My search for the perfect leather armchair

Today Tom and I took a break from furniture shopping and visited the wonderful county of Powys, Mid Wales. It was lovely. We went to the quaint market town of Brecon, which is the largest settlement in the whole area. Given that the town itself is very small, you see just how sparsely populated Wales is. Apart from the densely populated South Wales valleys and the capital city Cardiff, there really is nothing but mountains and beautiful landscape in this country. I was very impressed.

We stayed in a small bed and breakfast for a fair £50 per night. Tom was complaining that the room, although it was very nicely furnished and decorated, was quite small and didn't have particularly nice views (it was on a main road, which was quiet but not exactly the breathtaking scenery we are used to in Brecon). We went for a walk along the Canal in a torrential downpour, we were soaked when we got back and we didn't find the most wonderful scenery as we still couldn't seem to escape that main road as the canal ran along it, but it was good fun just being out there together and laughing at the situation.

The breakfast was lovely, it took a while for us to get served and it appeared there weren't that many B&B customers, but we were well served when we were finally seen to. I just had a bit of toast, tea and orange juice while Tom was very content with a couple of eggs and toast. Tom kept commenting randomly that the eggs were organic and wonderful with a bit of pepper; we were told that the eggs were indeed from farm reared, free range chickens. There is actually a van that goes around the town of Brecon and sells them, which I think is a wonderful idea.

Initially, on our trip we were finding it quite difficult to find the true rural, rustic Brecon Beacons national park scenery that we had intended to see from this town, and which we had indeed seen on the car drive here, but we visited the tourist information centre (just by the supermarket Morrisons) and the very kind man soon pointed us in the right direction. He told us to go along Hay Road and to find a few campsites where we could relax and stay the night on a farm next to the river.

We had brought a tent amongst many other things just in case, so once we had pitched that we went on exploring. We crossed the river barefoot - I was so scared and nearly slipped many times. Advice to anyone considering crossing a river barefoot: do NOT do it - it's so slippery and very dangerous. Once we had crossed we gathered sticks for our fire. We had purchased a bag of charcoal from the campsite owners but we wanted some more wood to give a 'natural' taste to our chicken (or so Tom says), so we gathered that in bags, some very large logs, and went back to the other side of the river. It was absolutely treacherous going across with heavy bags full of wood but we managed it.

This is the site we used in planning our trip, and please stay tuned for part 2 of our adventure coming soon! After that, it's back to tables, chairs and all that other good stuff!

After going across the river, we finally had large bags of dry wood, some of them logs, to make a fire with. I was eager to see how Tom would do with the fire making process as he said at his age he had never done it before. I asked him about boy scounts but he said he never went, an extremely rare occurrence in his day and age. It turns out he did fine, with some help from yours truly, and a LOT of help from kerosene block fire lighters we had bought from morrisons. A fine purchase, those kerosene blocks I must say. How could and hungry we would have been without them! Tom made some lovely chicken with onions and put it on the grill, he also did some BBQ tomatoes and onions, and soon people were walking past commenting on how lovely it smelled (they clearly wanted some). I would have given them some as there was plenty to go around, far too much for Tom and myself to eat, but it seemed easier to just let them walk past. We ate the food and it was delicious, but we left a lot of it as there was just no room for it in our stomachs. We let day turn to night around the campfire, and as the wood ran out and we used some charcoal, we saw the wonderful night sky with all its stars, something you really can only see in the country side or as many people like to call it, 'the middle of nowhere'. Let's just say it was extremely difficult going to the bathroom in pitch black, but I slept well in the tent although it did get extremely cold in the night. I wish we could find a safe way to move our campfire next to our tent or better yet, in between us as we sleep, but alas, it dwindled out alone in the bitter, dark cold. Morning came and I was in a pretty bad mood. We were going so I just wanted to get everything cleaned up and to leave as soon as possible. It was all a chore and I was very glad to get to the car and get back home for a real shower although I had a GREAT time. Thumbs up for Mid Wales!

Unfortunately, my search for the perfect leather armchair has come to an abrupt pause as my elderly aunt passed away recently. She was rushed into hospital a few days ago with bleeding and swelling in the brain, and although she had come out of near death conditions before, there was something that told me, this time, she might not do so, for whatever reason. My guess is that she was very tired, and enough was enough. On the one hand, I am obviously in grief. On the other, I am happy for her that she lived a full life and that she came this far and battled so hard until the end. I am also glad that there is finally an end to her pain.

I will be updating my lens with more on my leather armchair search very soon, and I am glad to see that it has been promoted from work in progress to a featured lens. Your support means a lot. Please stay tuned.