June 22, Abergavenny

To compensate for not walking from Pandy to Hay on Wye, an almost 20 mile stretch with significant demands, all of which can be problematic in bad weather, I decided on an enticing, twelve and a half mile (not including the three mile round trip to get there and back)  excursion called The Devil's Punchbowl.  Maybe that is where the Devil has a drink after he has finished at the Pulpit back near Tintern.  This walk requires the ascent of a mountain.  After completing the first segment, at which 3.7 km of sheer uphill still awaited, I decided the climb was just too hard—I could say it looked like rain, and in fact it did rain, and for that reason I did not want to be alone on top of a mountain—but I just did not have the battery power, the juice, the gas, so I diverted and reached the punch bowl by an easier route.

It seems the Devil is not much of a boozer because the pond was not very large;

Foxglove:

A very old cemetery:

Having wimped out of the mountain climbing experience, I still had time before the taxi was due at 2:15, so I did a walk by the River Usk.

In the river a dog was cavorting:

and a man was fishing:

There are lots of signs telling people to keep their dogs on a leash.  

One said something to the effect: "We don't want to shoot your pet, but we will if it upsets the livestock." 

Hello, ladies-of-the-path:

Sunday is not a good day to need food items because either the grocery stores are are closed or close early.  I made it to the one open store just before 4:00 and as I was equivocating over which mayonnaise to choose, a manager, or some such person who runs the place, tapped me on the shoulder and said, "It is 4:00 o'clock; the store is closed," so I could not purchase another thing.  Thus, no lemons for a hot drink tonight.

Even though the walk planned for today was not fully realized, I did clock over fifteen miles.  I had some ambitious plans for tomorrow, but when I looked at the elevation charts, and the designation, HARD, I decided NO, and will do a few walks that are less demanding, and wander about the town, which is a sweet sort of place famous for its bookstores.  (I wonder how business is these days.)