Ironworks and the Big Pit at Blaenavon

Our three days in Wales are about to come to an end. We depart for Bath tomorrow for one night then on to France.

We have had three delightful days with Jenny and Paul. Breakfast and dinner supplied with lunch on the road.

We arrived here in Llangnidr, Wales Tuesday late in the afternoon, but sooner than expected due to our lovely GPS girl continually giving us about 80 miles and 70 minutes extra to go - that was until we arrived at Jenny's place and the distance dropped to 100 yards - very strange!!!

On Wednesday morning til mid-afternoon, we visited the Ironworks and the Big Pit at Blaenavon. Helen was impressed with the blast furnace structures from the 1700's. We  intended to ride the Brecon Mountain Railway until GPS Girl gave us a direction that would have had us turning right across two lanes of  "A" road traffic. After consulting two road maps that did not agree, (one agreed with GPS Girl - the other showed the intersection correctly) we had to head towards the Ironworks to do a U turn. We decided to do the Ironworks and Big Pit first.

 The Brecon Mountain Railway is a 2 foot gauge track rebuilt along a disused railway line using steam engines sourced in Germany, Brazil and South Africa. The  rolling stock have been built locally.

Today we visited the remains of a Roman City at Caerwent and a Rural Life museum at Usk. Actually met a local who, not only knew where Brisbane was but had been to Lone Pine.

 

 

Back at Llangnidr Helen received some training and practice at lock handling. We now have one deckie fully trained!!