The somewhat common Dragon that apart from appearing on the National Flag is everywhere.
The first stop if the Big Pit which is a former Coal Mine which allows visitors to go down into the mine.
The cage that is used to lower you into the mine. The mine is 90m deep.
Getting ready for the trip underground. Hardhat fitted and Lamp and another piece of equipment which they obviously didn't expect us to need (More about that later)
No electronic equipment is permitted in the mine in case of sparks so there are not photos.
The tour guide (All are ex-miners) demonstrated one of the methods used to signal operations of winches etc in the mine. The method was to short two bare wires with another piece of wire.
Unless you are only 5 feet tall there are parts of the mine you have bend double to navigate. The hard hat saved me from a lot of knocks.
It wasn't until we were most of the way through the tour the guide explained the metal container that was on the belt carrying the battery for the lamp. It was a respirator just in case of gas leaking into the mine.
He was demonstrating the Davy safety lamp and asked if anyone knew how it worked. I had read them so I gave him the answer. I don't think he expected anyone to know.
We came back up to the surface and walked around the other exhibits.
The next stop was Brecon Beacon National Park. The highest point in the park is 3500ft so is not quite as high as Mt. Wellington.
Spectacular views however.
The next stop was Brecon itself and the beautiful church.
The church also double as a cafe during the week. At the suggestion of the tour guide I had lunch there. It was a very nice Ham Salad with some fresh bread. It was a very generous serve and I couldn't finish it all.
I really like the table numbers. It wasn't the usual plastic number in a metal stand but a wooden spoon in a vase.
This canal runs through the town and is still in use as a recreational waterway.
We moved on to the cathedral at Brecon. There has been a religious structure on this site for at 1000 years if not longer.
The Baptismal Font in the Cathedral is even older. It is decorated with Pagan symbols. The other side was damaged during the English Civil War.
The last stop of the day was the Brecon Beacons Visitor Center has a beautiful view of the highest mountain in the park.
Most of the tour group opted out the walk to the Iron Age Hill Fort because of the heat and there is nothing to see at the sight. You would probably see more in an episode of Time Team.
The tour guide Paul is very good. It was only a small bus (16 seater). He tried to teach us some Welsh. I don't think it might be that hard to learn as it looks. One thing is that Welsh words written out sometimes have two characters represent a single welsh letter (e.g. ch is a sort of k like character when pronounced).
He went through some history on the way back including the explanation of why Dragons.
It was long and complicated (see here)
The company has another tour tomorrow to Roman Ruins. I had such a good day I booked a ticket on that tour as well.
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