Barge Holiday: The Brecon and Monmouthshire Canal

We had decided to celebrate our one year anniversary by going on a barge trip and went for the Brecon and Monmouthshire Canal as we liked the area and wanted to see more of it.  Of course, we booked it a while ago we had no idea that we would be moving to the area, but we decided to keep it as it was as one of the main points of a barge holiday is just to slow down and as we no longer needed to 'visit' places we could really just enjoy being on the barge.  

There isn't really a whole lot to say about the route we took as there is only one navigable canal here with no off-shoots which goes from Brecon to just south of Pontymoile.  For this trip we started at Llangynidr, where we collected the barge from Country Craft Narrowboats, and first headed north to Brecon before very slowly pottering south to just north of Pontymoile (bridge 56 to be exact) and then back to Llangynidr again.  Our trip was about a week and that was plenty of time to do the canal, though as with all holidays we felt we could have easily done longer.

I've realised that I didn't take any photos of the inside of the barge, but I actually really liked the space that we were living in.  It had everything that we needed and there was plenty of storage space.  To me it didn't feel like we were crammed in or that I needed more room, although a stove would have been a nice addition even though we didn't really need it heat wise.  If we ever decided to live in one we would need to downsize some of the things we have, but it would definitely be doable.

A couple of things that we did really enjoy were the much slower pace of life you had to do, the fastest you could travel was 2.5 mph and even that was too much on some sections of the canal, and always being surrounded by wildlife.  For most of the trip we didn't really hear any other man made sounds, just the movement of the water, the wind, and some birds singing.  It was really nice always being around greenery as well and waking up every morning to really only seeing water and trees.  It definitely helped that we had good weather, I'm not sure how we would have felt if it had been raining the whole time.  For most of this canal you can just moor your boat anywhere on the towpath side of the canal (unless there was a sign telling you not to) and that meant we got to choose places that were away from other people and the villages that are dotted along the canal.  That definitely had it's charms.

As we were celebrating our anniversary we did eat out a couple of times, especially when my parents came up to visit, but for the most part we just stayed and ate on the barge.  As we could only have what we had brought with us we ended up saving quite a bit of money on that front and there's something to be said for that.  The shops are really close to us at home so it's tempting to just go out and get any food we want when we want.  I wonder how possible it would be to try and keep the barge mindset with us the rest of the time.

This isn't the first time that I've been on a barge, but it had been a while so it was a nice thing when I found myself adapting back into being on one.  Part of me likes the fact that the things that you need to worry about are a bit more fundamental like checking the engine is alright, making sure you have enough water, and thinking about where you can stay that night.  I find that sometimes in my normal life I start worrying about other things that just aren't as important and don't really matter that much. It was good to get a break from this.

All in all it was a very enjoyable holiday and I could see myself spending more time on a barge, even living on one if I needed to (or in fact didn't need to).  You never know, there may be a barge in our not so distant future.

Walks 2023: Fan Fawr, Pont ar Daf Circuit

I decided that, as it's been a while since I've done any mountain walks, I wanted to test out my legs and basic navigation skills so I decided to do a relatively long walk in the Brecon Beacons.  The route I took ended up including an AA walk (And on into Fforest Fawr), was around 13 miles, and it took me about 5.5 hours to do.

I started off at the Pont ar Daf National Trust car park and walked up to the Storey Arms before crossing the road and heading straight up hill for the top of Fan Fawr.  Most of this walk is pretty doable, but one of the last sections of Fan Fawr is a particularly steep bit which definitely gets your heart going and I'm glad I decided to tackle that first.  After a mini false summit the rest of the walk up to the top felt a lot gentler.  I then carried on west to the triangulation pillar, before turning back on myself down that steep side of Fan Fawr before heading north, skirting below a cliff edge, and joining into the path that walks along the highest point of the moorlands.

This path then connects to the Beacons Way at Craig Cerrig-gleisiad and I followed this path for a little bit before breaking off to follow the path that takes you into the Graig Cerrig Gleisiad National Nature Reserve (taking a slight detour to reach the triangulation pillar at Fan Frynych) and down towards Twyn Dylluan-ddu, passing a very handy cairn on the left.  It was then right at a cross-paths to follow a very well used footpath down into the valley, crossing the A470 and carrying on down the valley to the river Afon Tarell. 

A little crossing over the river at a waterfall (a very small waterfall) and I then walked along the Taff Trail back to the Storey Arms.  Having decided that I had a little bit more time to kill I didn't carry on along the path back to the Pont ar Daf car park, but instead went through the gate and up the footpath towards Corn Du.  There's a couple of different routes here but I decided to just follow the National Trust's path up, before cutting across on a path just below the summit as there were a lot of people there and heading back down to the Pont ar Daf car park on another well used path.

My legs definitely felt it by the time I was back at the car, probably not helped by the squats I'd done as part of my exercise routine the day before (what was I thinking), but I did really enjoy myself.  It was just great being back out in wilder lands and being surrounded by natural noises rather than just human noises.  Whilst I was there I kept forgetting to take photos, even though I had thought it would be good to blog about it, and I completely forgot that I had planned on possibly listening to some podcasts as I was walking.  The quiet, at least at the start, was just too enjoyable.  All good signs and it was also good feeling that type of terrain under my feet again.  I rarely find my feet get soar when I'm walking in these types of areas.  I'll be back as soon as I can.

Crafting 2023 Update #1

I wasn't sure how much I was going to actually get done this quarter, especially as I wanted to put aside  more time to read and keep up a diary.  However, I still managed to get a fair few things completed.

Completion and Use Up Projects

This is where I put most of my focus this quarter and I did manage to get most of these done, which is really satisfying.  The only thing I slightly changed is that I secured the pompom on the hat better rather than make it smaller.  I just like the ridiculous over sizeness of it.  The only things I have left to do involves using up the fabric and wool I have from previous projects.  These are:

• Making a matching tie to my dress
• Leftover fabric top
• Crochet crop top using left over wool
• Knitted /crochet strappy top using left over wool

The Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings Cross- stitch - Riverdale

This is now complete and I love the way this looks.  I've stored it with my Hobbiton one and they'll need to be put in frames at some point.  I'm still not sure how I want them framed though, so they might just sit together for now whilst I make that decision.  I have another cross stitch I want to finish first before I move on with this series, but I plan to get back to it by the end of this year.

Icelandic Jumper

I wasn't planning on finishing this one so quickly, but I actually managed to get it completed in this quarter.  It was just such an easy jumper to knit and I might make another one in the future.  The only issue I have is that, even though I did all the measurements etc it did end up being tighter than I had originally planned.  I don't think it has anything to do with the instructions in the pattern but more to do with the type of wool I used and the fact I can never get this measuring thing right.  It's still very, very warm though, despite being on the tight side.  This didn't end up being quite the free project I was hoping for as I did have to purchase a couple more skeins of wool, but still cheaper than it would have been otherwise.  The pattern is Afmæli by Hélène Magnússon and I would recommend it as it was very easy to follow.

There is another project I'm working on at the moment, but it's a gift for someone so I'm going to put it into the next update.  It has kept me sane though whilst I was moving, with all the things that activity brings.   And that is mostly what I craft for if I'm honest.  I love the products that come out of my hobby, it's very satisfying, but I mostly do it because it keeps my hands busy and my mind calm.  Cost wise it's been pretty good with me only needing to buy a few supplies this time, but the projects coming up will be a little different.  However I plan on using some of the money I will hopefully get back from my tax return to get some of the products.  This means, that as that money has already been accounted for, they'll basically be free as well. 😃

Goals 2023 Update #1

Things didn't exactly gone to plan this quarter with a move across country has been the main reason why not, but I have to admit that not being very motivated has also played a part.

Financial

• Four Month's Emergency Funds - this went down this quarter instead of the intended up.  There are a few reasons such as we had an overlap of the properties we are renting so we had to pay two different rents at the same time and a deposit before our other deposit has been returned.  However, this is what this fund is there for so I don't feel too bad about it.  We'll just need to start building it up again.  It does mean that for us to reach our goal of saving a third of the savings this year we'll need to put aside £835 this coming quarter.
• Sinking Funds - our car repair sinking fund is now back to £500 and we should hopefully not need this for our new car, but it's always good to have it just in case.  We have managed to put the £75 a month into our Christmas fund this quarter and will need to carry on doing this over the next quarter.  We have also been putting money into a surfing lesson sinking fund and we only need about £60 for this.  Once I've done my tax return this year we should hopefully have some money to put toward these funds and our emergency fund.
• Pension and Personal Spending - I did manage to put 12.5% of my income into my pension whilst I was earning, though now that I'm jobless there hasn't been any more going in these last few weeks.  Hopefully, that won't last for much longer though as I am job hunting at the moment.  We have also been pretty good at keeping our spending to just £25 per week, apart from in March when everything just went south.  Next quarter we will need to get our spending back into control again if we're going to reach our 2023 financial goals.
• Changing My Bank Accounts - I haven't gotten around to this yet as I haven't set aside the time to make the change and to double check how this new bank account will work with my other financial accounts I have, such as my savings and credit card.  I also need to have an income coming in as well as the new bank account does have a monthly standard fee.
• Secondary Income - this also hasn't been done yet as I just can't get my head round what I could actually do for a secondary income, skill wise.  Though this coming quarter I need to concentrate on getting a primary income first and then think about a secondary income after that.

Learning New Skills

• Skateboarding - we haven't done any skateboarding yet this year and that's a shame on our part as we had a perfect park beside us to do it before.  Now that we've moved I'll need to find somewhere new for us to go and make it one of our priorities whenever we have time off together.
• Surfing - we were going to book to have lessons where we had gone the last time, but now that we've moved to Wales it would make sense to find somewhere here instead as it would be a bit costly to travel to Devon every time we wanted to go for a surf.  Once we're completely settled in that's what I start researching.
• Sailing - this is still something that's just on the back burner for now, especially as we're now further away from the sea.  We need to get our finances in order first as well before we can start spending it on this quite expensive little dream.

And that's it.  It actually hasn't turned out too badly despite everything.  Next quarter it would be really good to concentrate on getting our finances back on track so that the rest of the year can be a bit more relaxed and enjoyable.  It is possible, but it will definitely be easier to do if I can get work and soon.  That is my main focus now.

February and March 2023 Budget

I did think about writing two separate blogs about our February and March budgeting but then decided that I'd much rather write about other things and so they are going into one together. It is a tale of two months with one going pretty well and the other completely falling off the wagon.  In our defence, we did move in March so we had other things to make decisions about and there was some overlap in the properties we were renting which meant we had to pay two rents, pay a deposit for the new property and cover things like heating etc when we'd already paid by direct debit for the old flat.  

We did get some of the money back and we should be getting our old deposit soon. One of the biggest expenses was hiring a van (which with a mess up from the company we originally hired from ended up being a lot more expensive than we had originally budgeted for) and covering the fuel costs.  This all meant that we had to take out most of the money we had saved into our four months emergency fund, which we decided to do over our own emergency funds, but that is what that's there for.

February was quite a good month.  We stayed within our budgets for groceries, eating out/ takeaway, fuel, and personal spending.  I also put a good amount into my pension as well.  We had money to put into our Christmas sinking fund, but I forgot to transfer it in February so did it in March instead.  We didn't put any money away into our four month savings but by the end of February I knew we were moving and so decided to leave all the money in our main account.

Then March came along.  We actually didn't do too badly on the groceries spend, but the eating out/ takeaway budget went out the window a long with spending on household goods are we settled into the new place.  There isn't a lot of storage space here so I had to find items that would help with that.

Fuel was another expense that went up as we travelled to and from Wales a couple of times and had to pay for fuel for the van (which was an extra £100).  As the car should mostly be travelling the same distances it did down in Plymouth now we're expecting that the cost should go back down to what it was before.  I also wasn't able to put more money into my pension after the first week of March as I wasn't earning any income to put that into.  I am job searching at the moment so that should hopefully change in the not so distant future.

Our general spending wasn't actually too bad, though there were some major costs that we couldn't have saved up for as we didn't know about them until this point, such as the van rental and buying some new clothes for my husband for his new job.  The only point where we'd both been quite naughty was our one year anniversary gifts we got each other.  We had a budget, neither of us kept to it. 😂

So, what are the plans for next quarter?  Obviously I need to get a job and we need to get back to keeping within our budgets again.  I will be doing my tax returns next month and that should mean that we get a little bit extra coming in to put back into the savings.  I have worked out that if we want to still reach our goal of a third of our four months emergency saving by the end of this year we need to put in £280 a month for the rest of the year.  I'll need to see a couple of months spending, especially with out fixed monthly bills, before I can see how realistic this is going to be, but it's good to have it to aim for for now.