The Pipeline in Cusop Dingle - and Wood

I was talking to a lady who lives in Cusop Dingle about the pipeline, which is crossing the Dingle and, therefore, the Dulas Brook as well. I asked her how they were going to manage it, and she said they are digging down, and they are going to drill a tunnel thirty feet below the stream.

Last night I went to visit a longbow maker, who lives about a mile above the Rhydspence Inn, on the Clyro side of the river. He has the most marvellous views from his house, across the Wye valley. We went out to the field at the back of his house to try out the bows, and while we were collecting the arrows, he pointed a couple of fields down, to a huge oak tree. "That's the second oldest oak tree in Powys," he said, and went on to say that he had examined the wood of it. It's hollow now, and he could distinguish the tree rings enough to see that the tree had been regularly pollarded for about 400 years. He thinks it's about 800 years old.
Meanwhile, up in Craswell churchyard, a yew tree fell down over the winter. David was told about it just a couple of days before the churchwardens were going to tidy it away - longbows are traditionally made of yew, after all, and it's quite difficult to get. He went up there and chose a number of logs that looked as if they would make good, straight bow staves - and at the same time a woodturner was up there looking for wood to make bowls and so forth. He wanted the more knotty, dense wood, so they were able to agree quite well between them. Now David just has to wait for a couple of years while the wood seasons before he can make any bows out of it.
And I came away with an order for a bow made of lemonwood and bamboo, pulling about 30lbs, which will be delivered in a couple of days.