1891.  
July 1
Trip to Raglan Castle
England.
Tintern to Raglan Castle. - Cloudy with steady and at times
heavy rain for the greater part of the day the sun coming
out bright and hot for an hour early in the afternoon.
  Drove to Raglan Castle over the intervening ridge,
returning via Monmouth and thence down the Wye
valley road.
  For the first four miles the road followed the 
course of a small brook up a steep ascent for
the most part covered with birch, oak and larch woods
which form part of the Duke of Beaufort's extension
preserves. These woods were dense and wild, some
of the trees of large size, many with masses of
ivy clinging to the trunks. The ivy also covered 
much of the ground where the ever-abundant
and luxuriant brakes left is breathing room.
Blackbirds, Chiff-chaffs and Tree Pipits were the
most numerous birds. I also heard Robins at 
frequent intervals and in a larch grove, a Magpie.
At length we reached the top of the ridge and
looked out and down over a vast extent of
open country divided by hedges into innumerable
rectangular fields giving the [deleted]country[/deleted] landscape a checker-
board appearance which detracted much from the
beauty of the view. We were reminded facibly
of Western New York.  The road wound down
a succession of long gentle slopes between
the inevitable hedgerows of hawthorns mixed
with wild roses, [deleted]and[/deleted] blackberry and honeysuckle
all in bloom. The blackberry blossoms white or
pale rose-pink, the honeysuckle yellowish white.
No birds singing except Yellow Hammers perhaps because
it was new raining heavily.