Category Archives: Wales

New Year’s Day: Just a walking in the rain ………….

Posted on January 2, 2014 by BarryH

Wednesday was the wettest day of the year. Admittedly it was the first day of the year so not a lot to compare it with but if many of the remaining 364 days match up to the amount of rainfall … Continue reading →

Posted in Grey Britain, Hiking, Landscape, Monmouthshire, Mountains, Pontypool, Wales, Winter | Tagged floods, Goose and Cuckoo, horizontal rain, Monmouthshire, Pontypool, Pontypool Folly Tower, rain, Wales | 5 Comments

An alternative Boxing Day

Posted on December 28, 2013 by BarryH

From the top of Garn Wen on Christmas Day I could see not only a cap of snow on the top of the Sugar Loaf Mountain near Abergavenny but also to the north west a snow covered ridge in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Wales, Winter | Tagged Boxing Day, brecon beacons, Christmas, Corn Du, Fan Fawr, footprints in the snow, snow, Storey Arms, Wales, Winter solstice | Leave a comment

An alternative Christmas

Posted on December 27, 2013 by BarryH

I don’t enjoy Christmas. This year I was looking forward to it less than usual until I decided to do the unthinkable. Spend Christmas Day on my own. It’s a quirk of the human psyche that the things we choose … Continue reading →

Posted in Grumpy Old Men, Health and humour, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Pontypool, Reflections, Wales, Winter | Tagged alternative Christmas, choice, Christmas, Christmas Dinner, Father Christmas, Garn Wen, History of Christmas, loneliness, Pontypool Folly Tower, Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, Saturnalia, solitude, Wales | 1 Comment

Brief gaps in the clouds: Seasons Greetings

Posted on December 24, 2013 by BarryH

With the weather largely grey and wet, expected to be an increasingly typical manifestation of climate change in northern Europe, combined with preparations for Christmas and meeting up with friends before I head off on my travels again, there has … Continue reading →

Posted in Grey Britain, Landscape, Mountains, Pontypool, Wales, Winter | Tagged brecon beacons national park, crepuscular rays, Pontypool Folly Tower, Pontypool Park, Pontypool Shell Grotto, storm damage, sunrise | Leave a comment

A sunset stroll

Posted on December 1, 2013 by BarryH

The weather forecast for Saturday in Old South Wales was for wall-to-wall sunshine. A real bonus after days of grey skies. As I struggled out of bed and the sun slipped over the ridge on the other side of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Autumn, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Pontypool, Wales | Tagged Blaenavon, Blaenavon World Heritage Site, Bus Pass, Bus Pass Britain, butter, Cardiff, Coity Mountain, eggs, Industrial Revolution, Old South Wales, Roath Farmers' Market, South Wales Valleys, sunrise, sunset, Wales, Whistle Inn | 3 Comments

A walk to the pub

Posted on November 17, 2013 by BarryH

“What time do you call this?” Predictable response, given that I had arranged with friends to meet up for a pub lunch at 12.00 and arrived at 13.45. The thing is, I had decided to walk. My ‘local’ is thirty … Continue reading →

Posted in Autumn, Grey Britain, Hiking, Landscape, Monmouthshire, Mountains, Nature, Pontypool, Wales | Tagged Abergavenny, arson, brecon beacons national park, Foxhunter car park, fungi, Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, Mynydd Garn Wen, paragliding, peat soil, Pontypool, Pontypool Folly Tower, pub lunch, The Blorenge, The Skirrid, The Sugar Loaf, Wales | Leave a comment

Writers in Wales in the sunshine

Posted on November 11, 2013 by BarryH

I spent the weekend in North Wales at Ty Newydd, the National Writers’ Centre for Wales near Cricieth on the Llyn Peninsula. I was there for a re-union of those on a course last year on travel writing. We gelled … Continue reading →

Posted in Autumn, Grey Britain, Hiking, Landscape, Reflections, Wales, Wildlife | Tagged cormorants, Cricieth, Llyn Peninsula, National Writers’ Centre, North Wales, sunrise, travel writing, Ty Newydd, Wales, Welsh Coast Path, writing | 10 Comments

A Really Wild Walk.

Posted on November 3, 2013 by BarryH

Saturday and the weather forecast for the end of the afternoon was for winds in this corner of South Wales comparable with those of St Jude Storm last weekend, wind speeds of 25 mph with gusts double that and heavy … Continue reading →

Posted in Grey Britain, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Pontypool, Wales | Tagged brecon beacons national park, hiking, horizontal rain, Mynydd Garn Wen, Pontypool, Pontypool Folly Tower, trekking, wild wind | 1 Comment

Going to extremes

Posted on October 31, 2013 by BarryH

It has been good to look back on my time in Greece during the summer, trekking in the mountains, swimming in the Aegean, warm sunshine …….. but life can’t be lived in the past. It’s time to refocus. I like … Continue reading →

Posted in Autumn, Grey Britain, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Wales | Tagged autumn, autumn colours, brecon beacons national park, Great Storm of 1987, mushrooms, Mynydd Garn Wen, St Jude Storm, Wales, waterfall country, waterfalls, winds | 2 Comments

Brecon Beacons: waterfalls and pleasures revisited.

Posted on August 16, 2013 by BarryH

For over two weeks now I’ve been non-stop busy in the garden. The physically most demanding job has been cutting hedges because some of them are 15-20 feet high. That means erecting, dismantling (English is sometimes very strange, why not … Continue reading →

Posted in Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Wales | Tagged adventure, aqua tramping, brecon beacons, brecon beacons national park, courgettes, fasolakia, french beans, gardening, Glossop, greek dishes, Hayfield, Hepste, litigation, Mellte, Nedd Fechan, Peak District, Pontypool Folly Tower, potatoes, Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn, Sgwd Pannwr, Sgwd yr Eira, trig point, waterfall country, waterfalls | Leave a comment