Browsed by
Category: Powys

Covid-19 Lockdown: Day 736

Covid-19 Lockdown: Day 736

Comments 3 Comments

Needless to say we haven’t travelled anywhere that isn’t local but that doesn’t mean life is in stasis.

One thing that has changed since my last post is that all the surplus water has gone and, in particular, the mud has dried so that one does not sink in up to the ankles in sloshy, sticky mud. There is no water running along Kinsley Road. Spring has finally sprung.

There is a lot of Butterbur growing on the banks of our brook as you can see here. This is on our property.

Our Magnolia Tree is in full bloom.

We have been going out for the occasional walk down by the River Teme and there were some sheep on the other side, some of them with little lambs. This is one of the sheep having a drink. Forget the saying that sheep will drink only from still water because that water was moving quite quickly.

A little further on and the large shingle bank with the river passing both sides used not to be there. There are large lumps of the bank, still with grass on them, laying in the river.

Lesser Celendine is out in force at the moment.

and there is also some Blackthorn blossom. It’s not Hawthorn – too early for that.

On the way back along Kinsley Road I saw a number of other flowers both wild and cultivated,

Suddenly, after a few warm sunny days, there seem to be lots of butterflies around. Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Orang Tips, Small White, Speckled Wood, Holly Blue and Comma.

I had thought of giving you a tour around our garden.

But that is as far as I took it because I couldn’t hold the camera steady enough. I need a gimbal. Who wants to see our garden anyway?

How to wear out a pair of old legs very quickly.

How to wear out a pair of old legs very quickly.

Comments 1 Comment

As today was dry I decided to try part of a walk that Amanda and I have done before. I say ‘try’ because although soon after we first moved to Knighton we walked from the town, up Panpunton Hill (which is VERY steep) then along the ridge and up to the top of Cwm Sanaham Hill I’m not sure that I could do all that with my current state of health.

So I decided to cheat by driving to the top of Kinsley Wood and start the walk from there which cuts out the ‘climbing Panpunton Hill’ bit. That left me with a 4 mile return walk with plenty of ups and downs. Amanda is not joining me on this one as she wants to get some gardening done.

Having parked the car I set off. I had been walking for a while when I arrived at this point and looked back.

If you look carefully you will see the path (bright green) curving round to the right and eventually disappearing over the brow of a hill in the distance. This is part of Offa’s Dyke Path.

I pressed on and eventually reached the junction where the path from Five Turnings, a very small hamlet, crosses Offa’s Dyke Path. The next picture, again looking back towards my starting point, shows the footpath sign. The yellow pointers indicate the Offa’s Dyke Path and the plain white ones indicate the path from Five Turnings.

I walked on further to the point shown below which gives me a good view of Cwm Sanaham Hill. Um, err, oh! I’m supposed to be going to the top of that one. The path can be seen curving right out of the picture because it follows the side of that valley in front until we meet the valley floor coming up which saves me a very steep climb down followed by a very steep climb up. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any slopes it just means that they aren’t as steep as they might have been.

After much grunting, heavy breathing and sighing I do finally make it to the top and to prove it here is a picture of the trigonometry point on the summit. I stopped for a breather and telephoned Amanda to let her know I’d reached my objective (she worries a little y’ know).

The only snag with this is that I now have to do it all again in reverse. On the way back I stopped to take this photograph just because I liked the lighting effect.

Not long after the above I stopped to take a photograph of Offa’s Dyke itself. There is quite a long run of it here akthough it isn’t as high as it is in some places.

At this point there is a gap in the dyke and the end of the dyke in front is shown by the shadow. The rough ground on my left is the continuation of the dyke behind me. You may notice the inevitable sheep.

I short while later I saw two large black birds fly across my route, at some height, and from the calls they made I would guess that they were Ravens but I’m no bird expert so don’t quote me on that one.

I finally made back to the car after a walk of 4 miles, which took me 2 hours and 20 minutes with an elevation gain of 832 feet. Cwm Sanaham Hill is 1342 feet high ( and feels it).

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the local leg shop to buy a new pair – my current ones have had it.

It’s all too much.

It’s all too much.

Comments 2 Comments

Rain that is!

We, like some other areas, have had a lot of rain recently and I discovered the results of that recently when I went for a walk.

I went down to the River Teme as I often do but when I got to the riverside meadow I found this:

That is a body of water, next to the river, about the size of a small lake which shouldn’t be there and my normal route goes through that water. I didn’t really want cold, wet feet so I detoured inland slightly to here:

This is the stream which is feeding that lake and that stream shouldn’t be there either. The shallowest part of the stream was a couple of inches deep (and about 4-6 feet wide) so it wouldn’t get into my boots if I walked through it which I did. Having done that I didn’t expect to have to walk through any more water.

WRONG!

That water was running along and across Kinsley Road. Again it was only a couple of inches deep so I could walk through it in my walking boots without getting my feet wet but I’ve not seen it like this before. I need to practice my ‘walking on water’ skills a bit more.

Would someone please turn the tap off before leaving?

Judge for yourself.

Judge for yourself.

Comments 0 Comment

Yesterday we went to Presteigne a small market town about 10 miles from us. We also went there back in the summer and photographed this ochre coloured building which is known as “The Judges Lodging”.

It is open as a tourist attraction and entry is by payment of a small fee. However this Saturday was an open day (free entry) and there was also coffee and cake available at a very modest cost and if there is anything that will pique my interest it’s the availability of cake.

This building consisted of a police station, cells, court room and judges apartment all rolled into one and was built in 1829. It was once called ‘the most commodious and elegant apartments for a judge in all England and Wales’ by Lord Chief Justice Campbell in 1855).

We first visited the Dining Room because of its opulence and splendour (or was it because that’s where we were given coffee and cake?)

After finishing our refreshments we went through to the Parlour (literal meaning – talking place) where there was a large christmas tree. There were no christmas tree lights because they did not exist in Victorian times. In both these rooms there were proper wood fires burning in the fireplaces; vey cosy. All lighting was either by oil lamps or gas and this building has both.

After seeing these rooms we went upstairs and the decor in the stairwell was typical of the times.

Needless to say the bedroom was furnished as befits a judge.

This was, after all, a place of work and this shows the court room with the public stalls right at the back. The judge, naturally, had his own entrance direct from his lodgings.

After dark the court room was lit by gas and the next picture shows the ‘Gasolier’; rather like a chandelier but with gas instead of candles. At this time incandescent gas mantles hadn’t been invented so the light came solely from the flames and I can tell you that that makes it very uncomfortable because the flickering flames act almost like a stroboscope.

The servants quarters were in the rather dingy basement together with some cells for the prisoners.

I have not included all that we saw here but more will make its way onto the web site at some stage. It was a very interesting visit.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

Comments 0 Comment

I went for a walk down by the River Teme in Knighton yesterday and used the path I usually use and came upon this.

You should be able to see the path coming towards the camera except that a lot of it isn’t there anymore. The river has been in flood recently and washed away a large part of the bank not to mention the tree in the top left corner which used not to be there.

It’s surprising what these rivers can do when they get a bit stroppy.

Somebody was hungry.

Somebody was hungry.

Comments 0 Comment

This is a log that has been split to go on our fire. The dried log is very light which probably means that it is Willow and we do have willow trees in our garden.

The creature that chomped its way through that burrow was probably a beetle larva and possibly a member of the Longhorn group. Amanda suggested that it may have been a Cardinal beetle (Pyrochroidae coccinea).

Rather attractive beetles don’t ya think? However there is no evidence to show exactly what beetle it actually was so it’s all guesswork.

The Fungal Jungle

The Fungal Jungle

Comments 1 Comment

We have just been up into Kinsley Wood on the top of Panpunton Hill in Knighton to look for fungi. We found a number of different sorts some of which we think we have identified and some we haven’t. If you can identify any of them do please let me know.

1. Calocera viscosa – Orange Stagshorn (Coniferous)
2. Amanita musceria – Fly Agaric (Deciduous)
3. Helvella crispa (Deciduous)
4. Unknown (Cortinarius/Russula/Bolete ?)
5. Unknown
6. Unknown
7. Unknown
8. Unknown (Clitocybe ? – may be the same as 6)
9. Xylaria hypoxylon – Candle-snuff

These are pictures of Kinsley Wood where we found the fungi. Kinsley Wood is a mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees which means a greater variety of fungi as some of them prefer deciduous and others prefer coniferous.