Category: Wales
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Dan yr Ogof: Welsh 100 No 51
Well what is there to do on a dark, misty and wet day at the end of October? The cloud base was so low even the hill tops were shrouded in a white mist, leaving only the valley floor clear. The weather was certainly not conducive to an outdoor adventure, staying at home was not…
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Hitting the Surf at Whitesands: Welsh 100 – No 50
August Bank Holiday seems so long ago now, but only two months have passed. We have a tradition in the UK that the weather on a bank holiday can always be guaranteed to be worse than the day before, and certainly colder and wetter than the day you go back to work! This August was…
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Ferdinandea cuprea
The other morning there was a small parcel waiting for me by the patio doors. The guides say that Ferdinandea cuprea, a Hoverfly, is instantly recognisable. Well that doesn’t apply to the PC Detective Agency. I thought it was a fly. Now that bit I got right, but couldn’t find any reference to anything like…
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Cader Idris – The Giant’s Chair
Another one of Aunty’s ambitions was to climb Cader Idris, so a couple of days after our failed attempt on Tryfan we had to try. I was born almost in the shadow of Cader Idris, and I’ve passed it thousands of times, and climbed it on numerous occasions, the last time over 30 years ago.…
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St Asaph Cathedral – Welsh 100 no 49
On the banks of the River Elwy is a small city. It has a population of 3,355 souls. Now how on earth can such a small place be called a city. Surely this is nothing more than a village? Well St Asaph, Llanelwy, is a city, and an old one at that. But Wales seems…
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Flying across the quarry: Welsh 100 No 48
South Wales is known for coal mining. North Wales is known for slate quarries. Everywhere you go in North West Wales you will almost certainly find an abandoned slate quarry. Some never became commercial. But others made their owners huge fortunes, and the aftermath of the quarries are difficult to miss. The main centres were…
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Halfway up Tryfan
The original intention was for Aunty and I to climb up to the top of Tryfan, but the ‘Best laid plans of mice and a Welshman’ do not always come to pass. Aunty had expressed a desire to walk up Tryfan. I have to admit this was a surprise, as she prefers flatter walks, but…
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Swallow Falls: Welsh 100 – No 47
The rain this summer though unwelcome has filled the rivers in Wales almost to overflowing. Almost everywhere you look in the mountains there are thin ribbons of water weaving there way down the steep slopes. All this water if feeding the voracious appetite of the valley rivers so they grow and bloat to twice, three…
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Moel Fammau: Welsh 100 – No 46
The calendar said that is was July, supposedly summer. But the view outside the window seemed to be suggesting the calendar was on the wrong page, or there was a misprint and it was November. OK it wasn’t raining (yet) hooray! But it was cold, not so good! The wind had been shaking the caravan…
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St Winifred’s Well: Welsh 100- No 45
A number of the visits we undertook during our holiday seemed to have developed an ecclesiastical theme. But this may not be a surprise when you remember that so many of the towns, villages and hamlets in Wales start with Llan. That said how about this for a miraculous tale and how the church has…
Travels With My Aunt 