Usksider's Photo Blog

Well no, not exactly. In this case it's Birds on a Hot Glass Roof...

This pair of sagulls were warming their toes on someone's sunroof - and crapping all over his paintwork too!

Grumpy Bloke commented about trash being dumped on my morning post (Tales from the riverbank).

Dumping trash, fly-tipping if you will, seems to be a national problem. It's time we all did something to stop the morons who try their best to ruin the environment for the rest of us.

Dumping is both harmful and unsightly; why would anyone want to do it?

In this area, dumpers frequently drive past public amenity sites to leave their crap at the side of the road; what the heck is that all about?

Fly-tipping is illegal, but the threat of a heavy fine doesn't seem to make the slightest difference to the tippers. Let's be honest, you'd have to have balls the size of water melons and a brain the size of a pea to do this sort of thing...

I left the house early yesterday morning to give myself time to grab a few images on my way in to work.

Normally morning’s are just a bit of a rush, but with schools on their Easter break the traffic was far less then usual so I had plenty of time to drop down to the river bank.

It occurred t me that most of the images I’ve posted here of the River Usk running through Newport have been taken when the banks have been less than full of water, the Usk being a tidal river. Images of this nature never do my river justice, so as the tide was nearing the full at the right sort of time yesterday...

Looking towards the city centre from the west bank, we see the rail bridge with the Old Town road bridge behind.

The waters look quite calm, but don’t be fooled the Usk is both deep and treacherous here.

The Crindau Pill; running to the west of the Usk, the Crindau Pill was the termination point for the Mon & Brecon Canal, offering easy access for barges to the main waterway.

Looking inland, with the M4 motorway crossing in the distance.

Newport’s railway bridge was typical of its genre and in many ways unremarkable. The bridge has featured in a couple of films however and being just to the east of Newport station has seen many a sad parting.

Newport Castle stands on the west bank of the Usk and has an excellent example of a Norman water-gate. Unfortunately when the castle ruins became the haunt of drug addicts and drunkards, the city council fenced off the access points and re-routed a public footpath, denying access to the ruins to members of the public. Newport’s Old Town Bridge can be seen in the background.

As usual, clicking an image will open a window to give a larger view.

I can post more tales from the riverbank another day for anyone who may be interested...