Rob Little's Blog – the musings of an English / British Tour Guide !

Friday tea time and we are nearly at the end of our inland voyage. You can see us floating across the River Usk on an aquaduct which seems very odd to me….water some 100ft or so above water?

Then we went through the final lock and on to the market town of Brecon at which point the canal has subsequently been built over and is no longer navigable.

After a walk around the town and turning around, our last night is right by the aquaduct and we will no doubt pay a visit to the Coach and Horses pub nearby!

Tomorrow its just a 40 minute cruise back to Cambrian Cruisers, the rental company, where we must be by 9am.

Rob Little
Driver Guide
Lets Tour England

So once again, after another crisp night, we head back towards the base of the rental company, Cambrian Cruisers’ base at Llanfrynach. We were going to visit the Royal Oak pub at Pencelli last night but “no dogs allowed” so we we stayed in Talybont.

Talybont-on-Usk is a nice little village and the Post Office sells a home-made fruitcake, heavily spiced and moistened with tea – an old Welsh receipe. We had another evening here in the Star Pub – Steak and Ale pie washed down with a couple of pints of “Hobby Horse” ale from the local Rhymney brewery!

Tonight we are thinking of ending up at “The Open Hearth” pub at Groesffordd (goodness knows how to pronounce that) near Brecon.

So as usual I will add a few photos through the day. Right now I am about to enjoy bacon and eggs – which tastes especially good when your out in the middle of nowhere – the smell of cooking savours the appetite of the occasional dog walker on the tow path!

The first 2 photos are of the electric drawbridge at Talybont – the rest are hand cranked !
Rob Little
Driver Guide
Lets Tour England

Well I made it back through the locks unscathed and then through the spider infested 350yd long Ashford tunnel.

More stunning vistas as the canal snaked its way, following the contour of the mountain between Crickhowell and Talybont-on-Usk, where we are staying on this penultimate night of the vacation.

The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal is a great one to start on – only a few locks and, for those interested in the Industrial Revolution, several aquaducts and a long tunnel (see photos). One marvels not only about the manpower needed to build these canals 250 years ago but the bridges of which there were over 100 in the 25 or so miles that we travelled. Maybe we should be investing in todays equivilent technology to stimulate the economy rather than shutting everything down with cuts cuts and more cuts. Hope you like the pics – the ones of the tunnel aren’t that brilliant but you get the idea !

Rob Little
Driver Guide
Lets Tour England

So here is a little lesson on “Lock technique” on the Mon and Brec Canal….by the man who had an involuntary immersion on Sunday!

01 Steering through the bottom lock gates

02 Inside the lock

03 The doors behid me close

04 The Lock fills

05 Filling more

06 Nearly full

07 Opening the top gates

08 Steering from the lock into the holding pool

…..this was the pool where I got knocked in after some idiot in the lock above started letting water pour in….I may sue!!

09 View of the holding pool from the lock above

10 Another view of the holding pool which is about the same length as my boat!

Actually if people are sensible this is not a physically demanding vacation !!

Rob Little
Driver Guide
Lets Tour England

Thursday and winter’s first frost of 2010 on the morning after the government annonunced the most severe cuts in public expenditure since WW2 – cuts that will no doubt have a disproportionate effect on the poor of Wales, a country which already has a much lower level of wealth than most in England enjoy.

Anyway, after a bloody cold night I was not surprised to see frost on the roof of the boat as I got up to take Gladys the dog for her first walk of the day alongside the Monmouth and Brecon Canal. The fields across the valley to the town of Crickhowell were also white. But under the trees the ground was sheltered and rather more soggy under the dew!

Today brings a return to the dreaded locks (let’s hope I remain on board this time!) and back to the long Ashford tunnel!

More later, perhaps !

Rob Little
Driver Guide
Lets Tour England

…..a few pics of today – the one of me in the glasses have two pints of beer on them! The next was just a beautiful view of the sun through the trees. The final one was as we walked down through a field from the canal, high above to eat at the Old Rectory in Llanggattock. As you can see, dusk had well and truly set in and the moon was high in the sky….which will be handy as I wobble my way back up through the field to the boat after a few beers and, yes, a 20oz steak !

Rob Little
Driver Guide
Lets Tour England

…..just before dawn on the Mon and Brec canal….I threw on a tee shirt and some joggers to take these photos not realizing there was an icy cold blast coming from the north. You can just see the vapour trail from a jet flying in, as so many do from the north America at this time in the morning.

People don’t believe me when I say I am actually an introvert but I like nothing more than being alone with my camera in the countryside. This is the kind of vacation which can be very peaceful indeed – we only passed about 3 boats yesterday and so far today, at 10.00am have not seen another soul. On the other hand if you need company, up to six people can travel on these boats and then there are the people walking dogs on the tow path who love to pass the time of day. And, at the end of the day, there are the canalside pubs where people are so friendly – although for the last few nights we miss-timed things and have been in the middle of nowhere!

But the boating life is not entirely passive – remember my unscheduled “dip”, Gladys the dog flinging herself in the water too, in persuit of a squirrel, and Beverley fell flat on her back while trying to haul the boat in with a rope. So we are carrying some injuries. And only last night a potential disaster was avoided as Beverley was about to step out into the canal when taking Gladys out for her final excercise of the day…..she forgot we’d turned around and she had to get off the other side – it was pitch black out there!!

We are high above the village of Llanellen and, yes, the canal is “above” the village cut into the hillside. We even float across bridges over rivers and roads! This morning just a few little sheep for company in the dawn light. And now for breakfast…or is it “elevenses”….yes things are running a little late but so what!

PS – we passed our first boat at five past midday – other than that just a few dog walkers ! Then two more boats “in formation” at 3.15pm !

Rob Little
Driver Guide
Lets Tour England

……taking a break from the squirrel hunt below decks during a rain shower ! All this stimulation is soooo tiring !

In the end, Wednesday was a day of gorgeous rural cruising and showers….it seems that one way or another someone was determind I was going to get wet !
Rob Little
Driver Guide
Lets Tour England

…..enough of this tearing round the country malarkey, trying to see Stonehenge, Edinburgh castle and Lands End in two days flat – this is the way to do it! Seeing Britain at the macro level!

So can you think of a better place to wake up? No smut please! This rather average photos were taken this morning while taking Gladys the dog out for her ablutions!

Maybe more photos later but today we turn around and start the long meander through the idyllic Monmouthshire countryside.

Rob Little
Driver Guide
Lets Tour England

Well, yes, today on the Mon and Brec WAS somewhat less eventful than yesterday….thank goodness! We simply meandered our way through various places with unpronouncable place names (with no syllables in them) like Ty-gwyn and Llwmws, which scenically are somewhat more gorgeous than their names suggest!

Today we meandered through farmland apparently far away from civilisation with just sheep, squirrels, ducks and kingfishers for company.

Tonight we are moored up literally in a forest with no other boats, people, houses in sight – not a lot of night life but hey, wait, what’s that over there in the field…….after all we ARE in Wales !!!!

Rob Little
Driver Guide
Lets Tour England