Cardiff Bay - April 2015

What a difference a few weeks makes!

This is the view across Cardiff Bay from the Penarth end of the Barrage, on a glorious Easter bank holiday

Cardiff Bay - February 2015

On Valentine's Day this year, I went for a nice gentle walk with my other half around Cardiff Bay - the full circular route, starting at Techniquest and proceeding clockwise, across the Barrage and up through Penarth Marina, crossing the rivers Ely and Taff before arriving back where we started. It was a lovely day, perfect for a relaxing stroll together.

Here's a rather lovely view across toward the Norwegian Church from the main boardwalk. The sun was just breaking through after a last, rather feeble rain shower, and the light was gorgeous.

 

Cormorants, sunning themselves on the old wooden dolphins, a relict of Cardiff's industrial past.

Penarth Marina

Views up and down the River Ely from the footbridge.

Penarth - August 2014

On this cold, wet winter's day, some memories of warmer, drier times back last summer - here are some views around Penarth:

Looking back toward the pier from the cliff

 

Looking along the pier from the upper deck of the newly restored pavilion

Views along the coast from the pier - looking east toward Cardiff Bay and west toward the headland

 

And looking out toward the twin islands of Flatholm and Steepholm in the Bristol Channel

 

A winter's walk - Fourteen Locks

I went for another winter's walk on Saturday, a four-mile cross country hike in the Newport area this time, setting out from the Fourteen Locks Visitor Centre at Rogerstone and taking in the Allt-yr-Ynn nature reserve, Wern-ddu wood and Ynysyfro reservoir en route. It was a beautiful day, bright and crisp and clear - cold enough that I ended up with a headache, but still a lovely walk...if a little muddy in places. I think I might have to invest in slightly sturdier walking boots!

This is the 'pound' at Fourteen Locks.

 

The 'Fourteen Locks' Centre gets its name from a series of locks known as the Cefn Flight, which is an absolutely ingenious piece of canal engineering, dropping 169 feet in just half a mile - it's one of the steepest series of locks in the UK, completed in 1799.

 

This waterway was a branch of the Monmouthshire Canal, built to transport supplies upstream to the mines and coal and iron back down-river to the port in Newport. The canal was made redundant as a means of trade when the railways came along, and fell out of use entirely in the 1930s, after which the stretch of water between Locks 8-21 (the 'Fourteen Locks') fell into disrepair - as we can see, industrial decay at its finest!

 

There is a Millennium project between Newport city Council and the Canals Trust to reclaim the waterway, however, and restoration work is ongoing, so maybe some day the locks will be fully functional again.

This is the old lock-keeper's cottage, built in 1792 (and restored about 40 years ago after a fire)

 

I was very taken with this sign along the bridleway - such dramatic imagery!

The walk along the towpath and bridleway is just lovely

Next, we joined up with the Sirhowy Valley Walk, taking us up into the hills.

 

Some lovely views north toward Mynydd Machen and Twmbarlwm.

 Next, we picked our way along a muddy little footpath through the Allt-yr-Ynn nature reserve, which was once the grounds of Allt-yr-Yn House, a large country home now reduced to a ruin hidden in the trees that we didn't even find. We did, however, manage to find Allt-yr-Yn Lido, once an outdoor swimming pool built in the 1930s on the spot where the spring and ornamental pools of Allt-yr-Yn House once stood. The pool closed in the 1960s and was subsequently demolished - this pretty wildlife pond is now all that's left.

We took a very boggy footpath across farmland onto the grounds of Tredegar Park golf course, skirting around the edge of Wern-ddu Wood and heading on past Ynysyfro reservoir.

 

And then we made it back to Fourteen Locks just in time for a nice hot cuppa before the Visitor Centre closed!

The Physic Garden, Cowbridge - September 2014

Back in September, I spent a day shopping in the pretty little market town of Cowbridge with my mother. We particularly enjoyed spending time in the newly restored Physic Garden.

Originally part of the Old Hall Gardens, dating back to the 18th century, the garden is an oasis of calm and tranquillity in the heart of the town, full of bees and butterflies. The volunteers who restored the garden in recent years have done a wonderful job, turning a neglected wasteland into a glorious array of medicinal plants and herbs, typical of physic gardens from centuries past - a fascinating variety of species that would traditionally have been used for healing, cooking and dying fabrics - all neatly organised and laid out as formal gardens.

And there was also this:

An Ode to Laudanum!

a walk through the past - Oystermouth Castle, Mumbles, November 2014

Earlier in the winter, before the weather turned, I spent a day down at the Mumbles with my other half and, after wandering around the seafront for a while, we decided to take a stroll up the hill to Oystermouth Castle, which we'd seen in the distance many times but never actually visited.

Built in the 12th century in the wake of the Norman Conquest, Oystermouth is a really pretty castle, built on the side of a small hill and commanding a glorious view across Swansea Bay - a strong defensive position for the invaders to consolidate their gains!

Until fairly recently the castle was little more than a crumbling and overgrown ruin, but in 2010 it underwent a £1m refurbishment regime, removing the weeds and making the structure safe, before re-opening to the public again. I'd never been here before and was impressed to find just how intact the castle actually is, with far more of the internal layout remaining than in most other castles I've visited, rooms and passages and vaults still standing and accessible for the visitor to explore.

 

 

There are some gorgeous medieval fireplaces going on in there

 

Such a beautiful castle - why have I never been there before? I mean seriously, look at this:

 

 

Plus, it has the glorious views across Mumbles and Swansea Bay

And also there's this ducky little fake owl tucked away in an old chimney to startle the unwary - what's not to love?

Well worth a visit if you get the chance!