River Wye in full flow at Hay-on-Wye
Who knows where the time goes? I can’t believe it’s already February. I haven’t finished with January yet! In fact I haven’t even finished with Christmas.
My Christmas flower arrangement from M&S is still flourishing
I bought a Christmas arrangement of plants from Marks & Spencer for the festive season and it said on the label that it was supposed to last only three weeks and then I was supposed to take it apart. But it is still going strong.
Admittedly I replaced a Cyclamen with a Kalanchoe pretty quickly as the Cyclamen lasted only a week. But the rest of it – glitter-covered ivy included – is fine. I tell myself the glitter doesn’t make it a “Christmas decoration”, so I didn’t need to throw it out on Twelfth Night!
I know I am “all behind” as I haven’t finished sharing my Christmas/New Year travel snaps with you yet. So that’s what this post is all about, guilty though I feel about it.
January has been VERY wet in the UK, with flooding in many areas, especially the Somerset Levels and coastal towns like Aberystwyth. We have been lucky here in Cardiff, but it seems to have been raining for months, with only occasional days of sunshine. The following wet pictures are from right at the beginning of the year…
The River Wye at Hay-on-Wye…
I love this angel over a door in Hay – although it reminds me a bit of the alien “weeping angels” in Doctor Who…
Old red-brick chimneys at the castle in Hay-on-Wye…
It’s hard to believe the castle ruin at Hay was used until recently as a second-hand book shop…
The less ruined part of Hay castle…
…and those lovely chimneys again
As well as going to Hay-on-Wye, known as the town of books, we went to Brecon, which is on the River Honddu where it joins the River Usk. It also has a ruinous castle, which I hadn’t really noticed before.
Brecon Castle, with the Castle Hotel alongside…
We went for lunch at the Castle Hotel and it was pretty good.
Brecon Castle, which is nothing more than a facade, stands on the river…
Another view of the red river at Brecon…
The appropriately named Watergate Baptist Church is the white building on the far right of the previous picture
The river was high at Brecon even in early January…
Lovely weather for fish…
You need wellington boots to walk by the river…
…and here’s the Duke of Wellington himself, on a plinth in the centre of Brecon
The Duke of Wellington had no connection to Brecon, but the statue was put up in 1856, four years after his death, just because he was a national hero. The statue is by John Evan Thomas (1810-1873).
On one sunny day we went over to Bath, for lunch at Raymond Blanc’s Brasserie Blanc, which we found by chance when looking for other restaurants which had closed down since the last time we were in Bath. I wasn’t in picture-taking mood, but can’t resist sunshine on glass…
Bath Cathedral on a sunny day
On another bright day we went to Porthcawl, famous as a place where news photographers congregate to take pictures of crashing waves when it’s stormy. But it was calm when we went…
The sea at Porthcawl…
Beyond the harbour wall at Porthcawl…
Fishermen are out in all weathers…
The tide was weighty but not wild…
You may have heard the saying: “February fill dyke, be it black or be it white; Be it white, ’tis better to like.” Apparently it refers to the fact that January is often dry and useful February rain or snow fills field ditches and moistens the land in preparation for spring. Although I have also heard a different interpretation that rain in February is useless because it runs straight off the fields into the ditches, as there is no crop in the field to benefit from it.
Marshfield reen, a drainage channel on the Wentloog levels between Cardiff and Newport – picture by John Grayson on Wikimedia Commons
Here in South East Wales we call the dykes or ditches or canals that drain the levels by the sea “reens“. The Welsh word is rhewyn, but similar words in many European languages, such as the name of the river Rhine, seem to come from the Gaulish/Celtic root Renos, meaning “that which flows”.
Well, that’s the January clutter out of the way. On to the next challenge. Happy Old Year to you all…
The Squirrelbasket 
What a treat of a post! You brought together three of my favourite Welsh and towns not to mention Bath too. I remember the bookshop in the castle at Hay and Brecon was a favourite weekend go-to for family outings; I’ve never seen the rivers that high in either place. I have been in Porthcawl in rough weather a good few times though-the daughters were panto babes at the Grand Pavilion for a few seasons & the green room, below sea level at the back of the building often had to be sandbagged to prevent flooding!
Thank you for the encouragement – I was worried it was just a dish of leftovers!
Glad you know the places featured. I’m not sure who owns Hay castle now, but it doesn’t seem to be a bookshop any more. I tend to go to Addyman Books for the science fiction and the Cinema Bookshop for a browse – although as I now have a Kindle and am trying to declutter my study, I seldom find anything I REALLY want to buy…
All the best 🙂
“. . .the alien ‘weeping angels’ in Doctor Who. . .” Ha ha. I’ve just been reading about the severe drought in California and New Mexico – it really is dire. But here you are with entirely too much water. We are used to a lot of rain in the winter here – 35 days a month sometimes – but this winter has been dry. The reservoir isn’t filling and we may have water restrictions in the summer. On the other hand, we could get one of our rained out Junes.
I think you are in Vancouver? I stupidly imagined the whole of Canada to be covered in snow all winter! However, a quick look at Wikipedia informs me that Vancouver is one of the warmest and wettest cities in Canada.
It seems you are the same as us – wet winters and dryish summers. But that’s in an ideal world. All we can ever say is that it averages out over the year. So while your June may be washed out, we will probably have a drought this summer!
Hope you have some rain soon 🙂
Actually, Victoria, on Vancouver Island. It is drier here than in Vancouver, and the soil is quite different. It’s even wetter north of us on the coast – Prince Rupert and the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii).
Ah, I see. Victoria. I have located it now.
This might seem like a silly question, but do you ever watch Murdoch Mysteries? I was reminded of it when I saw your city was named after Queen Victoria, as Murdoch, based in Toronto, is very Victorian…
Best wishes 🙂
You certainly manage to get out and about despite the weather – I thank the heavens that we live on high ground and don’t have the problems that others are having to endure. Surely there will be no excuse for drought warnings this summer.
Funnily enough, we were saying the other day, in jest, I expect there will be a hosepipe ban this summer…
Surely it will get drier soon? Although not for a week or more, according to the stormy weather forecast this morning.
All the best 🙂
Don’t blink! My skin still crawls …
We still have a Christmas fir tree (obligatory glitter included) in a red pot which looks really healthy and has new growth (only a small fir!) Thinking of planting it out in the garden …
As always Pat, fabulous pictures and narrative. Thank you.
Shaz
I’m glad you got the Doctor Who reference! It’s filmed here in Cardiff, so we tend to assume EVERYONE in the world loves the time lord…
I wonder if your little Xmas tree is smaller than mine? Here it is. The husband bought it for my desk and it is TINY. I have now put it out in the garden but I don’t know if the glitter will ever wash off…
Best wishes 🙂
I’ve only got into the Doctor recently! Well, relatively recently .
I’ve tweeted you a picture of mine 🙂
Shaz
I replied to the Xmas tree tweet – yours knocks mine into a tin pot!
I wonder how you feel about Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor. I am very much seeing him as Cardinal Richelieu in The Musketeers at the moment…
Cheers 🙂
Everyone in the household has been a fan for years and each time the Doctor changes they seem to go through upheaval 🙂 I’m reserving judgement Pat!
ps yes, I did see your tweet thank you
Lovely to see pictures of Hay and Brecon, it is many years since we last visited.
Glad you only encountered the water in the rivers and not in the sky on you days out.Sarah x
Those places look better in summer!
And yes, we were lucky, although it was more or less dank most days…
All the best 🙂
It does look wet in your pictures but it is also so nice that you can see such a variety of landscape – here we would have to drive miles and miles and still not see old castles … It is supposed to rain in metro Atlanta this week, which is better than last week when it snowed – and we could not handle it.
I guess we have had thousands of years to put our castles together as tourist attractions!
I see Wikipedia says metro Atlanta has a humid subtropical climate – but with a dusting of snow occasionally in winter. I guess you had more than a dusting…
Best wishes 🙂