Some lovely photos taken on our first day out in four months. We took advantage of the weather and drove up to Hay Bluff, and had a car picnic, and a short walk to take some photos of the amazing views. There were a couple of groups of ponies - these look pretty well Section A (Welsh Mountain) types, but there were some bigger heavier coloured cobs too.
A walking group (Ramblers) had met up (all their cars in one area) and climbed up onto the Bluff. I bet that sorted out the fit from the unfit! Bet the view up there is amazing but I doubt I will get fit enough this year to climb up there, even though the path contours rather than going straight up.
I actually got a recognizable photo of a Kite - normally they are specks in the distance!
There's a nice spot to live - certainly no close neighbours nearby!
The flat topped peak of Pen-y-Fan in the distance.
The tiny church of St Mary at Capel-y-Ffin, beloved of the Reverend Kilvert who said it looked like an Owl.
It is very simple inside. The etched window reads: I will lift up my eyes to the hills, From whence cometh my help.
Trekking ponies on an extended holiday - normally at this time they would be working very hard for their keep. The smears are on the window, not my camera!
We hadn't seen this chapel before - it is across a stream at the back of the church, on a stretch of Offa's Dyke, according to the signpost by the gate.
This reads:
The Memory of the Just is Blessed. Proverbs X ch. 7 v.
Messrs. William and David Prosser
Brought the Ministry of the
Gospel to their house in the year
1737. And Secured this Place for
That sacred use for the Time Being
Both died hear the end
Of the year 1780.
And Mr John Griffiths Secured
The sum of One Hundred Pounds
For the use of the Ministry for
The Time Being died June 29th 1817.
Now they are at Rest from their
Labours and their works follow
Them./ Revel. XIV 13 v.
Also the Donation of Mr Wm. Watkins
Being the Sum of Forty Pounds
Erected by Rev. George Watkins.
That is a HUGE sum (£100!) - and is mentioned here on a gravestone in the St Mary's Churchyard :
I couldn't read the top part (someone else had obligingly whitened the stone here - a bit of desecration . . .) but I think it was in the Watkins' family plot. So, were they locals with lots of cash (one assumes) who changed from Church to Chapel? One assumes so. (Just done some research and found out the Watkins family were Dissenters- there was a famous Dissenting "academy" at Llanigon, near Hay-on-Wye. )
