A local ride of about 16 miles but probably within a 5 miles radius of home. Its basically up one side of the Taff Valley, down to the river and then back up and down on the other side.
Cardiff and the surrounding area has a huge house building programme, and here you can see fields being cleared ready for building. As you pass along these lanes there are many signs offering plots for sale .
It is a beautiful place to live, but what a loss of natural habitat for the wildlife. I was only just reading the other day how many birds and wildlife that we have lost in the last 50 years and its frightening. No wonder there are so many environmental protests going on.
Back to the ride, and lets enjoy the beauty of times past,
A local farm water source.
Wonderful dry stone walls
Old barns, albeit with a new roof.
Lanes leading onto the mountainside.
An old railway line, now a trail, but the escape holes for the railway workers still visible.
Changing the subject a bit, a new wireless bike computer from e bay, a great bargain at £5.95, inc. P & P
Back to the ride, this is looking at the other side of the valley , where the first few pictures were taken.
There is always litter dumped somewhere.
Back through the woods.
Plenty of wildflowers out and its Bluebell time.
and Forget me Nots
Finally down the Zig Zag path towards home. Long ago the original path was used by miners, who were ferried across across the river, on their way to the mine.
Thanks for sharing the local ride, Dave, it's surprising how much there is to see (if you look!). Sorry about all your building - the same is going on around here (Ashford, Kent) as farm land gets swallowed up for new estates (one will be a new town, but not finished for another 30 years, so will not effect me). Luckily Romney Marsh is pretty sacrosant, but even there the little towns are expanding..............
ReplyDeleteIt wont greatly effect me either really, its just that once one area is developed then the adjoining areas are also ripe for building. But I suspect our fathers said similar things, but surely there has to be a limit.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Dave - right up my street!
ReplyDeletePart of the pleasure in country rides is knowing the history of what you're looking at or riding on, and thinking of who also traveled that way in the past.
The figures for loss of wildlife are truly frightening aren't they, yet more and more building is going on all over the country.
Hedgehogs and rabbits used to be a common sight on the roads, albeit squashed flat, but at least that was in indication of their presence. Now they are a rare sight - at least around here they are.The same goes for our wild birds of course, even the common ones like Sparrows have seen their populations decimated. It really is a crying shame.
Anyway, good photos and the bike is looking just the job for this sort of ride!
Totally agree with you Mick and as I was going around, stopping to take pictures, I thought of you because thats what you do all the time and your blog posts and comments where always interesting. When there's a group of you out riding the constant stopping would be a hindrance but on your own its different.
DeleteThat bike is ideal Mick although its over 10 years old now its very comfy and can go anywhere.
What a beautiful ride! The spring wildflowers, and the quiet lanes look so comforting...so sorry about the pending development there seems to be no end to it..especially as the former generation passes the children just sell out and then developers swoop in. And face it the UK is not that big once it's gone, where will wildwoods come from and how many centuries will it be before it comes back again. Very cool piece of tech for your bike!! AND it's amazing how much beauty there is within 5 miles of home, eh?
ReplyDeleteSondra, part of the idea for this post came from your birding withing a 5 mile radius.Most of us no matter where we live will usually have something very interesting on our doorsteps, its just encouraging people to get out there. Very often there's no need to jump in the car and drive miles, which is the very thing that will be happening this Easter weekend. You;re right in that the UK is very small and once the countryside has been developed then what. Developers always come back and say that only a small percentage of land ,about less than 10 %, is developed, but when you travel around the country you realise the impact that has. So lets enjoy it while we can.
DeleteThanks for taking us out and about!
ReplyDeleteShame so many houses go up and wildlife dies. Happening here also, much trouble.
Rubbish always around, usually kids but not always.
Good to get out on the bike, I hope you have many more trips soon.
As you say Mr A house building is happening everywhere. I suspect much of the rubbish dumped around the lanes is done by people in cars as its not the usual stuff casually thrown away by those walking.
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