Visiting Wales and southern England in September. The UK weather was intermittently brilliant and gray which colored our adventures somewhat.
Wales: Cardiff, Caerphilly Castle and Tintern Abbey
Stone Circles: Avebury and Stonehenge
Bath
Devizes
Devizes was our base of operations for exploring the stone circles and Bath. One night, as we prepared for the next day, we turned the TV on for background noise. We channel surfed and discovered the quiz / panel show QI – hosted by Stephen Fry. This episode (Series I, Episode 11, “Infantile”) included a question about why rifle ranges were introduced into English pubs – and why they were removed (spoiler: wagering). Mr. Fry mentioned that some pubs still have rifle ranges in them – specifically mentioning Devizes.
We fell silent, as if Mr. Fry spoke directly to us. Finding this pub became our goal for the next day.
Not only did we locate the pub, the rifle club was holding its weekly meeting while we were there. They kindly told us about their club – one member described himself as the local arms dealer, another had a side gig providing security when dignitaries visited – and let me shoot.
London
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