Bascule Bridge

The watercolour above is of the Bascule or lifting Bridge at Johnstown Carmarthen.

Bascule is French and means see saw. This I guess refers to the fact that a Bascule bridge has a large weight to counterbalance it at one end.

The Rail Bridge crosses the River Towy and was built by the Great Western Railway in the 1930’s. It is no longer in use and was apparently last lifted for Major Fisher- Hock to bring his yacht up the Towy to Carmarthen in the 1950’s. The Fisher-Hocks until quite recently were the occupiers of the Plas at Llansteffan. The Plas is the large white mansion next to the Llansteffan Castle overlooking the village. Not quite Downton Abbey but going that way.

Incidentally his yacht was called Pisces of Towy.

This morning the walk over the top was glorious. I set out as day was breaking and when Jac and I got to the top of Penlanffos the sky was orange and yellow in the East with light reflecting of the river in the valley. Later this morning Alex and I had a walk on the beach at Llansteffan with Jac and then tried to trace a short in the electrical system on the camper van (in vain I might add). We have found the circuit but not the cause although a relay is suspect.