Delightful Dorset

We’ve just spent a few days on the Dorset coast, a stones throw (literally) from the mighty Chesil beach, an 18 mile long shingle bank extending from the mainland to the isle of Portland. We stayed right at the Portland end where it stops and the Isle of Portland rears up. We shared a new build holiday home with my brother in law and his wife who’d hired it for the week.

I’d holidayed in this general area a couple of times with my family, too many years ago to remember (think late 60's) but bar a short break to not so far away Bournemouth last year, haven’t been here since.

The first day we arrived at lunchtime and quickly decided a short walk around Portland Bill was our plan. With one of our party struggling to walk far, a gentle 3 and a bit mile stroll on mostly level ground with a coffee and cake stop at the end proved ideal. The walk took in the spectacular red and white Portland lighthouse, and the coast where evidence of the massive amount of Portland stone quarrying had taken place.

Portland Bill lighthouse

An old derrick for loading boats with Portland stone

Day two started dull and soon became rainy, but we ventured inland in vain hope of visiting some gardens.  Driving through murk that might have been very low cloud, we quickly gave that idea up and retuned to the house. As the afternoon cleared we went up a short way onto the Isle of Portland and the Tout Quarry and Sculpture Park where there were many sculptures cut into stone in an old quarry. At the top we also had fabulous views over Fortuneswell where we were staying and Chesil Beach.

One of the many stone sculptures. The other side of this one depicts a T- Rex head, a nod to the  historic Jurassic coast that this part of the country is famous for

Fortuneswell and Chesil Beach with Weymouth in the distance

An added bonu s(if you like this sort of thing) was the arrival/departure of a couple of American Military V22 Ospreys from the helipad about a quarter of a mile away. Noisy or what? They’re the new Chinook.

A V22 Osprey

The afternoon cleared up beautifully to provide a stunning sunset as we ate out in a pub right on the beach front 

Dorset sunset

Day three started bright and windy. We’d already planned to drive 40 minutes or so to Lulworth Cove and walk to the famous arch at Durdle Door. Arriving we noted the steep incline as we paid for the expensive but well marshalled parking (£5 for up to 4 hours, £10 if you’re there for the day). It WAS a steep climb up the first hill, and then a steep descent down towards the twin bays of Man 'O War bay and Durdle Door, but it was worth it despite the inevitable busyness of the place even thought it was midweek and term time. Apparently in high summer it’s horrifically busy. People may remember the national news about crowds here when the end of the COVID lockdown was announced in England.

Anyway, it was worth the mile and a half trek for the views.

Durdle Door
It’s 144 sets down from the coast path!

Man 'O War bay (Durdle Door the other side of the promontory)

Man 'O War bay

Lulworth Cove

Near the top after climbing up from the car park at Lulworth

We’re back home tomorrow, but I have to say it’s been a wonderful few days down in this part of the country, and there’s so much to see and do. I’d love to come back next do some more exploring.

Twitter: @Statto1927 

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

Instagram: simon_hiscocks

Walk: Monmouthire & Brecon Canal

The Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal

We like a country walk, although my better half prefers a flat perambulation, or at worst a gentle incline which can be a somewhat troublesome problem living in Wales. I've been trying to get her up Pen y Fan since we first met some 30 years ago, but she's steadfastly managed to avoid that so far.

Yesterday, rather than return to one of our usual and more local haunts we decided to change up and head to Brecon and walk along the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal for a couple of miles. The weather in Barry was a bit meh at least for the morning, but our various weather apps, and Wales's own weather guru Derek the Weather promised sunshine further north in Brecon.

Driving up the A470 towards Brecon didn't instil great confidence in the forecast as low grey cloud and occasional drizzle was in evidence most of the way. However as we passed Pen y Fan a couple of blue sky patches were becoming visible, although the tops of the Beacons were still clouded over.

We arrived at the car park adjacent to Theatre Brycheiniog at the Brecon canal basin for a very reasonable £2.90 for up to four hours - incidentally, I once saw David "Bumble" Lloyd, the former cricketer, Umpire, England cricket coach and Sky Sports commentator in his show at the theatre - now he's got some tales to tell!

Getting our boots on, the skies were still decidedly grey with a spot of drizzle threatening, but within minutes it had passed and we started off.

Our starting point - Brecon Basin

The Brecon basin is one end of the roughly 35 mile navigable canal, that runs first east and then south towards Newport, although much of the previous canal from Pontymoile Basilisks at Pontypool is now either non navigable or has been filled in.

Helpful bench if you've forgotten your map!

Initially, the towpath runs through the outskirts of eastern Brecon with the town on your left beyond the canal and flied stretching to the Beacons and Pen y Fan on the right with the river Usk running alongside but below the canal. As you reach the outskirts of the town you pass the Army's Infantry Battle School - it was quite on the way out, but on our return leg they were practising (at least I hope they were practising), and the sound of gunfire/artillery was VERY loud!

The canal right from the start was crystal clear - usually canals are quite silty, and having been an avid fisherman in my earlier days whenever I see water of any kind, I'm always thinking fish. Bizarrely though on our almost 5 mile there and back walk, despite constantly looking I didn't see a single fish in the canal. They must be there as there were plenty of Merthyr & District Angling Club signs, but not even a stickleback did I see.

There's only one lock on this section, and that was towards the end of our outward destination, so the well maintained towpath was adequately flat for Anne. We took our time ambling along, stopping for coffee (brought with us - no coffee or snack options available on the canalside once you start) and passed or were passed by a few dog walkers, other walkers and an occasional cyclist.

Brynich Aqueduct over the Usk
from the bridge by Brynich Lock

We paused briefly at Brynich Lock just before the canal rounds a bend and then passes above the river Usk on the Brynich aqueduct, some 25-30ft above the river. Just beyond here, you cross a bridge as the towpath changes to the left hand side of the canal, but backtracking towards the aqueduct were a few strategically placed benches and picnic tables that made for a perfect picnic stop.

Brynich Lock

Brynich Aqueduct

By now the sun had broken through in patches, and felt quite warm on our backs making for a pleasant picnic stop.

Having been fed and watered we meandered back along the tranquil canal - or it was tranquil until the Infantry started up! The clouds were on the move and we were now able to see the tops of Pen y Fan and Cribyn from the towpath.

Cribyn (left) Pen y Fan from the towpath
River Usk foreground

All in all we had a lovely few hours out and it's a walk we might certainly do more of - we've walked some of the canal a little further along near Talybont on Usk.

Our visit was pretty much turn up and see how we go, but for those who need a little more detail ahead of a trip out here there's a handy guide on just this walk available here.

On the Brynich Aqueduct looking back toward the bridge at Brynich Lock

Twitter: @Statto1927 

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

Instagram: simon_hiscocks

Cowbridge, Aberthin and Stalling Down

Today 25th November dawned bright and sunny. Having seen the forecast my good lady had decided we should go for a walk, and we'd made the decision to do a shortish circular of around 4 miles, starting in Cowbridge, one of the Vale Trail's walks - Number 9 in fact, the Iolo Morganwg Heritage walk. This circular route takes in the historic market town of Cowbridge, its surrounding fields and wooded paths. The places of interest are linked to one of the Vale’s most colourful characters, Iolo Morganwg (1747-1826). He was a romantic poet, political radical and humanitarian, who was the first to propose that Wales should have its own national institutions.

As an aside, these walks are generally very well signposted with regular way markers.

We parked up in the car park in Cowbridge town  centre, and togged up in our boots and warm clothes, despite the sun it was chilly early doors) and set off - in the wrong direction. Once I'd read the map and instructions properly (the map's not great, but the instructions are excellent), we found the right path. Initially this ran by the river Thaw that bisects the pretty town of Cowbridge before setting out into the fields towards the village of Aberthin. 

River Thaw and Cowbridge

After some fairly flat walking through (not too muddy) fields we came up the small village of Aberthin. It's a small and pretty village, with two pubs The  Hare and Hounds and the Farmers Arms facing each other across the road (sadly both shut mid morning, or otherwise might have been tempting for a pint). Despite being less than 10 miles or so from where I live, I'd never ever been to Aberthin, but I might be popping back to try out the pubs/restuarant here.....

Form the centre of Aberthin we left the village and started upon Stalling Down a fairly decent ridge. The going was steady rather than steep, and on the way up we passed a delightful bench in memory of (I think) a John Moores in the design of what looked to me like a WW2 bomber - perhaps a Lancaster. There wasn't any detail about this, but it was an unusual bench.

Bench on Stalling Down

At the top we had glorious views over the Vale of Glamorgan, including a fairly large stables/gallops complex where horses were being given a thorough workout. There's a standing stone here at the top of the down dedicated to Iolo Morganwg and said to be the site of the first meeting of the Gorsedd (a community or meeting of bards) of the Bards of the isle of Britain in Wales

Standing stone on Stalling Down

From here the walk descended gently off the down passing a field with a couple of donkeys - my wife loves a donkey - who doesn't?!) and required the crossing of the busy A48 (via a pathed overpass), before turning up a track to a place known as "The Clump". This was apparently a place where people came to view public hangings back in the day, although there's no evidence of that today.

Cowbridge Donkeys

Here walkers following Trail 9 have a choice. They can either go back to Cowbridge or continue for a further couple of miles, taking in the pretty hamlet of St Hilary, which by chance also has a fantastic pub/restuarant.

However, that was not for us today, and from the Clump, we descended down an old track back into the road into Cowbridge, and thence back to our starting point.

All in all it was a pleasant walk in fabulous November weather, although once we were off Stalling Down, in truth the last section from the Clump down into Cowbridge was a bit boring. Once our gear was dumped, we treated ourselves to a coffee and panini in the local Costa, before indulging in a little Christmas victuals shopping in Cowbridge Waitrose.

This would be a pleasant walk at pretty much any time of the year, with each season bringing something different to see. Next time I might plan the timing a little better to co-incide with pub opening hours!

Pembrokeshire - stunning as always

Well we finally got away in this annus horibilis that is 2020. A week away in a cottage with our two (adult) children, and a posse of family/friends just down the road on a campsite (21 of us over the first weekend, plus an assortment of dogs), just outside St David's, the smallest city in the UK.

This area has to be one of our favourite places. I've blogged about it before many times. And this year, despite the fact in my 45th year of visiting I've never see it so busy with "staycationers" it was as stunning as ever. We were blessed with several really warm days, although most days it was a tad misty first thing.

We beached, we swam, we went on a boat trip, we BBQ'd, we ate out, body-boarded, we had a bonfire on the beach and we walked. We saw seals, bats, raptors, porpoises, kingfishers, herons, kittiwakes, fulmars, shags and rabbits. We ate chips, drank beer and licked delicious Pembrokeshire ice creams. But most of we just enjoyed the fabulous coastal scenery that this westernmost part of Wales has to offer. Below, are just a few examples of the beauty I managed to capture.

It was a wonderful holiday. Who needs to go abroad anyway?

The southern (quieter end) of Whitesands beach

Sunset from our cottage garden

Rock arch on Ramsey island

Heather and gorse and calm seas near Porthlysgi on the Treginnis penninsula

The famous Blue Pool at Abereiddy - rarely seen without people!

Sunset at Abereiddy

The Fence Post

I take photographs for the simple pleasure of capturing a moment, a view or maybe a special occasion. Something that might invoke a memory when viewed back at a later date. I have no preferred theme to my shooting such as landscapes, wildlife, or street photography, I just snap whatever I think is worth a shot.

Occasionally, a photo may stand out for a particular reason, and this happened today. Mrs H and I went for a walk this morning to get out and about before the weather got to hot, and on account that we're going to be busy later having a BBQ in the garden and a few shandies as it's our daughter's 23rd birthday.

We walked up to the Wenvoe Castle golf course, a place we've been many times over the last couple of months, although it's now open to golfers so we had to be wary of flying golf balls. Actually, the place seemed fairly quiet, and judging by the shots I saw being hit, it was evident that no one-s played for almost three months. There were golfing singletons about (currently rules in Wales allow you to play alone or with one other member of your household) and I did see a woman apparently caddying for her husband which seemed to be a marvellous idea!

Anyway, we walked through the course and then down a lane that splits the first nine from the back nine, and it was along this lane I took this shot of a fence post.

Ageing

Now ordinarily, a photograph of a fence post is nothing to get excited about. It wasn't until I got home and was flicking through today's shots that this one stood out to me from amongst the landscape views of the Vale, a couple of squirrels and a distant woodpecker.

Initially the reason I took the shot was because of the bright morning sun on the vividly yellow lichen. But the more I looked at this shot, the more intrigued I was. I thought about the passing of time, and specifically ageing. The lichen on the post is itself the obvious indicator that this post has been here for several years. But it's also fallen at an angle over time. I don't suppose it was put into the ground this way, unless the person doing it has DIY skills like me! That's two indicators of the passage of time. And then there's the rusting barbed wire, slowly oxidising over the months and years.

Looked at from this perspective, this photo now means more to me that just some yellow stuff on a concrete post, or a colourful snap on a walk. It's got history - perhaps not decades worth, but it's certainly been there a while, and the three things that pull that together - the lichen, the subsiding angle and the rusty barbed wire make me think that for all the wildlife and magnificent views we saw on our four miler this morning, this for me, was the shot of the day.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Woody Woodpecker

Bit late and a bit rushed to post today. Shortly I'm off to partake in the weekly family "virtual pub Quiz" I've mentioned before. Although broadcast on YouTube on a Thursday, it's our Saturday evening 8pm lockdown activity. Lately I've been coming off much worse, due to my sketchy ability to answer questions on TV and music. 3rd out of 4 the last three weeks which doesn't do much for my competitive nature. Mrs H and son taking the honours. Hopefully I'll do better this week.

Today has mostly been pottering in the garden and an almost 5 mile exercise walk around the golf course area. We saw both types of woodpecker - a Lesser Spotted (the black and white one with a red head) flew right across our path at one point - too quick to photograph. We say the green woodpecker as we left the golf course into the Cardiff & Vale crematorium grounds. He was about 40 yards away heaving a right feast on an ants nest by the side of the road. I didn't have my longest zoom, on, so the photos below are the best I could get at the extreme end before he got too nervous of me and flew away, with the second one cropped right in as much as I can before losing too much picture quality.

At max zoom

Cropped in

And also, here is a rather nice shot (I think so anyway) of a bluebell that I took in the woods close by.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Socially distanced tea and cake

Today we changed up our walk routine.

Instead of our usual trot (the word "trot" is used here for effect only - no actual trotting involved) we decided to walk over to the next village and see our best friends. We warned them in advance we were coming and arranged for a socially distanced cup of the once we arrived.

Departing the estate where we live, we cross the normally busy A4231 Barry Docks Link Road down into Gilbert Lane. This single track road leads immediately into the surrounding countryside, but I think I can only ever recall walking down it once in the 15 years we've lived here.  There's a barrier across the road shortly after passing a couple of houses to prevent it being used as a rat run as it really only leads to one farm, but could be used as a shortcut between Barry and Dinas Powys.

The early approach into Gilbert Lane

Almost straight away you find yourself in rolling countryside, which ordinarily you don';t see from any of the main roads, and this provides a fascinating new perspective on the area that's on your doorstep. The photo below is looking across the fields towards Sully and the Seven estuary.

Looking south towards Sully

Even though we left at about 9.45am, it was already warn, and as the road descended into the trees the shade was welcome, although the bugs and flies attracted by horse droppings was less so. It was surprising how steep the decline was, the local hilliness (is that a word?) being another thing that you wouldn't normally appreciate in the car.

Descending in the shade

As the road began to flatten out we entered the sun again. Overhead we watched a buzzard being harangued by a couple of crows, and just before the track case to junction with Argae Lane and Westra, a rabbit hopped out of the hedgerow clearly not expecting anybody or anything else to be there. He quickly high-tailed it back into the hedge. Walking on down the Westa, past the boarding kennels we spied several variants of sheep in the adjacent fields.

Sheep off Westra

Footpath across the fields towards StAndrews Major - one for another day

More sheep, but different colour!

Further along the road we started to encounter the dwellings at Westra, just outside Dinas Powys. The houses along here are mostly big, and no doubt if they were on the market now, very expensive. There are some absolute crackers here, in a lovely location - handy for the village, but in effect, in the country.

The hill up the Westra towards Dinas Powys Common

Passing the houses, we came to a stone stile that marks the entrance to Dinas Powys Common. A large expanse of common ground, it's inhabited by dog walkers, walkers, horse-riders, rugby and of course cricket. It's the spiritual home of my cricket club Dinas Powys CC, the club having played on the common for over 130 years. These days (and probably at any time) it's not in good enough nick to house 1st or 2nd XI cricket which gets played at Parc Bryn y Don at the bottom of Dinas Powys, but it's still host to our 3rd XI and Sundays, midweek and junior games.

The stone stile onto Dinas Powys Common

Walking across the common we descended down to our friends house on the far edge. It felt really odd not only seeing them in person, but not being able to hug and shake hands. We dutifully observed social distancing for an hour or so on their patio whilst having a cuppa and a slice (or two) of cake (which were put down so we could go and pick it up rather then it being handed to us!).

It was a lovely way to spend a morning catching up, and after we left we retraced our steps. There were a couple of alternate routes we could have taken at times, but we'll leave that for another day. All in all, it was a perfectly splendid morning, and ideal for making you feel good in these uncertain times.

Looking back across the common. Cricket pitch in the foreground, Dinas Powys Tennis Club centre right.

Our route 

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

In plane view

Once Mrs H had returned from her early morning supermarket shop where all was good, despite some slight queuing to get in at 7am, and everything obtained except that essential commodity, cardomon pods (that's another story) we decided to take our daily exercise.

As usual, we headed up through the estate on a little used path, crossed the A4050 Port Road and via short walk through the Cardiff and Glamorgan Memorial Park and Crematorium grounds ventured onto Wenvoe Castle golf course.

With no golf being played, but the groundsmen keeping the place ship-shape, it looked pristine and I can't wait to getting back to hacking my way around a course. Normally we do a circular route around the "back nine" but today we ventured over to the front nine for the first time. It's a spectacular course, with lovely views out across the eastern Vale towards Rhoose. From the 6th tee I took the following photo which showed a row of furloughed British Airways planes sitting on the tarmac going nowhere in this lockdown.

BA planes at Cardiff Wales Airport

Since I retired I started playing golf, and normally play with a friend at the Vale Resort. I thought that was hilly, but it plays into insignificance compared with the front nine at Wenvoe! You'd need to be seriously fit to play this course regularly and/or use a golf buggy. If I played here I might need to invest in an electric trolley - pulling my Dad's old manual trolley ups and down these fairways would give me arms like Popeye!

Wenvoe Castle Golf Club - 8th Fairway - the green is down in the dip

 There were a one or two other couples and a couple of dog walkers on the course, but that part, we had the place to ourselves. It was lovely to find a bench at strategic points and sit and take in the views, sunshine and sound only of birds tweeting.

Wenvoe Castle Golf Club - 10th fairway

There are some fabulous trees on this course, The tall evergreens in the photo above are huge and spectacular , whilst there are a few of the what I think are copper beeches shown in the photo below dotted around the course. This was spectacular in today's sunlight.

Beautiful copper beech

Walking back through the crematorium grounds, we heard a plane, and I spotted this Airbus A400M Atlas that we have quite often seen over this area in the last few months doing some sort of training exercise. It's a big old pain and can carry a 37 tonne payload over 2,000 nautical miles and can accommodate 116 troops. You can even get a Chinook inside it apparently! This was about the extreme range of my zoom, so the quality isn't the best.

Airbus A400M Atlas over Barry

 Rather than take our normal path back, we wandered into Pencoedtre wood, a small wooded area at the top of our estate, bordered on two sides by the aforementioned A4050 Port Road and the A4231 Barry Docks Link Road. We'd never ventured into it before, despite having lived within 5 minutes walk for the last 15 years. As woods go it was fairly ordinary, although some of the bluebells we spotted were almost purple. We also spotted a standard squirrel. With only a vague idea that we needed to keep going down and keep the sun on our right, we followed one of a number of paths before appearing out of the trees opposite Lidl, and just a few minutes from our house.  A pleasant 4 miler or so in the sunshine. Just in time for a cup of tea and some cake.

Arty trees and sky photo

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 29th: Quiet day and disturbing figures

On the personal from it's been a quiet day, painting followed by a 2 mile walk around Cadoxton with Mrs H to get some exercise. Not much else to report really. My photo today is from a path near to our house where hawthorn blossom was falling like snow. A colour photo doesn't do it justice, so I've put a black and white silver tone filter on it, which makes it much more dramatic.

Today's Government briefing on the coronavirus pandemic pointed to a "slightly worrying" upturn in the amount of traffic. Certainly from what I've seen on my (not always) daily walks and from what my wife is reporting from her trip to work, shopping and to care for her mother is most definitely an increase in traffic. It seems that the country is deciding it's time to ease the restrictions not the Government. However, given that the total number of deaths being reported is now in excess of 26,000 now that care home deaths are bing includes, 6,000 higher than the 20,000 that one of the earliest briefings suggested might have once been the "best case scenario", it's clear that we're far from out of the woods.  Stay at home people.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives