Radnor Bottoms

Talking to the Tesco delivery man tonight about place names.  He is a man fascinated by the nearness of old things and of history; we have talked before about the Romans in the valley and the prehistoric remains that were possibly old when the Romans arrived.  He told me tonight that his father called the valley the 'Radnor Bottoms' and said that it was the only level ground in old Radnorshire.  

I was up at 6am and the valley between this hill and the hill behind Evenjobb was hidden under a thick white blanket of mist.  The first sunlight was lighting the church tower which was awash with house martins.  But later in the morning the swallows were starting to gather on the telegraph wires.  

And two encounters with unusual reptiles; I was on the road between Birley and Ivington on my way to buy gas canisters and a large snake was crawling across the road.  It was about two and a half feet long, grey with a diamond pattern along its flanks.  I assume it was an adder.  And a slow worm was seen on Old Radnor Hill, hiding beneath the sheets put out by the quarry's reptile survey.