Had another lovely day of weather. Not hot but bright and no winds. It will change tomorrow I think.
Mid morning we cycled down to the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal and along it for about 10 miles north to Abergavenny (Y Fenni, in Welsh). It was lovely and peaceful.
The name of the barge was not intended to be a reflection on the speed of Janice’s cycling!
The canal was used to transport coal and iron ore down from near Abergavenny to Pontypool for smelting. It would have once been a very industrialised area. As we passed canal barges people said hello and as we progressed I summoned the courage to say Bore Da and cycled away as quick as I could before they replied in Welsh that could have involved me having to reply.
Abergavenny didn’t have too many frills but it was a really pleasant visit.
We had views of the Sugar Loaf mountain. Gorgeous.
Had our packed lunch at the Castle.m
Visited the market. It was one of the best markets I have visited in Britain. I can’t explain why they had stuffed giant insects hanging from the roof, other than an attempt to brighten the place up. It’s not the biggest market I have seen but it had everything, seemed well attended by the locals AND I must add they were friendly! Janice had a yearning for some Welsh Cakes. See below.
The Welsh cakes are very similar to a scone but are flatter and cooked on a griddle. Very nice. The building behind the photo is the Town Hall and Market Hall. I also wanted to get some local cheeses. We had previously bought a crumbly Caerphilly cheese pre-packed from a supermarket and we both thought that it was tasteless. I know it isn’t a strong tasting cheese but some taste would be appreciated, the cheese label said it was made in Nantwich. We purchased a local unpasteurised Caerphilly which although mild had a proper taste and texture and a really local Y Fenni cheese which is laced with herbs and whole grain mustard which was proper tasty. I had googled Welsh cheeses and there weren’t many responses but one in particular caught my eye.....Pant Ysgawn cheese sounded interesting but I couldn’t summon the courage to ask for it. Maybe it would be rather too pungent for my taste?
I haven’t, so far, talked much about Coronavirus. There are different rules in Wales from England. I can’t say that I know what they are but I think we are fairly closely in line at the moment. I don’t need to know how many people can come into my house or how many I can gather with in a group because there is no chance that we will exceed the limits in our dormobile. I was a bit surprised when I went into a supermarket today to see that most people weren’t wearing face masks. The Welsh seem to have been rather more cautious than the English so I have checked and found that they don’t have a specific rule about wearing masks in shops (although most shops do ask customers to put them on). I don’t enjoy wearing a mask but have got into the habit quite easily of having one in my pocket and putting it on when in indoor public places and I will carry on doing so. Peoples responses to coronavirus can be widely varied but I try to keep a pleasantly sensible balance within the rules. We are going to have to continue like this for many months so I won’t be fighting the rules nor do I intend to get too stressed with other people’s behaviour.
We cycled back by the same route and I put Janice to work at a Canal Quay and later called at a smallholding to purchase some tomatoes on the way back. I mention this because we tried to continue our Welsh food theme for our teatime meal.
This is an old game I have previously played on my blog. This is my empty plate and you have to guess what I have eaten. There are clues within the blog.....so answers please by tomorrow.
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