The Monarch of the Canal

We had tea today in a canal boat newly converted into tea-rooms on the Brecon-Monmouthshire canal at Llanfoist, just outside (and way above) Abergavenny. The view though the open window was of the towpath above us, and in the distance, the Skirrid mountain. Buffy, the resident dog, was kind enough to pose on the towpath for me, but then stuck his head through the window expecting chocolate brownie (alas for him, too late).

Buffy's nose indicates the bit of the mountain that they do say slipped down when the veil in the temple was rent in twain at Christ's crucifixion, and so the Skirrid is sometimes called the Holy Mountain. It used to be traditional for a large cross to be carried up there on Good Friday, but health and safety put paid to that.