8/6/44

Dear Dad,

Your welcome letter of July 25th arrived today. – I have been seeing quite a lot of the country while on pass evenings and weekends.  The places of historic interest that I have visited would have meant much to you.  I enjoy them of course, but I am thinking of your background in history and literature. Recently, a group of us went to an Tintern Abbey.  You will probably recall it was built in the 12th cent.by Cistercian monks  They were evicted by Henry VIII and the buildings allowed to go to ruins.  The ruins are beautiful.  How I wish I could have photographed them.  On the way back to camp we stopped at Raglan Castle, now property of Duke of Beaufort, originally build by Marquis of Gloucester in late 15th Cent.  It was destroyed by Cromwell in 1646.  This 15th  Cent Castle was most interesting.  The walls were ivy covered.  In fact ivy covers trees, fences and stones all over this part of the island, clothing them in beauty.  On the roads, especially over weekends, cyclists abound, singly, in pairs & in parties. They are dressed in appropriate clothes and wear packs.  This is the British idea of a holiday.  They ride over the hills, down lanes & paths with hedgerows.  This countryside certainly is an invitation to cyclists.  There are also men & women traveling on foot with packs on back.  I met a man in one of the batteries who knows of Aunt H.  through the Amer. Rose Society.  He is a member: knows Horace McFarland well; was formerly employed by
Stumpf & Walters.  I shall write again soon  —  with love,  Carl