Almost at our cottage for the week - stopped in Llandovery, a lovely wee village at the bottom of a picturesque valley, and interrupted a Sheep Festival, somewhat inevitably. Two drovers' pasties and an armful of organic veg duly purchased from local greengrocer who seemed simultaneously impressed and slightly put out to learn that we'd come from London :)
The sun, apparently an infrequent visitor to these parts, currently warms our backs, and we're being 'treated' to a performance by the Towy Youth Theatre group in the town square. All very nice. There are mumblings of a barbecue tonight and we've already seem the traditional Holiday Weim. All is well - onward to Edwinsford!
Sunday 30th Sept – 2pm, Edwinsford
This house is so nice. Great first night here – so much space! It’s an 18th century diary cottage with two doubles and a single bedroom, double-height ceilings downstairs, a massive utility, a ‘snug’ with TV, videos and Sky, and the crowning glory – a huge, 40-foot square living space, where I’m sat writing this over a local map. There’s a dining table, sofas and so many books... happy as Larry, whoever he was.
Before the sun set yesterday, we had a little BBW on the gravelly riverbank - idyllic's the word. Started a game of chess last night, which is, as they say, 'delicately poised' this morning. It's rained like something out of the latter stages of the Bible all night, and as we prepare to head over to Abergolech this afternoon, it could do well to think about holding off a bit. going to have a little look at the loca area - most of which I wouldn't be surprised to find shut, given it's a Sunday. It would be good to get some exercise in before the inevitable Downton/red wine-powered dinner :)
4.53pm A mixed afternoon. Lots of tooling around loking for a bit of lunch in Llandeillo, which was, as predicted, something of a ghost town on a Sunday afternoon. Lovely looking, just not benefitting from the arrival of some resolutely Welshweather - which is still with us some five hours after it arrived. got back with supplies and Tam took the opportunity to 'suit up' and take a dip in our little river.
Tuesday 1st October: The Wettest Day Ever
so, we decided to have a go at this mountain-biking lark, as we'd made quite a noise about doing so before leaving London. Things started promisingly - the way they always do in disaster movies, in my experience. We picked up two Specialized mountain bikes for £40 for a half-day from a very nice man in Hikes & Bikes in Brecon, where a light drizzle merely aided our prgress to the nearby canal towpath. The rain gradually woresened in the first half-hour of the ride, and the path's clay surface was rutted with a constant supply of foot-deep puddles, so that an hour into our journey we were both soaked to the skin. Pluckily, I thought, we soldiered on, and soon entered the depths of Brechfa forest.
Talk about atmospheric - brilliant viwes, amazing photography opportunities and clear paths soon put the rain, which slackened slightly at this point, to the back of our minds. As the pictures show, it was like something out of Lord of the Rings, but we soon realised that the planned 12-mile round-trip would be too much for us when we passed Talleybont Reservoir, and realised we still had about eight miles to go! So, we found a short-cut which, the map warned us, would be 'severely challenging' - and how right it was. a gradient of about 1:6, rocky riverbed where the path once lay, and a fast-flowing stream around our feet. 'Fuck this', I thought, but on we staggered regardless.
Clambering to the top of the hill in the hammering rain, we began the decent back in to Brecon, and what a trip it was - a good 20 minutes of no-nonsense downhill racing, through a couple of tiny villages, at around 30mph or so. and back to the rutted railway track we'd left two hours previously. And there, well.. I basically ran out of gas. The legs don't work, as Richard Ashcroft memorably crooned. Jesus, I was tired by then. On and on the recently rechristened Fucking Towpath of Death went. I wouldn't do it again.
Eventually, looking like two survivors of an idiots-only shipwreck, we got into Brecon, wherein I thought it appropriate to by brandy and fish and chips, in that order. 'Nice weather out - you two look a bit wet', said the comedian masquerading as an off-license owner. Too right, matey.
Once home and dry, though, it was all Under Milk Wood starring Richard Burton and Liz Taylor (weird, don't bother), brandy and log fires. All in all, a top, top day.
Wednesday 2nd October: Beaches and Rainbows A long drive out to Tenby in the morning was rewarded with a quaint little seaside town that T had visited when she was a nipper. I really liked the place - reminded me of Milford, for some obscure reason.. Great weather too - and a welcome respite after yesterday's meterological unpleasantness. Brightly-coloured Georgian terraces line the promenade there; less brilliantly, a new development of spacious executive lifestyle hutches sits glowering contemptuously at the sea, to the obvious disgust of the (mostly ancient) locals.Apparently, I could, if my papers were stacked that way, pick up a three-bed semi-detatched for under £200k, too. Not that I would.
More photography using Panorama Mode on the near-deserted beach led to some truly decent shots - really great stuff I'd like on the wall at home one day. We even started thinknig about how we might change things around and end up living by the coast one day - a sure sign that all's well in the state of Denmark. As we were doing so, a huge rainbow stretched across the entire width of the bay in front of us and stayed there for about ten minutes.
Came home via aless awe-inspiring stop at Carmarthern's noble branch of Lidl, where three bottles of Spitfire are £3.99. Don't all get killed in the rush. Dinner, Goodfellas, the eventual arrival of Chlo and Ian, bed.
