Down In The Valle

In 1991, Lori and I took our first trip overseas together, to England, Wales, and France. It was not our first trip together, but I think I can safely say that it was the one trip that proved to us that not only could we travel together, but that we could do it very well. We are excellent travel companions.

We started in London, and after a couple of days we rented a car and hit the road, heading north, towards Stratford-Upon-Avon, and then into northern Wales, where we worked our way south, to Cardiff and then followed the southern end back into England, where we saw Stonehenge, Bath, and Salisbury, before finally returning to London and then over to Paris.

I loved Wales. Such raw beauty. In fact, several times I was so overcome by the splendour of the countryside that I had to pull over, had to stop driving so that I could take it in. In the six days that we were in Wales, we visited 10 castles and abbeys; nearly all of them, in ruins.

One of the prettiest sites that we visited was tucked away in a valley, in the vacinity of Llantysilio, in Denbighshire. The closest town was Llangollen. And this site was the location for this week's Where In The World? contest.

I'm talking about Valle Crucis Abbey.

Photo courtesy of Cadw (pronounced ka-doo).

This installment of my contest was solved after only two days. Clearly, I'm going to need to get tougher with my photo challenges. Here are the clues I provided and how they fit into the location:

1. Groundbreaking—810 years ago: Valle Crucis Abbey was built in 1201. You do the math.
2. Last of the White Monk monasteries: Valle Crucis Abbey was Cistercian (Cistercian monks were also known as the White Monks for the frocks they wore); Valle Crucis Abbey was the last Cistercian abbey to be built in Wales.

That's it: only two clues. And then the mystery location was solved.

Congratulations to Ben Wood, winner of my first Where In The World? contest. Fitting, since Ben also was the first winner for Where In Ottawa? And because Ben has already won a copy of my book, Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary, I'm going to give him another book from my library.

Ben: please send me an e-mail or a DM tweet with your contact info, where I can send you your prize.

Thanks to all of you who played along. I'll be back with another challenging photo next month.