How green was my valley?

This is Cwm Darren Parc, outside Bargoed, in the Rhymney Valley. If you Google Earth this location you will see what it looked like whilst in the process of being landscaped.

Again a former mining area which has been landscaped. Now that heavy industry has disappeared, all the Welsh mining valleys have reverted back to what they must have looked like 200 years ago. I doubt though that it looked exactly like this, but its a vast improvement from 50 years ago.

Little and large

I love the white blossoms.

The top one I pass everyday so I have watched it go from being bare to this. All those flowers make it look as though there are candles on the tree.

The daisy tree is in our garden, beautiful, but it only lasts a short time.

Sunday rides

Not everything is beautiful in South Wales, this is what you come across sometimes.

Sitting on the Dock of Bay

By Otis Redding

Sittin' in the mornin' sun

I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes

Watchin' the ships roll in

Then I watch 'em roll away again

I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay

Watchin' the tide, roll away

Sittin' on the dock of the bayWastin' time

Left my home in Georgia

Headed for the Frisco Bay

I had nothin' to live for

Looks like nothin's gonna come my way

I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay

Watchin' the tide roll away

Sittin' on the dock of the bay, wastin' time

Looks like nothin's gonna change

Everything, everything remains the same

I can't do what ten people tell me to do

So I guess I'll just remain the same

I'm sittin' here restin' my bones

Two thousand miles, I roam

Just to make this dock my home

I'm just gonna sit, on the dock of the bay

Watchin' the tide roll away

Sittin' on the dock of the bayWastin' time

St Davids Hotel

In the previous post one of the buildings you can see through the telescope is this, the only 5 star hotel in Cardiff and Wales.

Its the giant seagull on the top I like.

What can he see?

You can stand behind the man and look through a telescope, the eyepiece is a hole in the back of his head. If you enlarge the picture you can just see the eyepiece.

The bottom picture is the view you would see.

Pretty in Pink

After Annie's photo of a pink car and thinking about Pretty in Pink with Molly Ringwald I thought I'd carry on the pink theme with the cherry blossom on the trees in a nearby park.

We are having great spring weather, but April can be so changeable, as I have seen these same trees in blossom and snow on the ground.

Norwegian Church

The old and the new. The old church was originally built in the early 1900's by for the Norwegian ships using Cardiff. It has been refurbished and is now a restaurant. There is a similar style church down the coast in Swansea docks.

The statue is modern.

Torchwood

The old Custom House and the open air concert arena

The water tower

If anyone is familiar with the TV series of Torchwood they will recognise these features in Cardiff Bay.

The series, along with the Dr. Who episodes, was filmed in Cardiff and together they have boosted tourism to the city. The monolith is a water tower and if you enlarge it you can see water cascading down the sides. The Torchwood headquarters were supposedly below it with the entrance at the foot of the tower.

I took these pictures early in the morning when no one was out and about, apart from cyclists who fancied a ride in the Spring sun.

It takes two to go against the flow

Have you ever felt that you were struggling against the tide?

An Easter cat

Live entertainment

After the walk we were lucky, well surprised even, to find that this was happening in the pub at half past three on a Sunday afternoon. He was very good, and it could have been a time when you would have liked to stay for more. But we didn't.

The Wye valley

The Biblins footbridge

The Three Sisters

House with a beautiful view

Last Sunday we took a walk along the Wye from Monmouth towards Symonds Yat and across the footbridge and back to Monmouth.

Reasons to cycle