A Ramble Around The 18th Century Kymin And Checking Out The Suck Stone!
We go for a lovely ramble that takes in The Kymin and the suck stone!
The Kymin
So we’re off on a walk around the kymin, which is a folly type structure above Monmouth.
It’s got something called the naval temple.
The folly was erected by some Lords who wanted somewhere to picnic and
party, so they had a structure built.
It is owned by the National Trust, and you can go inside, but from the photos it doesn’t look particularly big.
But what we like about the Kymin is aesthetics from the outside and the landscape.
And the landscape is quite pretty.
Very pretty in fact.
It’s got, at the minute,
lots and lots of snowdrops.
Which is nice.
And a walk around it.
Which, today we’re embarking on now.
So come join us arouuund the Kymin.
going for a walk
Well, we’re going for a bit of a circuitous walk.
We’re in the Forest of Dean today.
There’s a chill in the air and as you can see beautiful sunlight, nice sky, and that thing there.
And that’s the Kymin.
It’s a folly, basically.
A bunch of people thought ‘you know what, it’s nice up here, you can have picnics.’
So they did.
Because picnics are something that happens outside, they decided, ‘no- we shall have none of this’ we shall build a house so that we can have picnics inside.’
Ludicrous if you ask me But, it is a stunning view.
Start of the path.
This is the start of the path, I don’t know quite which way we’re going yet, but this is the start of it.
I do like a nice spot of woodland and this is a really stunning spot of woodland.
It’s just the way the trees are all bendy and the rocks are covered in moss.
Happy Jo.
Nice shot of me, woweeeeur
On to the Suck Stone!
Come on then!
Lost Again.
So, as is our wont, we started off going the wrong way again.
Maybe I should read the map.
I mean, my directions are pretty bad but…
I dunno, maybe we’d just get a different sort of lost.
At least he has a general sense of direction whereas I’ve got a… non-existent one.
Yeah…
No Drones
It’s really windy, so there will be no drone flying today, oh no.
It’s a beautiful clear day, I mean other than the wind, it’s ideal for flying a drone.
So, it’s really quite annoying.
But hey ho.
We shall see.
Joey’s up there somewhere behind me, can you see her?
Hermits United
Jo: Do you want to tell me how happy you are to be out after all these months?
Isolation.
Yes, the isolation has been a bit weird.
But then again, we’re now quite isolated by standing in the middle… well, walking across a field with nothing in it.
Jo: Isolated in a big open space
We are now isolated in the big open space opposed to what we were before which was isolated in a house in a big open space.
Jo: We’re hermits really aren’t we?
We are hermits.
We are definitely hermits.
But, you know we’re Hermits together, that’s us.
Jo: Hermits united!
Hermits United! That’s us.
Countryside roads
Oh! I’m being filmed one of the annoying things about the countryside is that people tend to put roads across it which I find irritating. And we’re about to cross a road.
Quite a fast-moving road by the sounds of it but you know
I suppose people have to get to A fr… to A from B?
Whoooooosh!
There you go, you see?
Road!
We’ll be making our way into the woodland.
Muddy Feet
Slidey.
Slippery
And boggy.
I don’t know how he does it!
Again!
I’ve got the muddy feet he’s got clean feet! We’ve gone the same route, I mean… I don’t understand.
It’s just because I’m clever
I’m just perplexed.
That’s nothing to do clever, you must have better shoes.
No actually, I prefer my shoes I’ve got purple laces.
Ian: I looked where I was going!
I looked where I was going! All I did was look where I was going. It’s character-building.
You get marks of what you’ve been on your shoes.
That’s what I’m going with.
And Lost Again
It was the map that was wrong, not Ian.
Well, we’re back on track so I begrudgingly believe him this time.
The paths changed and the maps don’t keep up.
It happens a lot that we get lost so… it doesn’t feel like it should be the maps fault all the time.
So when it is the maps fault you just like… *sigh* I’ll go with it.
Or roll with it.
It’s alright, we’re heading in the right direction.
We’re heading in the right direction. Famous last words.
How many times have you heard it here? A lot.
I don’t like pine
I have a type of tree that I really really don’t like.
And it is a pine tree.
And they have become really common in the UK and I like a good solid oak or a silver birch.
But any time you go into a conifer plantation it’s just dark and dingy.
It smells nice but that’s all that you generally see growing because the soil’s so acidic from the growth of these trees that barely anything else can grow.
So, conifers are fine in their natural habitat but it’s not England.
I prefer the twisted Oaks of this world.
What say you Ian?
I couldn’t agree more.
And so, therefore, I won’t agree more.
I’ll just agree the right amount.
And only the right amount!
Only the right amount, no More than that!
No Less.
Oh, we slowed down to talk about trees. Right.
Pick up the pace! Gotta go!
Gotta go! Gottagogogogogo!
Hup two Hup two Hup two!
Running Out Of Time
As with so many of our walks we’ve realised that we’ve got to pick up the pace a little bit due to the fact that where we’ve parked they lock the car park at dusk and so, therefore, we’ve got to get a bit of a wiggle on.
Because we don’t know what they consider to be dusk, but we know what dusk is so the last thing we want is for the car to get locked in the carpark.
The Suck Stone
We are going to visit a thing called the Suck stone and the Suck Stone is apparently the largest lump of just stone on its own in the UK, which is like an odd claim to fame.
But apparently, that’s what it is.
It’s just sitting there on its Todd apparently.
It’s a large lump of a red sandstone and quartz.
Which, you know, who doesn’t like a good-sized lump of red sandstone and quartz?
Oh, look! There it is!
It is quite big.
It’s big!
At The Suck Stone
We’ve made it to the suck stone
which is a stupid name for a big stone, but, you know there you go.
And we gotta head back because dusk is approaching and we’ve got to get back to the car.
We’ve got forty minutes left to get back to the car and we got . miles left to walk.
Can we do it in the time?
Stay tuned to find out!
Time Is Short
We’ve had to make up a new route on the spot and it’s been quite an interesting detour hasn’t it dear?
Yes, it has.
Apparently the thing on the map that thought it was a footpath was, in fact, a fence.
So, we had to take quite a bit of a detour.
But hey ho. it was muddy he was fun.
And now we have mere minutes to travel more than a mile to get back to the car.
Errr. Don’t think it’s going to happen somehow.
No.
On The Right Path?
We’re hopefully on the right path now.
We’ve picked a path and we’re sticking to it.
I don’t know if we’ve made the car.
Errr.
Yeah…
*Puff*
I just don’t know.
It’s all a bit tense.
But I’m fitter than thought it was.
I mean I’m a funny colour, and I’m puffing them panting, but err, it’s all good.
It’s allllll *Pufff* good.
Back At The Beginning
We finally got back to a point that we
recognise on the trail that we’re on.
You can probably tell from the noise that we’re back near the road again I’m near the road again.
*sings* I’m near the road agaaaaaainah!
In a little while we’ll be crossing those fields we crossed before.
And then hopefully there will be the car.
And due to the fact that we walk faster when we’re not filming
I’m gonna stop filming now, and the next time we see you it’ll be back at the car. It’ll be like magic!
Wrapping Up
Helllooooooo!
We made it, we made it back!
My God we made it back in one piece!
It turned out to be dark when we got back and one thing that the camera doesn’t like particularly is the darkness.
We need to get a light for the inside of the car so that you can see us properly when we get back from things late.
Which we always do because we like that.
Yes, we are.
The Gate Was Shut
And the gate was shut.
The gate was definitely shut, but luckily it had an automatic opening (mechanism) to let us out.
Yeah
So we got out, we got home, and we were like…
*sleep now*
Yes.
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