The River Usk flowing through the town of Usk yesterday…
Yesterday, the eve of Christmas Eve, we went for a wander through the Usk Valley in Monmouthshire. There has been flooding in many area of the UK this last week and the River Usk was running red with mud after all the rain – we are all dreaming of a wet Christmas this year, not a white one…
The red river carried along small trees…
This is the view on New Year’s Eve two years ago in 2010, with the river much lower. Click on the picture to see my Monmouthshire midwinter images from that visit…
The River Usk overtopping its banks, December 23, 2012
I feel I should recognise this tree…
And this one…
This is surely a weeping willow…
And what does this shiny bark belong to?
These are the branches belonging to the tree with the shiny bark. They look like sweet chestnut or beech, but the bark seems too smooth?
A view up river…
I have always assumed the red mud comes from areas upriver flowing through old red sandstone…
This house on the far side of the river seems pretty safe – I think it’s on the A472 in an area called Woodside…
I expect these bushes are used to having the river around their ankles…
We would have the river around our ankles, too, if we sat on this bench under the bridge…
A local man who passed by said: “Going down a bit now, isn’t it?”
Yes, we said, as if we lived here and had seen the river even higher yesterday…
I love this little walk beside the river – look up and you will see wonderful moss on the wall…
More moss…
The blue plaque on the wall explains that Conigar Walk was built in 1858 to celebrate the marriage of Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal, to Prince Frederick of Prussia. The word Conigar means rabbit enclosure…
There are Christmas angels on the bridge…
I always admire the red brickwork of Britannia House, beside the bridge…
Around the corner from Conigar Walk is Bridge Street, but I will save that for another blog post after Christmas. For now here is a festive display in one of the shop windows…
A Christmas crib in the window of Pathways Therapies, Bridge Street, Usk…
Merry Christmas everybody…
The Squirrelbasket 
Another great tour. Sorry about the flooding, but the photos are super.The window display is delightful. Have a Happy Christmas!
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply! Christmas was great but a distant memory now. And still it rains…
Best wishes 🙂
Merry Xmas Pat, and thankyou for these pics of Usk. I thought the shiny bark tree was a silver birch but on second thought, maybe it wasn’t silvery enough.I feel sorry for those people who have been effected by the floods.Lets hope that 2013 will be a better year. Looking forward to more of your fantastic posts.
Thanks ever so much Rita. We have been all over the area since Christmas and everywhere seems more or less flooded, although mostly not in a life-threatening way, luckily.
Best wishes for 2013…
When I was reading this, I was thinking there’s a Conigar Walk Weymouth too and that it has something to do with rabbits – but when I Google it, I kind find neither the place nor it defined that way.
Meanwhile . . . have a very happy Christmas – and one not too wet!
Lucy
Well coney is definitely an old word for rabbit and caer/gaer/car is definitely an old Celtic word for field or enclosure. Interesting if it reached as far as the South Coast as well as Wales…
Have a lovely 2013 – not long to go now!
Luckily we live on a hill but the fields that surround us are well and truly flooded – it hasn’t stopped raining all day. A lot of people are going to have a truly miserable time this Christmas. Hope everything is ok with you – wishing you a happy Christmas.
Elaine
Thanks Elaine, and sorry to take so long to reply. At least I’m in time to wish you a Happy New Year!
The rain hasn’t stopped us going out for drives in the week between Christmas and New Year, but everywhere we have seen fields under water.
Very wise of you to live up a hill!
Best wishes 🙂
I would say the smooth bark with horizontal fissures looks very much like birch, though I’m no tree expert.esp. with no leaves and no overall picture of the tree shape or clues on height.
My only other thought is a wild cherry. I found a nice on-line id. guide to UK trees at http://www.british-trees.com/treeguide . Drill down for full tree details.
One small puzzle is the objects in the twigs. If they are old fruit cases it’s not a birch (but could they be sweet chestnut?), but maybe they are galls. Post the two pics on iSpot and see what comes back.
Thanks for the advice. I wish now I had taken a picture of the whole tree, too. Me and my vignettes!
Those objects did remind me of sweet chestnut, but maybe they had blown in from another tree…
Happy New Year 🙂
Oh dear on the flooding.. off that it ran red….Happy Holidays to you…Michelle
I wouldn’t worry about the running red! Nothing Biblical in that, it’s just the colour of the red sandstone higher up the river, washed down when the river is flowing so strongly. I have seen both the Usk and Wye lately and they are both red with mud.
I do hope your fortunes improve in 2013 🙂
Best of luck, hope the flooding doesn’t get any worse. Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.
Thanks for that but I think we have so far got off lightly in South Wales apart from one or two places! Mostly it is just flooded fields and an occasional impassable road.
Best wishes 🙂
Great images, I live in Caerphilly and it is just as bad here sadly. Lets hope it stops soon.
They say it’ll be dry tonight to see in the new year.
Let’s hope so 🙂
*LOL* We will see. And have a great new year ahead.