After an hour or so we came to a major river, much too wide and deep to cross and we followed it upstream, looking for a bridge or a ford. I guessed this was the Wye. We followed it against the flow to take us deeper into the Welsh hills and, I hoped, into friendly territory. We hid from some soldiers as they tramped past our concealing thicket and something caught my eye when I peered through the bushes. The badge on their jackets was a white rose. If these were men from the garrison at Hay Castle it meant that Hay was no longer Lancastrian; it was in the hands of York. It was only then I remembered, with a jolt, that the Duke of Buckingham’s custody had been taken from Lady Margaret and granted to Edward’s queen, Elizabeth Woodville. It was no place for us.

And yet we needed food and we needed directions. Now I had to hope we could find a priory or a monastery, which might take pity on us and give us a meal at least. Davy took on the role of advance scout and eventually came running back from a bend in the river to tell me that a woman was kneeling beside the stream doing her washing. St Christopher must have been watching over us because the washerwoman was kindness itself; she directed us to cross a nearby ford and told us how to find the closest priory. ‘If it is charity you are looking for,’ as she put it, eyeing our makeshift bundles. Meanwhile she gave the children the loaf she had presumably planned to eat herself. And she restored some of my faith in humankind.

The monks at Clifford Priory, when we found them, were few and mostly elderly but true to their calling they served us a simple meal and accommodated us in a small guest dorter. The prior advised me against travelling alone with the children in these troubled times but I explained that I had no choice and asked directions to Carmarthen.

After two nights and a day of the monks’ warmly given charity we left. However, I had overheard talk of a travelling bard and was inspired to ask the prior if Lewys Glyn Cothi was known to him. When told he was in the vicinity I asked for a message to be given to him should he appear; my name and the direction I had taken with the three children.