This is my tourist photo, because it was that sort of day. Not in an "oh no, not another tourist" way, but in an "ooh, that's an interesting scenic landmark" way. The scenic landmark in the photo is monnow bridge in monmouth. It's famous for something, but i'm not sure what. Nice though. Left my pokey hole this morning at 9. It was sunny and already warm, but thankfully clouds soon appeared which made for easier walking (sorry sun worshippers, but i have different priorities!). Basically i spent the day walking through an undulating landscape of fields and more fields. Not the most exciting day but more tiring than i expected and, as i said, full of scenic landmarks. The first was st cadoc's church in Llangattock, a lovely white village church with a very old painting of st george and the dragon inside. A nice lady who was flower arranging inside showed me round. The next was white castle, a ruin which was most notable for being able to download an audio guide via bluetooth on the way in. The third was a herd of rare white park cattle which looked like those texas longhorn things (ok, not strictly a scenic landmark but very impressive. I would have used them for the photo but i was too sacred to go anywhere near them! I was in the same field though), and the last was the bridge in the piccy. The approach to monmouth was gruelling. The other towns i've walked through or into have had pretty introductions, but this was a mile of tarmac bashing through some nice, then not so nice, houses. I've been a bit taken aback at the scale of housing development in some of the places i've been. Forden for example, near welshpool, or trefonen wherever that was (the village with the offa's dyke brewery), were dominated by estates, to the extent that it was hard to find the village centre if there was one. So monmouth is a lovely town but It's enormous compared to the last time i was here, not that long ago. The shops were still open when i arrived and the town was packed. I was having trouble coping and considered running for the hills, but i wanted to watch united v arsenal on sky so after a shower i joined the throngs in a decent town pub and watched a 2-1 victory. After that i wandered into town. There was a mini-festival going on outside a pub so i watched that for a while, along with at least 8 other people. The first band were quite good and made an effort for a tiny audience. When they finished i headed back for some food. Now for the b&b. Well, It's dreadful. It's a pub called the queen's head. The owner sounds and looks like a man who's given up on it. The room reminds me of college days, no wonder he took the money in advance. The only reason i decided to eat here was because the restaurant was an indian franchise which looked good. I should have known better! Meal rating: 2/10. Lamb korai. Too tough to eat. Nice poppadoms though. Went back to my room to watch match of the day. Last day tomorrow. I won't miss monmouth.
