Sheep Herding in Wales - sound on

Ho Ho

.....and before you ask, its not outside our house!

....and the locals are there to greet him.

These photos are from the Medieval Fare in Caerphilly, a great family day out.

Dr. Who comes to Caerphilly Castle

The tardis has landed.................

Merry Christmas to you all

Views from the Garth

The views are looking over the Taff and towards the Beacons....and you can even see my house from here!

On Google Earth its 51.32.43.50N and 3.16.54.76.W

Church by the river

Usually the churches and chapels in the area are fairly old, not this one though.

White water

This is the Rhondda Fawr is full spate after the very heavy rains.

When coal was king

The top two pictures are of the Hopkinstown pit, its no longer used, and is just standing really as a reminder of the past. The bottom picture is the Rhondda Heritage Museum at Trehafod, which is a working museum.

Christmas Fair

This is the Frankfurt Christmas Fair in Birmingham, now work that one out.

Well rather than travel over to the continent for the fairs, Birmingham decided to bring the fair to the people. Good idea really. Its genuine, does a roaring trade, especially in the evenings selling gluhwein and German beers.

A handy hint

Ladies.................................... something to remember when doing the Christmas shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!

A woodland walk

And all just outside the front door, well not quite, but its only about 1/2 a mile away. Its an ideal place to have a dog again, something I'll have to think about.!!

View from a hill

This is the view from the Garth looking down into Taffs Well. Its about 40 minutes trek from the house to here.

Austrian transport

Yes we had a holiday in Austria and the previous post was of Mozart's home in Saltzberg.

They like their bikes in Austria and there are cycle tracks verywhere, unfortunately though I did get to go on any.

A beautiful place, fantastic scenery and so clean and tidy that sometimes it seems unreal. But comparing everyday prices in Austria, Britain has got to be the cheapest place in Europe, ......if only we had the weather!!!

Its interesting that Alice in the previous post comments said the food was terrible, as I did'nt think so. But thats probably because us Brits are not reknowned for our cuisine and Alice is French.

Wednesday doorway

Wednesday Doorway, but what city?

Magic mushrooms???

Its autumn so there are mushrooms about, I wonder if you can eat these?

Valleys cafe

The cafe is another feature of the valleys. Many of the cafes were originally started by Italian immigrants from Bardi who settled in the valleys, and are still run by their descendents. This one is in Porth. They are still well used, offering basic food /snacks and are excellent value.

A Sunday ride

These were the views on our bike ride this Sunday. The pictures were taken above Ferndale and Taylorstown. Some of the best examples of ribbon conurbation you'll ever find.

I'm a big fan of the valleys and the valley towns, and they are now at their best. I dont think many people would want the coal mines back and all the pollution that came with them. The valleys and their people are now beautiful and unpretenious.