Blogs from Brecon, Powys, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe

Kate and I - and two dogs - have just spent a week on a narrow boat on the Brecon and Monmouth canal. The scenery was lovely as the canal runs high up above the River Usk through the Brecon Beacons. The boat was very long- 50 foot, with all mod cons, just a little on the narrow side. We just about managed to steer the thing through bridges and marinas, but the main trouble was that the canal is notoriously shallow (a fact that escaped us when we booked) and we spent a lot of time "punting" ourselves out of the mud. This also meant that it was difficult to park whenever you fancied, as you couldn't get near enough the bank to leap off; a gangplank was provided, but I never did work out ... read more

Sunday 19 July 2015 After yesterday's surprise at Covent Garden we should really have a quiet day today, but this is not to be. A further birthday surprise awaits, involving a journey ... somewhere! Once again a time was given for departure and no questions were to be asked. We set off in two cars, Holly the dog happy to be included this time. Motorway driving followed as we headed west from London, negotiating what seemed like pretty heavy traffic and the odd detour. Nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the ride. Possible destinations on the exit signs came and went and still we drove. Suddenly Bristol was a possibility but no, we paid the toll and were over the Severn Bridge in no time. Aha! We must be going to Wales, a part ... read more

We decided that Kath and Albert needed to see at least one waterfall while they are with us in Wales so we drove down to the Waterfall Visitor Centre at Pontneddfechan (apparently pronounced Pont-neath-vaughan) because Sgwd Gwladus is an easy walk from there. We thought that we might walk in further to a couple of the other falls so asked the guy at the visitor centre about accessibility. He advised that the track is along the riverside as far as Sgwd Gwladus, but then rises up to the rim of the gully. He said that he would not recommend attempting to access the falls further upriver by going down the side of the gully, but said that if we were careful, we could walk along a stone shelf along the riverbank as far as the third ... read more

Today we headed off on another photography course. We thought that we were going to photograph waterfalls specifically, but we ended up being taken on a more general tour of Welsh scenery. It didn't really matter, we've never been in this part of the UK before so all of the scenery was new for us! We met the photographer, Will, at Glasbury a few miles NE of Brecon. We transferred all of our gear to Will's car and he took us to a viewpoint above Llangors looking out over Llangorse Lake toward Pen-y-fan, the highest point in southern Wales. With the weather being fine and sunny today we had a really good view of the mountains. Our next stop was down beside Llangorse Lake. Will was really bemused about the ponies because they are usually grazing ... read more

This morning we woke to another beautiful and sunny day. We took a drive around Abergavenny and then drove onto Brecon in the hope of having a ride on one of the long canal boats. Sadly, as we drove into Brecon and struggled to find a park, we watched the canal boat pulling out :( The next ride was at 2.30pm which was too late for us. Not to worry, we had a lovely long walk along the canal. I also had time to just sit and relax in the shade, on the bank of the canal, and write some postcards - 20 of them. Ummmm.....don't hold your breathe as I have not been able to get a chance to post them yet! Steve and I then had a wander up through the town. Brecon is ... read more