Peat spotting!

This weekend, whilst walking on the beautiful hill-tops of the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains (what we could see of them through the hail, anyway), we came across plenty of peat.  This was very exciting for me.  Sadly, it was pretty eroded in places, probably through over-grazing and drainage.  We even passed the Woollen Line.  

But then we stumbled, literally, on this raised bog.  What a beauty!

The raised bog is within the Craig y Cilau Nature Reserve, about 3 miles from Crickhowell, at the bottom of the impressive limestone escarpment.

Apparently it was also overgrazed, illustrated by an exclusion zone in the middle where sheep couldn't munch and shrubby vegetation was growing.  But it was good to see that it hadn't been cut into, and was maintaining the characteristics domed shape of an accumulating peatland.

There's hope for peat yet.

The Black Stallion

A starter piece of evidence to confirm that I've reached the best decade, is that my decision-making abilities are now almost off the scale.  So much so, that after about a year of contemplating making a decision, I finally actually chose* a new bicycle, and parted with the coins.  It is my first properly-fast bicycle.  Two years ago I bought what I thought was properly fast, but actually it was only quite fast, and that was only on the Bubble speed scale too.  In London, Rover is classified as old, heavy and slow.  I still love him though, as I do the Pink Stallion, whom is being looked after carefully(?) by a sister and boyfriend in Oxford, where he is safe from the perils of London town.

My new companion, the Black Stallion, is quite the looker, though this photo doesn't do him justice (and he is still in his safe-delivery outfit).

He's already been on the train south with me....

And carried me carefully to and from the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, several times now, on my way to and from my office.  The journey time has varied from 2 hours (thanks to the patient nearly-Dr S for accompanying me on the maiden voyage) to 57 minutes.

A view down one of the corridors.

I hope the Black Stallion and I shall have a long and rich friendship, as I did with Azealas.


*To clarify, the decision was actually made by my favourite Iron Man, but it was down to me to press the "Confirm Payment" button.

Into the best decade....

Time has blown a bit, literally, since I last posted.  I think there's a monster in London, that hides out on the commuter highways, eating up time.  And what's left, seems to be getting blown away/drowned in the incessant storms.  (I am so very grateful to have four sturdy walls and a dry kitchen still, and hope that those many people who don't will get them back soon.)

Since I last wrote, I moved into a new, and apparently "the best" decade.  I plan to gather and report evidence to support this statement in my future blog posts.

I started my new decade with a treasure hunt in the new 'village'.  

And a lot of cake!
(Thank you, sister III.)