Tag: cardiff

We were not about to dip on this one

The river goes into a cave
The river goes into a cave

After our exciting sea trip, we decided to admire the beauties that inland Wales has to offer this morning.   Water was still involved however we did not have to be on it on this occasion, although some members of the party did still manage to get wet.  After an impressive 10 mile run, T returned and prepared a picnic lunch, and off we set for Ystradfellte Falls, a limestone area popular with walkers and cavers. We were hoping to see a dipper a bird we have never seen before. It was a 40 minute run from Cardiff to the Brecon Beacons, whilst C & T explained we were passing through the most deprived area of the UK, with the highest teenage pregnancy rate on one of the most dangerous roads in the area!  We were however passing through some beautiful scenery and after turning off the main road, passed a lonely tea wagon parked on an empty layby.  T manouvered through the narrow, winding roads and we reached the car park, apparently in the middle of nowhere  but had the bonus of a small shop & WC.

Before starting the walk to Ystradfellte Falls we descended a steep path to view one of the entrances to the caves used by those brave enough to explore that route.  We could see a small dark cave entrance through which a torrent rushed into

A big waterfall

the darkness.  T remembered seeing cavers with suba tanks entering, on his last visit.  Round the corner was a larger entrance, called White Horse Cave after the limestone shapes formed on the walls.

We went back up to the path and off we went.  Thanks to our early start there was no one about and we walked along the rushing river, carefully watching our step with the many boulders and roots amidst the path, whilst trying to cast an eye riverwards in an attempt to spot dippers, and soon our efforts were rewarded with a brief sighting.  As we followed the river we saw what was probably the same bird several times and were able to admire him through the noccas.

There are ten falls in this area so to be honest I am not sure which one we were heading for but after a steep descent we reached one that you can walk behind to pass across to the other side of the river.  There had been quite a lot of rain and Helen had no intention of re-enacting scenes from the Last of the Mohicans, so perched on a rock to enjoy the view of the falls instead. T, Neil & C headed off but C wisely decided that she did not want to get soaked and her waterproofs were still in the car.  Neil & T of course headed off behind the waterfall, apparently the force of the water was forcing the spray backwards and they both returned rather soaked.  Back up the hill for a well earned picnic lunch at the top.  We then walked back via Sgwd Clun Gwyn waterfall, the sun was out and lots more people were about by this point.  When we got back to the car park, instead of our car and the wardens vehicle as when we left, it was full!  We set off home, through a cycle race and when we reached the tea wagon layby we understood the reason for his choice of such an apparently lonely spot.  He was inundated by bikers, minibuses and car drivers – talk about scarcity value!

Back to the homestead and then back to Bucks!  Thanks T & C for a great weekend.  I shall not forget  the boat load of relieved, bedraggled tourists breaking into song at the sight of a Lancaster bomber.  Marvellous!

Yo Ho Ho and a couple of puke bags

We are in Cardiff ths weekend, visiting the sister in-law, and today, Satruday, we have a boat trip to Flat Holm to look forward to. We had to get up early to be down at the quay side at Pennarth at 0900. There were quite a few people waiting when we got there, and it was not long before we were giving the organisers our names, presumably incase the boat sank! Word on the boat was that it would be pretty rough out there and that they had almost had to cancel, too me the sea looked pretty flat, it is an estuary after all. The weather was grey and overcast but the forecast was for a sunny day, we had our fingers crossed.

There is a barrage around Cardiff bay and you have to go through one of 3 locks to get out onto the sea. The sea did not appear to be that rough, we bobbed up and down a bit but it was only a 30 minute crossing. We had the talk about what to do in case the boat sinks, and how to put on the life jackets, then he explained that it would be rough and what to do with the sick bags should the need arise.

Some way out it started to get quite rough, we were apparently going over a sand bank, which causes the waves to be bigger. At about 25 minutes into the journey a little boy decided he had to be sick, soon follwed by a woman who puked with her hand over her mouth and got a couple of other people sitting near by. In all we counted possible 5 people who were sick. As we got towards the island we were warned again that it would be rough, and that when we got there the standard practice was to run the boat up the beach, so we

Should not be standing up. To get to the beach the skipper had to get the boat perpendicular to the beach, we were about 500 yards out, and needed to get across an area of sea that had the biggest waves we had yet seen. He had to go down wind a bit to get to the of the high waves, cosing his moment he turned across the waves, and we headed in to the beach with the boat really pitching about, but we did fianlly reach the beach. Later we were told that it was the roughest public trip they had had for 13 years. I was happy to get off the boat, I had not been sick but the old trick of keeping your eay on the horzon had been a great help.

As we diembarked it became obvious that the people in the open part at the back of the boat had got soaked. We were met by one of the island volunteers, who took us to the museum/visitor center. The wet people just wanted a cup of tea but we had to sit through the health and safety briefing. They introduced a guy called Stephane (a Belge it turns out) who was a volunteer and regular visitor to the island and did free tours for those interested.

We waited for the tour to start and took in the view over the island, there were lots of Lesser Black Backed Gulls, many tending to young who could not yet fly. We were warned that some of us would get pooped on before the day was out, and that the gulls will defend thier young/territory by dive bombing us. First Stephane took us to have a look at some slow worms that gather under some iron sheet that are left in the sun. The we walked out

Towards the lighthouse to have a look at the seven inch gun enplacement one of about 5 or 6 we saw. We found out a lot of intersting facts about the isalnd on our way to the farm house, did you know that the fist morse radio transmission was received on Flat Holm? There is a monumnet celebrating the event strange thing is that they never removed the iron frame it was delivered in after the helicopter dropped it off. There are not many mammals on island apart from rabbits that have to be culled every so often. We also noticed lots of bones, bits and plastic and glass fragments, apparently all a result of the Gulls diet, the bones were apparently from the chicken bones found in our refuse.

At the farm house we had a coffee and biscuits before leaving Stephan and heading over to the visitors center for the women to do a bit of retail therapy. I must say that Stephan was a star and a real expert on all aspects of the nature and history of the island. Back at the center I took the opportunity to take some more photo’s with the new fisheye lens I have invested in, a Samyang 8mm f3.5 for £200 it is manual focus and aperture but the

Lens is great and at that price you can’t expect all the thrills of a £400 lens. The weather had brightened up by now and because the wind had dropped a bit we hoped the journey back would be a bit more comfortable.

Everyone was back to the boat by the 13:30 deadline and we headed back to Cardiff. At first the boat pitched about a lot, but it was not long before we were into a smoother sea. I took the opportunity to go up to the bridge to have a chat with the skipper, who was very welcoming and keen to tell me all about the wisdom of the bay barrage authority and other sea tales. About a few hundered yards from the locks we noticed the red arrows flying past then we had a spectacular views of a spitfre and lancaster bomber. Everyone one on board got very excited and some started humming the dam busters music!

We were soon back at the quay. We dumped some of our luggage into the car and headed over to the city center to have a look at the food festival that was going on. It was really packed why is typical for the weather we had, they say that the food festival is either a wash out or a roaring success depending on whether it is raining. We stropped for a glass of champagne to settle Helen’s nerves after the scary boat trip, but Cas managed to knock Helen’s glass over. We had not had any lunch so went on the look for a short queue on one of the stalls, luckily for us the Welsh aren’t that keen on veggie food, so we found a small queue for veggie burgers. I had a great curried check pea, with coriander and coconut one, Cas had a Laver Bread one. We were not in the mood for being with the crowds after our visit to a sparsely populated island so we headed back to the hut.

We went out for an Italian meal at a place called Lorenza’s, I had spaghetti a la vongole.