Apple Pressing.

This morning we were still stuck under that cloud layer which stayed with us all day eventually turning into rain. 

I hadn't known if I would be able to go on the walk today as Peter needed the car to drive himself and another RNLI volunteer to the church for the Remembrance Day Service. Luckily I was able to have a lift with a couple who live just around the corner so off to Pontarfynach (Devil's Bridge) we went after collecting another member of the walking group on the way. 

 

After parking in the car park by the sheep market we cut across the high country away from the buildings of Pontarfynach (strung out along the road in the photo above with the deep Rheidol Valley behind).

From there we walked through a woodland which had been reclaimed and planted by the community after the clear felling of the larch plantation back in the 70's.

Plenty of leaves to shuffle through with an almost prehistoric feel to the fern filled woods.

From the woods we made our way across more fields from which we had far reaching views of the misty hilltops. And by now we were walking in the clouds and getting a little damp.

I do think these landscapes look better in 'letterbox' format.

It was still wet when we reached our apple pressing destination but not too much to stop us from working outside. Everything was efficiently set up so we could wash and then chop the apples before taking them over to the apple press.

The apples went into a hand press followed by two more filtration stages. The end result was delicious fresh apple juice. Although apples trees were planted on the grounds a few years ago they are not yet producing much of a crop. In fact the apple crop in general has been poor this year. All the apples we used today came from local gardens as the lady of the house is a professional gardener. Pressing done and with the rain becoming heavier we retired to the large atrium style sitting room to eat the lunches we'd brought with us along with tea and freshly baked apple muffins. This atrium was filled from top to bottom including all the way up the spiral staircase to the mezzanine level with with an impressive array of unusual plants and many interesting objects. However as it was a private home I didn't feel that I should take photos. 

With increasing rain as we left I was glad I'd brought along my waterproof over trousers for the walk back to Pontarfynach. It was nice to be driven home and my friends were kind enough to drop me off at home so that I didn't even have to walk the short distance from their house.

We've had our usual Sunday evening watching Strictly and followed that with the Dispatches revealing details of how much money the king and Prince William make in general without having to pay any taxes including from schools, hospitals, prisons, the armed forces and many sources that damage the environment. No surprise really but it still made our blood boil at the total hypocrisy of it all.