Pontypool Best Western

As we were having breakfast this morning I looked out of the window and saw our car reversing down the towpath. Nigel had brought it from there compound and reversed down from the zebra crossing for us to load up. As this involved a trip round the one way system and reversing  over the pavement from the crossing going between the wall and the belisha beacon post we were just going to carry the bags over to the car.

I think we had to vacate the boat by 9-30, we were away well before 9am. Walked across the road and said goodbye to Sally and Nigel and reported what we had used from the first aid box when Diana got her finger bitten by a dog. We then walked back to the car and said goodbye to the American couple we had dinner with on the next boat.

We should have been driving home today but decided to spend another day looking round so booked a room at the Pontypool Best Western for the night.

 

Our first  port of call was Llangattock, access to the towpath was over a stone style beside the bridge, road side the style was about 3 foot high but towpath side probably 8 feet with stone steps sticking out of the wall. We walked both north and south along the towpath as far a Brecon

 

boats who have a ferry across the the tramcar tea rooms, but they didn’t open until 10am.

They have a couple of interesting electrically powered day boat, there was one behind where we moored last night letting a lot of guests off, probably hired for a couple and then picked the rest up on route.

Then it was off to Crickhowell to look round the town including the remains of the old castle, there is very little of it left. A nice little café for morning coffee and a Welsh cake ( I’m rather taken by these) and wander down the narrow streets to the river Usk.


The river is crossed by a single lane bridge, but traffic is controlled by traffic lights in both the street at the town side of the river and the three way junction at the far side of the river, so sometimes the queue up through the town is quite long. If you think this bridge is narrow wait until you see the next one.

 

Up in the town there is a post box, this is situated right beside the fire station outside the Post Office. Like many post boxes around the country it has received a knitted cover, this one supports the emergency services .

 

There is also the local garage, to our surprise the petrol pump was live and displaying the last sale at £1-50 lt. On the forecourt outside the doors is a wheels free car hoist with a car minus its four wheels up in the air at head hight. Being a Saturday there was no one around. the garage also sells motorbikes with three rather nice examples in the showrooms . The garage it’s self is of corrugated iron construction and we had a one just like it in the village when I was a kid. We also visited the local market and had a long chat to a bee keeper and ended up buying both a jar of honey and a jar of bee pollen.

Then off again to Talybont-on-Usk, we didn’t stop her but just drove through to see where the two pubs were in respect to the canal,turn round and then back to 

 

Llangynidr where we parked beside the lock and walked along the towpath to the village, on the way we passed this day boat having a double birthday celebration about 30 years apart. We wondered if the boat hire company provided the cold buffet because it looked  very nice and quite professional.

 

Our reason for coming her wat to look at the bridge across the Usk, we crossed this last week driving to Brecon, its much narrower than the last bridge and doesn't have any traffic light, you could sit here all day watching the drivers who don’t realise there is a car already starting to cross the bridge from the other end as the approaches are at 90° limiting vision. One car was three quarters of the way across when they met a campervan who wouldn’t back up. I wasn’t expecting this delivery van to make it.

Looking both down and up stream there were people bathing in the river. I bet it was on the cool side. On our walk back to the car we called in at Walnut Tree Café for lunch, well worth a visit if you are that way. We walked along the river bank for a bit so we could get a shot of the bridge arches.

Then back to the car and off to Goytre Wharf the ABC hire base, not only is there a tunnel under the canal and quite a bit of the old Lime Kilns there is also a very nice café for afternoon teas, more Welsh Cakes and jut as important, loos.

Our last trip of the day was down to 5 Locks, the end of navigation where we walked down the unrestored part to bridge 48 where the unrestored section disappears underground. The levels in the old locks and between them was even lower than 2 days ago when we visited by boat.
By now the temperature gauge in the car was reading 32° and were were both feeling bushed so off to the Best Western at Pontypool and our hotel room, impressions so far are good and we both checked out the shower before going for dinner at the nearby Harvester, not been to one for years, I am sure the salad bowls are much smaller but no reason why you couldn’t go for more, but the main courses were much better than they use to be. The beer, I wont say to much about that fizzy stuff,