Another moving day, a lot easier now that we are using the porch awning, I can take it down on my own in next to no time. We have been staying at Highmeadow Farm CL between Coleford and Newland. It is a quiet rural location and ideally placed for exploring this area. The only down side has been that the grass has not been cut for some time and it has been quite wet, consequently we have been walking in very wet grass. It is a pity because if it had been cut the site would have had a very different feel.
An easy drive along the A40 takes us to our next destination. Barons Court CL at Llangadog on the west side of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The site owner, Andrew, is there to greet us as we arrive. The first thing he does is apologise that the grass needs cutting. It does not look like it to me, it is short and well maintained. Andrew then tells us about the facilities including the toilet and shower block plus details of his farm animals. He has chickens, ducks, donkeys and Black Welsh Mountain Sheep, this week a new ram has been added to the flock.
We are soon unpacked and sorted. A look at the shower room has us already regretting that we are only staying for six nights. In my working days I regularly stayed in hotels all around the country, not many had a shower room as good as here at Barons Court!
Andrew had told us about the butcher’s shop in the village, just ten minutes walk away so we head there to check it out. Lynnie comes out with a large steak for the pair of us, plus a pie for over the weekend and a couple of free bones for the boys. Crosby is showing all the signs of voting this his CL site of the year!
The sun is shining and the boys are keen for a walk. Lynnie stays at the van, it is still the European Athletics Championships! We walk from the site turning right outside the entrance and left at the end of the lane, then along a quiet road for a few hundred yards before turning right again and walking along a country lane. Hardly a car goes by and it is pleasant walking.
At a house called Caebricks I take a footpath along a track that leads up into the woods and then along another track to Mandinam. I follow the footpath through the farmyard and down into the woods, then follow a series of paths in a loop until I return onto the track that take me back to Mandinam and then retrace my steps to Barons Court. It has been a pleasant jam, almost two hours in the early evening sun.
Back at the Unicorn the BBQ gets assembled and the steaks are soon cooking. They are excellent. We will be visiting the butcher again soon!
Later I wander down to the village pub, the Goose and Cuckoo, to make use of their wifi and sample some of the local ale. I am recommended a pint of Evans and Evans Cwrw. I am not disappointed. We will certainly be returning here as well.
(15th August 2014)
[To follow my walk you will need Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure Map OL12 – Brecon Beacons National Park Western Area]
© Two Dogs and an Awning (2014)