We have had a long period of warm sunny days in the recent past but that ended yesterday when it was dry but cloudy. Today it is raining. The plants will be grateful for that – but I won’t.
However I did a local (what else in the current situation) walk yesterday and saw some wild flowers which we didn’t see on our last walk in Kinsley Wood. This walk was along by the River Teme.
There were a number of locations along this path where there were some nice displays of Bluebells. I admit that I posted bluebell pictures on the last walk but never mind – I love bluebells.
I kept seeing Wild Violets and Primroses along this path so in the end I succumbed and took some photographs.
The next flower that I saw fairly frequently was Greater Stitchwort.
Followed by Red Campion. Mostly on the verges when I was walking back along the lane.
That was a nice walk (what else is there to do at the moment anyway?) of about four miles. Where can I go next without breaking the rules?
I have discovered something interesting (to me) this morning. One of the other things I love, apart from Bluebells, is Limestone Pavements. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know.
The most spectacular limestone pavements are to be found in Yorkshire and Westmorland (Cumbria) and I knew that there was a very small piece on the Great Orme in North Wales, which I haven’t yet seen, but what I didn’t know was that there is, apparently, some in the Brecon Beacons area. When this is all over I intend to go and find some.
Another nice sunny day today so we went for a walk in Kinsley Wood. We noticed many Bluebell plants around but only some in flower with a lot not even showing buds. There were some, however, that were in bloom.
A little further on we found some Coltsfoot with quite a lot of them in flower.
Then just a little further we found a patch of Coltsfoot both flowering and gone to seed with heads a bit like dandelions but instead of being spherical they were flat.
The next wild flower to be found was Yellow Pimpernel, like little five pointed stars, which is to be found in damp woodlands. Yep! Kinsley Wood can be DAMP.
There is also a plant called “Scarlet Pimpernel” which is bright red but tends to appear a little later and is an arable weed. A little further along the path we came across this Broom. This is a yellow flowered shrub a bit like Gorse but Broom doesn’t have spines. It does, however smell like Vanilla.
There is some bedrock exposed in a few places which is rather thinly bedded like most of the rock around here and, consequently, is rather friable. It is Silurian in age, when there were a lot of trilobites around, but I don’t think any have ever been found in this area.
We were now approaching the point at which we started and were now in the coniferous part. This wood is mixed deciduous and coniferous and some of the coniferous trees are rather tall.
One strange thing about this wood is that, in four years, we have yet to see any birds in it.
Still, it was a nice walk and we were back home in time for lunch.
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?
We had to go to Swansea recently and decided to add a couple of extra days for amusing ourselves. We had rented a flat for this stay overlooking Swansea Bay and this was the view from our balcony. It’s a pity it was cloudy.
The weather on the third (last) day was better.
The morning of the second day was when our trip began to get interesting. We drove to Rhossili Bay at the end of the Gower Peninsula. The weather was cloudy but dry which was not good for photography but there was little we could do about it.
Having parked the car we walked to the cliff top and we couldn’t really miss seeing Rhossili Bay could we?
We started walking roughly west along the cliff top (that’s left out of the picture above) but not too near the edge you understand. These cliffs are fairly high and the rocks are steeply bedded. It is very unlikely that one of those figures in the picture below is likely to be me.
As we walked along, on our left away from the sea, there were some meadows which were covered in Dog Daisies but, looking a little closer, one could see that there were a variety of wild flowers growing in among the daisies. Lovely!
A little further along we had our first sighting of Worms Head which is accessible only at low tide and for a limited time so if you get it wrong you’ll be spending the night there.
There were a lot of wild flowers around, which attracted butterflies, and I managed to sneak up on this Painted Lady without frightening it away.
When we reached the coastguard lookout station overlooking Worms Head there was a path which wound down to beach level so, of course, we had to follow it. We did end up on the shore and had a different view of Worms Head. I suppose I should call it the shore rather than the beach as it is all rock here – not a sign of sand.
We huffed and puffed our way back up the path and thence back to our car. We arrived back at our flat in the late afternoon and, being so near the beach, we decided to go and have a look at the sea.
As you can see we had to fight our way through the holidaymakers packed onto the beach but we did manage to make our way down the beach towards the sea. On the way we passed a number of bands of shells which included Oyster shells and I thought that they looked rather attractive so I picked some up. We finally arrived at the waters edge and I found myself carrying about 12 Oyster shells. Those shells are now at home and all I need is to think of something to do with them. The following photograph is a sample.
Just to prove that we finally reached the sea.
That tower is the Meridian Tower and we had dinner there in the evening in the Grape and Olive restaurant on the top, 29th, floor. This is supposed to be the highest building in wales.
The following morning dawned fine and sunny – well it would wouldn’t it because today is the day we go home. However we may be going home but we are planning a few visits on the way and our first stop was Neath a short 15 minute drive from Swansea.
Here we are by the Tennant Canal in Neath. But, wait, what is that peeking over the trees at us? It’s Neath Abbey of course; yet another ruined abbey, one of many that litter this country, under the stewardship of CADW.
Founded in 1130 this is not a small place and along with Llanthony Priory and Tintern Abbey, the ruins of Neath Abbey are the most important and impressive monastic remains in south-east Wales.
There was some restoration in progress when we were there and a large part of the abbey was covered in scaffolding so I didn’t photograph any of that.
Just as we were about to leave Amanda spotted a swarm of bees on one of the walls.
Having had a good look around we set off for our next destination which, again, was only a short drive away.
This is Aberdulais Falls owned by the National Trust and, although the falls are very picturesque, it is more that just a waterfall.
This narrow gorge at the mouth of the Dulais River outside Neath has been at the heart of the Welsh industrial story, thanks to its bountiful supplies of coal, timber and, of course, water.
It all started with copper-smelting which gave way to ironworking, the milling of textiles and grain and, most significant of all, the manufacture of 19th century tinplate. It is a truly picturesque scene now and it is difficult to imagine the heat, dust, noise and dirt that must have dominated the scene back then.
There is a very large waterwheel which can often be seen running but they had had to stop it before we got there, naturally, because a blackbird had decided to set up its nest in the wheel.
The waterwheel can be seen in context with the remains of some of the old furnaces and the smoke stack.
This is the highest (up river) of the falls and was quite spectacular even though it hasn’t been particularly wet lately and just below it are the next waterfalls.
There is a tea room and toilets here which is rather handy so we made use of both and left for our next destination which, you may have guessed, was just a short drive away. This was the village of Melincourt and we parked in the sign-posted car park (free) and followed the sign-posted path for about 15 minutes. This is what we came to see.
The path up follows the stream valley and makes a pleasant walk to the falls but, having seen the falls, it was time to walk back to the car and proceed to our final destination. This time it was more than a short drive so lets get on with it.
After driving along a narrow lane, one cars width, for what seemed like forever we finally spotted the National Trust car park. Although this is owned by the National Trust entry is not controlled and one can come and go as one pleases. We parked and started off down the path which turned out to be nowhere as near straight-forward as the previous destination.
The path was steep and one eventually arrives a a point where it seems to level off and gives one hope that this must be near the bottom – but no. We had to climb a bit and then descend again and the route included these steps and a bridge.
That’s Amanda down there on the bridge – wait for me!
We did get there in the end.
This is Henrhyd Waterfall and that tiny figure on the ledge behind the water is Amanda.
This was our last call of the day so it was time to go home but first we have to go back UP that path. It wasn’t as bad as we thought it might be and we arrived at the car without having to crawl the last few yards.
We were still south of Brecon so we still had an hour and fifteen minutes to drive home. We got there. Until next time.
Butterflies? Flowers? February? It’s not as silly as it sounds. It all started this morning with a bright sun in a cloudless sky – it was going to be a beautiful day so we just had to go somewhere. That somewhere turned out to be Croft Castle.
We wanted to try and find some snowdrops which were supposed to be found in Pokehouse Wood. Don’t ask me where that name comes from because I don’t know and I’m not about to start guessing but the wood is on the western edge of the Croft Castle Estate. If one parks at Croft Castle then it’s going to be a five and a half mile return walk to Pokehouse Wood which we didn’t really want to do so we, naturally, cheated. On the way to Croft Castle we pass through the small village of Amestrey which, surprisingly, is on the western edge of the Croft Castle Estate so we didn’t pass through, we stopped and parked.
We used a public footpath to reach the edge of Croft Castle Estate where we found a sign, by some steep steeps, which told us that we had arrived at Pokehouse Wood. Up the steps we went and eventually arrived at a wide path where we turned right. Walking along the path, which we noticed was going downhill very slowly, we kept a lookout for Snowdrops. Not a sign. Not a tiny speck of white to be seen anywhere. But then we found these. Not a lot admittedly but it is a start.
As the path was going downhill we eventually arrived at river level, you can see the river below us in the image above, onto another path where we turned right.
Then things started to get interesting.
So, finally, we did find a few. We also noticed that the Snowdrop flowers were beginning to die back so we were lucky that we hadn’t left it another week as we may then have been disappointed.
We also spotted this solitary Primrose.
The path we were on seemed to be heading back towards our starting point so we decided to risk it and continued on this path. It wasn’t long before we arrived at the bottom of the steps we had climed previously so we needn’t have climbed them in the first place. Bummer!
On our way back along the public footpath we stopped to have a look at this tree.
Now that is a tree that you couldn’t easily miss. That tiny person at the bottom is Amanda trying to identify it. She eventually decided that it was a Wellingtonia. Wellingtonias are native to California in America and that is where they grow to their maximum height. They do also grow in other parts of America but not to such a height. However they do also like it here in Britain; growing not to such a height as they grow in California but higher than they grow in other parts of America.
We drove round to the car park in Croft Castle then walked to the restaurant where we had some much appreciated sustenance.
Our next plan was to walk around the upper reaches of Fishpoool Valley so we set off and came across another interesting tree.
This is known as the Candelabra Oak which Amanda estimates can’t be far short of 1000 years old. So you should be able to work out that it is an Oak and I don’t want any dimwits asking “Barry, why is it called the Candelabra Oak” as it should be fairly obvious. We started down the wooded path into Fishpool Valley.
Some way further down we saw, across on the other side, the Grotto which we had heard about but hadn’t seen so we went across to have a look.
It has to be said that we were not awe struck. Apparently some of it is now missing but what and where I don’t know. The second photograph above shows the Grotto on the left with Amanda sitting a little way in front. Walking on we came across our third flower of the day – a wild daffodil.
From the look of the area there should be a lot more of those in bloom in a few more weeks. We’ll have to come back and see. Back to our walk. The path went on – and on – and on.
It may be long but we were enjoying it. At this time of year with no leaves on the trees and a low sun the atmosphere was ethereal.
Our final picture, before we climbed out of Fishpool Valley and went back to our car, is of one of the ponds. The surface of the water was completely still and acted like a mirror showing some amazing reflections.
We also saw some butterflies – a Brimstone, a Comma and a Small Tortoiseshell so it must be Spring. That was the end of our day but we hope to be back for more daffodils – weather permitting.
This is another late report from an outing we did about 5 weeks ago. Unlike the previous blog post this is not accidentally late. I just haven’t got around to writing it until now. In fact going on to the Blog to write this was when I spotted that my previous report hadn’t been posted.
One of the local things we had on our ‘to do’ list was Holloway Rocks. The map in the link will give you an idea of the situation.
It is a short way from Knighton, where we now live, and short enough that we could walk from home but didn’t. The roads around Stowe are only one car’s width so one has to park off-road. We drove to Stowe Church, shown on the map, where we were able to park our car. It’s a lovely little chuch in the middle of nowhere (Stowe has a population of 140).
We had tried this walk before, about a week ago, having set off from Stowe Church. We started off up the wrong path and having realised that we went back down again and then realised why we hadn’t taken the right path. There was a van parked on the beginning of the path and although there was room to walk past it the van had blocked it from our view. We set off again on the right path. In the past year my health has deteriorated such that, sometimes, I can’t walk far uphill without stopping to catch my breath which was what I was having to do here. I did push myself too hard and eventually had to sit down. After a while I began to feel faint and had to lie down. I did eventually recover but we decided to abandon that attempt.
… try, try again.
This time we started up the right path, which is fairly steep, with frequent stops for me to recover my breath and I didn’t push too hard this time. I managed to get through the wooded section but by the time we reached the open I had to stop for a breather especially as the path gets steeper here.
Looking back, in the next picture, the wooded part is visible and you can see that we have gained quite a lot of height; most of it previously in the car.
On that bank to the right were a lot of Hawkbit flowers.
Inexorably upward, stop, puff, repeat and we eventually arrived at an expected junction with another path together with a pond. The path we want continues upward on the other side of the pond curving off to the right.
Having reached the high point in the photograph above we look back in the next picture to see this view. The footpath we turned out of is on the left of this path just before this path splits into two and you can see the pond on the right. The town of Knighton is visible just above the very dark triangle on the left probably better seen In the larger picture.
We have now gained more height but we are by no means near the top yet but we do have a lovely view and the sky has cleared a little which makes it even better.
We are still climbing but we are now not too far from the top.
You can see the path levelling off now and you should also be able to see the path plunging downward as it curves to the left. We have just come up that bit and the town in the distance is, of course, Knighton.
Finally, after crossing two large fields (fairly flat), we reach the top with its Ordnance Survey trigonometry point with Amanda trying to stop it from falling over. The next picture gives an idea of the view with sheep in the foreground and those black blobs on the left are actually cows.
So where do the rocks in Holloway Rocks come in? There isn’t really much in the way of visible rocks although we passed an old quarry on the way up. Perhaps that’s where the name comes from. The hill we climbed is, unsurprisingly, Stowe Hill.
Well I managed to get there even though it took me about three times as long as it would have done a year ago. Measured over the ground it was probably less than a mile but pretty steep for most of the way. I don’t think that I would like to try walking it from home. That would be about 2 miles each way and although I’m fairly sure I could get there I couldn’t be certain that I could get back again which would be a little embarrassing.
So did I get back from this trip? Well, I’ll leave you to work that out.
We went to Ludlow recently to do some shopping. We had visited Ludlow twice before we moved to Wales and, as we were staying at a hotel both times, we had free parking provided by the hotel. When we were walking around the town we noted that there was some free roadside parking although limited to around 2 hours at a time. This time we noted that if there was a space big enough to park a car then Ludlow will make you pay for it.
We didn't have to pay for parking as the supermarket had their own parking and so did the other shop we went to. Did you know that my middle name is 'Scrooge'?
On ther way to Ludlow we noticed many places where there were Snowdrops flowering on the road verges so on the way back, near Leintwardine, we stopped to take photographs.
The hill in the centre of the horizon partly masked by the small tree is Titterstone Clee Hill which we climbed when we first visited Ludlow. Amanda tells me that these Snowdrops will have gone by the end of the month.
A little further towards home we stopped in Leintwardine to photograph the bridge.
It's a lovely old bridge so I took a view of each side. I shall take some more photographs when the sun is shining.
Incidentally Leintwardine is pronounced Lent-war-deen.
