Those canal’s again!

Miners cottages Brecon.

Main road through Brecon over the River Usk.

We only had to walk as a far as the main entrance of the camp this morning to catch a bus into Brecon. The trip only took 7 minutes but by going by bus we got a feel of where everything was. The camp staff had supplied us with a couple of map’s so we were not going completely in the dark so to speak.

Canal side cottages, Brecon Basin.

Brecon Cathedral 's 900 year old font.

As the weather wasn’t looking too good we headed up the hill to the Cathedral. At least there we would be under cover if the rain eventuated. Originally a church, the buildings status changed in 1923 when the Diocese were changed from 4 to 6 and the Swansea Brecon Diocese needed a Cathedral for the new Bishop. This made St John’s the smallest Cathedral in the country.

The High Altar in the Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist of the Diocese of Brecon and Swansea.

Brecon Cathedral only gained this status in 1923 after a change of diocese.

Back in town it soon became apparent why the authorities had built a bypass road around the town. Even a one way street system wouldn’t have helped much as the roads were so narrow and intersection on some acute angles. Some large delivery vehicles were in town but it must have been a nightmare negotiating the roads. We eventually made our way to the Brecon canal basin where we finally found somewhere to sit and have lunch.

Hire boat winds in Brecon Basin.

Dragonfly Cruiser's trip boat. A 2½ hour round trip.

Of course the Mons & Brec Canal was one that we had never visited aboard Gypsy Rover as it is isolated from the rest of the canal network. Two hire boats graced us with their presence along with the Dragonfly Cruisers trip boat which takes you on a 2½ hour trip up and down a lock and across a viaduct. Unfortunately there was only one trip today which had departed before our arrival at the basin. All was not lost as we were able to walk back along the towpath to the camp site which turned out to be only about a ½ mile from the canal. The canal seemed strange to us as the water, which comes from the nearby river is a chocolate brown colour due to the colour of the soil around here.

A good towpath from Brecon to Brynich.

Sculpture to the tramway which ran from Brecon basin back into the mountains, carrying coal out and timber in.