some of the earliest excavators who were seeking the legendary treasures of Troy.





Troy was indeed fabulously wealthy thanks to it's control of the shipping in the Aegean. If the winds were unfavourable as they often were, ships would have to remain in  port at Troy until they were able to proceed - sometimes months. This added to the wealth of the inhabitants.

Troy is actually multiple cities, in fact 9 of them, all piled on top of each other and the archaeology is confusing. Even the pros have to label each layer!

How anyone could say that there is nothing to photograph beats me  - this is the ramp into the pre homeric Troy 2.

and of course the inevitable amphitheatre! (Roman, Troy IX)