Pip on Skenfrith Bridge watching the raging waters

Pip took us for a drive to visit Kilpeck Church to build up our appetite for a hearty brunch. It is just a few miles up the valley from Grosmont but he managed to wind up and down dale, along single track roads with hardly another car in view.

The church is a little marvel, full of ancient grotesques, Romanesque architecture and built beside one of the ancient castles which line this stretch of the Welsh Marches, the old much contested border between England and Wales. 

The rain started falling as we arrived so we opened the massive old oak door and took shelter in the small church with a large stone carved font. I think the church's website tells its story better than I can, and shows details of the interior and exterior.

We strolled to the nearby pub but it didn't have the look of a country pub anymore, sadly turned into a commonplace pub food outlet. But the walk did at least show us the old oak on the small village green. A sign said it was planted in 1805, the year of the Battle of Trafalgar, to mark the victory over Napoleon. It is a magnificent tree and I was interested to be able to assess its great size compared to its exact age. 

The return home became another wander down the back lanes of these borders as Pip drove us up and down the hills and valleys via Garway and Skenfrith. As a driver I seldom get to be a passenger and able to enjoy examining the beautiful countryside. I asked Pip to stop at a bridge so I could photograph the roaring current in the rivers resulting from the mass of recent rain. He suggested Skenfirith bridge, whjch is just a hundred yards from yet another border castle, this one obviously being a very strong defensive fortress close by a key crossing point of the River Monnow, as it flows down to its junction with the River Wye at Monmouth. The red colour of the water reflects the underlying soil formed from the rocks in these parts, the old red sandstones.

There are a couple of 'Extras', one of which has Pip on the middle of the bridge watching the stormy river flow, carrying whole trees, massive boughs and much general detritus. Given the amount of rainfall in the last few days, the level of the river is sure to rise much higher. We drove through deep water at one point at the top of a hill. I'm wonder what the valley bottoms will be like.