Croeso i Cymru

We decided to spend the bank holidays at our old playground, Aberystwyth. CK has kindly loaned us her bed (to the chagrin of her 3 feline pets) for the nights.

We left on Sat afternoon, hoping that the holiday traffic has gone. We only face traffic after Welshpool ie trailing a caravan for about 20 min's.  

We reached CK's casa at about 4pm. After coffee, we decided we need to stretch our legs. The 3 of us went to Nant yr Arian to check out our favourite birds, the Red Kite (Milous Milvus).

Although we missed their feeding time, we could see a few soaring gracefully, their red brown body, long broad wings and deeply forked tails clearly visible. A truly majestic bird.

Then into Aberystwyth town centre itself. I  missed the sea so much that I need to dip my feet into the waters. It was frrreezing. The locals must think I'm nuts. :-)

We walked along the seafront taking photographs of the lovely brightly painted, Victorian seafront buildings  and the Old College building, a sandstone neo-Gothic building.  CK said that the University are thinking of selling it. I hoped not cos when you think of the Uni, the first thing that comes into mind is the Old College and it has been on the cover of the brochures like forever.

Then CK treated us to a lovely takeaway from Hot Dumplings, a new eatery that wasn't there when we were in Aber. We stood outside blocking the other diners, trying to make our minds up. Finally, we chose the set dinner. Danke CK.

After a full dinner, we chatted like we've never met before. She came to Coventry last month and we e-mailed each other almost daily. I know it's a bit loco.

The next day, we persuaded CK to do touristy stuff. First, I wanted to check out Llanbadarn Campus before demolition takes place. The University has closed the halls of residence after a study found a "number of structural problems".

Materials used to build the halls and their overall design were to blame and it would be cost too costly to repair. Built in the early 1970s, we lived in Aeron flats when we were studying there.

Kevin was a floor below me. I guess he was checking me out when we crossed path to the ty-bach. Sorry babe, couldn't resist it... Later, we lived in the warden flat after we got married. Felt wee nostalgic there.

The weather was a let-down but we were very upbeat. We drove through Devil's Bridge a popular destination with visitors since the days of the early pilgrims. It is now famous for its three bridges, steam railway and spectacular waterfalls.

Then passed the Arch. Kevin had to turn Benzy around cos I wanted to take its photo. This old masonry Arch which spans the road was erected in 1810 by Thomas Johnes, formerly the owner of the nearby Hafod Estate, to mark King George III's Golden Jubilee.

Then we took the B4574 road through Cwmystwyth that the AA once described as one of "the ten most scenic drives in the World."

The spectacular Ystwyth Valley is a popular leisure route between Aberystwyth and Rhayader. At Cwmystwyth we passed through the oldest recorded metal mine site in the UK some 4000 years old.

Cwmystwyth has a unique landscape the like of which resembles nowhere else in Mid Wales.  This once industrialised valley now only has crumbling remains amidst the grey, rainswept majesty of the western Cambrian Mountains as memorials to those miners that worked and died here.

“About the middle of this Wstwith valley that I ride in, being as I guess three miles in length, I saw on the right hand of the hill side Cloth Moyne, where hath been a great digging for leade, the smelting whereof hath destroid the woodes that sometime grew plentiful thereabout”

John Leyland (1506 – 1552) - Antiquary to King Henry VIII

We made countless stops amidst the rain and strong winds taking snapshots of the spectacular views.  The drive was also challenging cos we came across a few suicidal sheep on a bridge which kept on walking towards us as we were driving. Kevin had to stop and let them pass. Who says sheep are stupid?

Then we drove along The Elan Valley also known as the Welsh Lake District. A chain of man-made lakes, dams, reservoirs, 73 mile aqueduct of waterworks using the rivers Elan and Claerwen were constructed between 1892 and 1903 to supply water to Birmingham 73 miles away.

Rambling forests and magnificent scenery of steep wooded hills mirrored and shimmered on the surfaces of these great lakes,

We passed several dams and to quote James Mansergh, the engineer, "probably the finest waterfall in this country", we saw Graig Goch dam overflowing.

The dam, the highest upstream of the series of dams, is often referred to as the 'top dam'. It is located at a height of 1040 feet (317m) above sea level

It was also the most attractive, with an elegantly curved retaining wall and a series of arches carrying a narrow roadway across the top of the dam. The domed valve tower and the structure is typical of the 'Birmingham Baroque' style of the waterworks scheme. CK and I walked down a few steps to get a closer view. It was stunning. I'm going to send a snap to the BBC Wales website. It's not often you come across a birds-eye view of the overflow dam. It was also the first for CK who' been here several times.

At the visitor centre, I came across this statute of  a dam worker commissioned by a local artist Deborah Leeton-Bunker of Argoed Mill, near Rhayader.  The life-sized statue modelled in clay and cast in fibre glass and cement standing on a plinth of stone are for the thousands of Irish navigators that were involved with the dam's construction. It is a commemoration in honour of their lives and huge sacrifices.

We arrived too early to see the Red kites being fed at Gigrin Farm in Rhayader.  Anyway, Kevin wanted to drive back to Coventry the same night. We went back to CK's casa exhausted but happy. We made nasi goreng for dinner while Kevin uploaded the photos.

After dinner, Kevin went upstairs for a siesta. CK and I lounged on the sofa, chatted and finally dozed off. It was Kevin who woke us up. After coffee and nicking a few of her plants, we left  at 8pm.

Surprisingly, there was no traffic. We reached home intact at 10.45pm. Wow...

Diolch CK. We really enjoyed our stay and had a lovely time.

Sorry we couldn't meet up Jax, and JH, we'll keep a rain cheque for lunch.