Abergavenny and Gilwern

This blog will continue at Harnser's Travels

Last night was our last night in the Ebbw Vale Premier Inn, its probably the best room we have ever had in one of their hotels, so after breakfast in the adjoining Beefeater we checked out and headed to Aldi to stock up on perishable food followed by Tesco for diesel.
Our aim for this morning was Abergavenny castle and museum, we were going to go yesterday but they close at 4pm. Its a free to enter museum, very small only three rooms but they pack in a lot of interest and one thing I knew nothing of was using a dog in a wheel to power a rotisserie in front of an open fire, prior to that it was a job for children and after the dog they used clockwork ones.

We then walked into the town centre which is pedestrianised and very busy, again we visited an indoor market in the Corn Exchange, the place was heaving.

Then it was a case of looking for somewhere to eat and you are certainly spoilt for choice, fusion, Italian, Gurkha, English, we settled for Turkish. Not fast food but very enjoyable.
Back to the car to drive to Gilwern, we had to be there for three o’clock to collect a hire boat for the week. Loading was interesting, reversing off the main road on a zebra crossing and down onto the towpath squeezing between the Belisha Beacon and the bridge wall. Once loaded the car was taken to the company yard for storage. We were briefed on both the domestic side of the boat and the operational side. Instructed on the quirks of the canal and its looks and told not to do most of the things I would normally do. We set off through the first bridge under instruction, moored up and were then sent on our way. We only did a little over 4 miles before mooring for the night as progress is very slow on this canal.
Its strange being on such a tender boat, she has a V hull to help with the shallow edges and large windows. We had diner onboard and then went for a short wander around, our mooring for the night.

Today’s boating journey
4¼ miles with no locks in 2½ hours

Brecon and Pontypool

First we went to Brecon and walked along the river Usk to the weir, on our way up to the weir we passed the remains of the castle, later we failed to find it. Up at the weir some has painted the background of a seating area to look like beach huts .

We then walked to the Cathedral where after a cup of coffee we wandered round, I was surprised to find the walls bare stone, no plaster. Part of the roof is all vaulted brickwork and the tower is in the centre of the building. I expect t was once part of the monastery but there is now a large house attached to the cathedral at one end.

   We then walked to the library /museum, inside they have completely restored the old court room including the stairs going down from the dock to the cells. The also had some wonderful display's or wood carving, from spoons to puzzles and chains .     We also had a very nice snack lunch in the grounds of the library

On our way to the museum we called to the market building with lots of fresh products for sale, but the main building was quite empty.

After lunch we took a ride to Pontypool only to find the area around the basin closed and the carpark locked, we did find where the tramway ran under the canal. and considered walking to the Torfaen Museum but went by car as we decided it was on the route home, unfortunately it was closed so went for a ride round ending up at be Gilwern and had coffee in The Towpath Inn, a canal side pub right outside a hire base.

Tonight we went for an Indian meal at Valley Spice, one of only three couples in there, unlike last nights Italian where the place was packed.

Big Pit and Blaenavon Iron works

Well the weather forecast wasn’t wrong and we woke to light rain but it didn’t look to bad. Our first visit today was Big Pit coal mine, a pleasant drive over the hills with little drizzle, when we arrived in the car park there was one other car and two coaches full of junior school kids.
Still very light drizzle, we will be fine. Paid the carpark and booked two tickets to go down the mine at 1130am and it was chucking it down, into the café for a coffee and then sprint across the yard to the old forge passing one of the old carriages that use to take the chaps to the coal face. There was a video running in the forge of a chap making a hinge. 

Then a trip to the Winding house, this is till used to lower people (us) down the pit.

It was then time for our trip down the pit. we had to don on hard hats, lamps and emergency breather as the workings are still classed as a mine and all mining safety regulations have to be followed including lift inspections every day and mine gas checking.They also monitor the surface atmospheric pressure as a rapid fall can result in a build up of firedamp gas. Of course we were not allowed to take phones,cameras etc down, so no photos from below, all in Diana’s handbag to be collected on our return.

 

 

We packed int the lift for the 90M decent and I mean packed, all friends together. Our time below lasted about 90 minutes and was well worth £5. This is the view from the rear of the dual lift cages, one goes up while one comes down . There is another party just getting ready to descend.

 

We then visited the lamp room followed by the shower block and locker room.

There is also a large display of small mining equipment with things like Miners Lamps, surveying equipment  and hand tools. There are also various exhibits dotted around the site. a good long half day out.

I took this photo from the Shower/locker room, one of the highest points to give an idea of the weather. Its looking across the valley.

We then headed down to the Iron Museum, this one wasn’t free to get in but well worth a visit, while we were there the weather was changeable .

There is a very nice 3D model of what the site was like in its heyday and a display in one of the old furnace buildings shows how the tapped the iron and allowed it to run in trough in the floor to cool and consolidate. One of the other remarkable items is a water powered lift for lifting waggons etc between different levels of the site .

There is also a block of houses that they built to attract skilled workers from the midlands to come and work in Wales. These are furnished in different times from the 1700s to 1966

From the top of the water lift there was a good view across the site.

Coming back to the hotel we thought we would take a different route so turned down into the town before letting Tomtom guide us home, To say it was interesting is an understatement with 135° junctions, single file mountain roads, sheep, steep hills with hairpin bends. The next task was to find somewhere to eat tonight and we have found what looks to be a nice little Italian restaurant in Brynmawr about 15 minutes away.

Ebbw Vale 11-6-25

Bit of a holiday with a difference, we are staying in the UK but not England, We have driven to Wales, leaving home about 9-30 and calling in to our boat at Barby on the way, because I forgot something when I left last week. As it was lunch time we called in to Magnolia Café and Crick Marina, a very pleasant place but its closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The weather was so nice we sat outside for a light lunch. Then a short way to the boat before heading off to Wales. It was a good journey of almost 400 miles and we only got held up once on the A14, no idea why.
 

We are booked into the Ebbw Vale Premier Inn for a few nights, and when we arrived I upgraded our first night to include the meal deal to save driving into town and looking for somewhere to eat. The hotel and the adjoining Brewers Fare are on an industrial estate a little way out of town.