I drove across to Aberystwyth today to choose my Christmas tree with Tam, and grab a bite for lunch, and then we drove on to Strata Florida Abbey- I'd not been here since about 1996, on an Archaeology Field Trip. For some strange reason, I remembered the site as being much bigger. We got rained on a bit as we ate our lunch amongst the ruins, but Rosie was covered in a little baby waterproof and what's a bit of rain? We couldn't go into the church as there was a funeral being held there.
Tam set up a sat nav route on my phone to get me back via Devil's Bridge to the A44 -not as adventurous a route as I had imagined, and I remembered bits of it from a previous x-country route home, plus we went close to Hafod, so I remembered the area around there too. It was shocking to see the damage wrought by last weekend's storm - pine trees the girth of a dustbin snapped in two, many many others uprooted - some in joined root systems which took half a dozen trees out as bedfellows. Elderly Elders smothered in ivy had fallen out of hedgerows, a few shallow-rooted Beeches otherwise in their prime were felled, branches torn off, trees twisted in half the length of their trunks. Not far after coming out onto the A44, there was about an acre of conifers just absolutely torn and flattened - that was a BAD storm. The only worse one I can recall was the Great Storm of 1987 which ravaged the South. One of the reroofed barns at Strata Florida had had several roof panels ripped off and a long length of lead capping ripped up and twisted.
Here is a photo shamelessly borrowed from my Yahoo newsfeed tonight credit to NRW and Wales Online. THIS is just how badly Wales was hit.
I have spent late afternoon and evening watching Outlander - the last two episodes from Series 7, then back to Series 6 which I didn't recall. I've been listening to Drums of Autumn on Audible in the car too.
I really need to watch the new series of Outlander. Perhaps after Christmas.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
The characters are like old friends. To think it all started from DG seeing Fraser Hines playing Jamie Macrimmon in Dr Who?
DeleteThat picture of the downed trees is just shocking. Can't wait to see your trees.
ReplyDeleteTrees locally were pretty well unscathed. When I went to Hay, there were a few branches down, a couple of trees (pines again), but I think the worst of the storm was down towards the Sugarloaf.
DeleteHow nice to see this familiar place.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry not to have left a comment for so long or posted on my blog. I have been very ill and only now feel more able to use a keyboard - albeit on a phone! But I have been reading and it helps to see me through. Today I am posting similar comments on many favourite blogs I have read. From a hospital in France…
I'll admit, it was a long long time since I was last there. The lands of Strata Florida were pretty immense and the Cistercians had many outlying granges which seemed to cater for all their needs. So sorry to hear you have been so poorly and in hospital (HATE being in hospital). I hope that you are soon home again. Meanwhile, what would we do without books to get us through such dire times? Get Well Soon Mark.
DeleteWhat is a little rain between friends? We might as well get used to it for it looks as if our general climate is shifting in this region to that of more rain. Rainforest in Wales? Those tiny baby waterproofs are darling, I bet she looked like a little waterproof star!
ReplyDeleteStorm Darragh certainly left its calling card here. Those trees, snapped like matchwood, so sad.
It was a shower rather than a downpour. We listened to the service from the church - there was a good turnout and the carpark was packed. You couldn't see Rosie beneath her waterproofs! She was not impressed that she missed out on gram-cuddles but Tam didn't want me to risk getting their nasty cold. It had made her deaf. It was hard to take in the severity of the storm, seeing those trees just utterly flattened.
DeleteWe visited Strata Florida about 12 years ago and it is somewhere I would like to visit again. It was so peaceful and I loved the human scale of it, so different from the ruins of huge abbeys where it is difficult to imagine people actually living and working there. I also remember the thrill of watching a redstart which seemed very much at home there.
ReplyDeleteOnly Kites around on our visit, and they were high up, and a few Crows and Jackdaws. Tam was saying they are trying to raise funds to restore the farmhouse right by the Abbey -the storm shifted a few tiles about by the look of it, so the sooner the better.
DeleteThe storm certainly blew through Wales with great fury. It almost looks like a small typhoon has hit those trees. I hate those hills clad with the monotonous green of one type of tree but what are they used for when cut down Jennie?
ReplyDeleteIt does indeed. The wind speeds weren't recorded here but I think could easily have been 100 mph to do this sort of damage. 94 mph was recorded on the N. Wales coast.
DeleteWhen they are deliberately felled, they are cut up for planking and smaller round poles for fencing, also for wooden fences, etc. Sawdust bagged and used as equine bedding, or presumably if lots of small leftovers they go for burning at Drax Power Station.
DeleteI'm glad you had a good visit to Strata Florida. It's one of the few places I've managed to visit with Pete (he's always doing something else). It was very peaceful that day but it was easy to imagine the grandeur of the place and bustle of everything that was going on around in its heyday. Those downed trees look so sad but maybe they will replant with native woodland. I was thinking about going to Hafod with our son and his wife when they come next week, might have to change that plan.
ReplyDelete