Bad Knees Travel,

I love to find the lesser known regional parks.  Sonoma County has some great ones. There are a bunch of lovely little trails in this park. I will outline three of them as they each fill a slightly different walking style.  The whole park is Dog Friendly. Out house at the Hwy 12 lot. Lots of benches and picnic tables on the Valley of the Moon Trail. It will probably be hot in the summer, but has great early wild flowers.  There are several parking options: With fee or parks pass on Hwy 12.The disadvantage is that this is at the top of the hill, meaning  you are walking back up at the end of your hike.  Railroad in the Sonoma Developmental Center Arnold Drive  near Glen Ellen (Wheelchair accessible, but tends to fill up) Carmel Ave. in Glen Ellen as it is close to food and drinks! Yep, my favorite Parks Map Valley of the Moon Trail:   All Trails Map , Wheelchair Accessible, 2.4 miles, 131 gain not steep Suttonfield Lake Loop   All Trails Map ,  3.0 miles, 282 gain, one patch that is ver

Each castle I visit has its own special story, a uniqueness, a singular feature, that marks it as unique. Chepstow has the distinction of age.  The Great Tower in the center of Chepstow is one of the oldest stone castle in Great Britain. . The photos that follow and the commentary are  not meant as any scholarly collection, but small bits that I personally found so interesting. There was a lot of history that passed thru here and if you have read any historic novels (Sharon Kay Penman, Elis Peters, etc) you will recognize some of the names.   These are photos of THE door. Not just any door. This door has been studied using tree ring sequencing and sampling.  It dates the door to not later than 1190, and ordered by William Marshal.  It hung on the gates until 1962 when it was moved into this room    Look at the iron work.  The video shows this lock, the handle of which has been worn down, The cross hatch on the door is held in place with massive nails that are driven into those pointy w