This Is Wales

[LeeG]

I'm in love with the aquaduct!

same here.

[Hwyl]

I visited Wales about 1 year ago. I stayed in Bangor s.

I grew up in Bangor, I long for the place it used to be (hiraeth). It's a rough old place now.f

[stuckinthemud]

The coal mines are gpne, many pubs are more gastro than pub but it still rains. A lot.

[SOF64]

If my sense of orientation serves me well, your photo in post #52 shows old coalmining country. It is amazing that in one perspective large colliery tips dominate the landscape while in another perspective you see mainly unspoilt nature.

[Whameller]

I live a mile up the hill from this:

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Carew Castle.

And we have this just outside the house:

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It's an Iron Age (ie: pre Roman Invasion) 'Rath' - a small hill fort that would have housed one extended family. There are a lot of them around here, which leads me to imagine that Pembrokeshire must have been a pretty dodgy place to live in then.

[isla]

^ That's a bonny castle. You're very fortunate to have all that history on your doorstep. Thanks for posting.

[stuckinthemud]

If my sense of orientation serves me well, your photo in post #52 shows old coalmining country. It is amazing that in one perspective large colliery tips dominate the landscape while in another perspective you see mainly unspoilt nature.

The Valleys are green again, I know of only 3 black coal tips, and I was stood on the top of one of them. When the mines shut the tips were "landscaped" by being sprayed in fertilizer and grass seed. Some were removed or flattened and built over, an awful lot of them are now country parks, wildlife reserves and scenic footpaths (ironic, huh?) Thirty years ago that photo would have been very very different, there would have been at least 4 active pits tipping coal waste on several vast tips. This valley was the centre of the mining region. Now there's just 2 open-cast and a couple of private drift mines in the whole of South Wales, all the deep mines are long gone.

[SOF64]

I didn't even know that there were any still operating. The last one that I knew of was located on the right-hand side of the road when you approached Hirwaun from Threherbert, and my friends told me that it was about to close some years ago. I was also told about the drift mines. I think this would be the kind of mines that originally started coal mining in Wales. It is kind of ironic that it survived all the deep mines and the industrial mining.

[isla]

^ On a much darker note. Those coal slurry tips were jus accidents waiting to happen.

I remember the Aberfan disaster, which took the lives of 116 children and 28 adults. It has been described as the single most appalling event in modern Welsh history.
They were buried under tons of wet coal slurry that crashed down the mountain above Pantglas Junior School on October 21, 1966.

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

The last one that I knew of was located on the right-hand side of the road when you approached Hirwaun from Threherbert, and my friends told me that it was about to close some years ago.

As a deep mine it did indeed close - one of the major open cast sites is within a mile. Visible on the satellite picture on google maps

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hi...33!4d-3.510887

There's another at Dowlais top.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hi...33!4d-3.510887

[SOF64]

Thank you for the information. So, after all, Welsh coal mining is still alive, sort of. However, I think this is a different kind of mining. I would guess there are fewer staff and more machinery. These opencast mines have quite an impact on the landscape, too. If they decide to "landscape" them later on, the mines may end up as artificial lakes for outdoor activities.

[SOF64]

^ On a much darker note. Those coal slurry tips were jus accidents waiting to happen.

I remember the Aberfan disaster, which took the lives of 116 children and 28 adults. It has been described as the single most appalling event in modern Welsh history.
They were buried under tons of wet coal slurry that crashed down the mountain above Pantglas Junior School on October 21, 1966.

I only know it from tales of friends of mine and from books about mining in Wales. As far as I know the memories are very much kept alive. The disaster must have traumatized the whole region for more than a generation.

[John Meachen]

Red Kites are doing really well, gone from a few dozen pairs in Mid Wales a few years ago, now they've crossed the Beacons and there are pairs nesting nearly as far as Cardiff

I saw one over a field about six miles away in the summer and that is a good flight from Wales.

[peb]

Spent a weekend driving thru northern Wales, it is one of the most beautiful places I have been.

[isla]

For those who liked the Pontcysyllte aqueduct posts - I found this rather good BBC documentary about it, which offers some detail on how it was built. If you want to know how to pronounce 'Pontcysyllte' then listen carefully to the narrator, BBC News presenter Huw Edwards. . You just need to get a Welsh tonsillectomy and you'll manage OK

[SOF64]

Thank you for this video. The facts about the design and construction of this bridge are very interesting. It is also a monument of the history of industrial technology. Those cast-iron elements would have been state-of-the-art technology then, and the fact that the bridge is still operational is a testimony to the longevity of the design. Cast iron was the material of choice at the time of the bridge's construction. Structural steel in large quantities and at affordable prices became available only after Henry Bessemer had invented the Bessemer converter in 1855.

I have found a short video about the Newport Transporter Bridge, which would be a testimony to the age of structural steel. I'll try to insert it here but I am not sure if it works - I've never before included a video in a post. So let's see if it works.



It seems to have worked after all!

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Here is a photo essay about a trip on the Llangollen canal.....

Enjoy
https://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/po...ky-t58472.html

[SOF64]

Thank you so much for the link to your photo essay. That must have been a wonderful trip in an awsome landscape. With your and Isla's help I realize just how much of Wales I still need to discover.
As for the canal paddling, would there be any problem doing it in a skin-on-frame canoe? I use one in our waters and I am always a bit appreciative of shallow water and underwater rocks. From the look of it, I would guess that the canal is fine for that kind of boats.

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Skin on frame kayaks have been used on British canals for years - perfectly practical - you might want to portage some of the locks.

Membership of either the BCU or the WCA ( web https://www.welsh-canoeing.org.uk/) gets you a license for most of the canals in England and Wales.

[Hwyl]

glaslyn.jpg

Kris Williams, one of my favorite photographers captured this image of Glaslyn (blue lake). which is one of the lakes in the hollows carved out by ice age glaciers, around Snowdon. The view of the lake from the summit or the P.Y.G. track, would take my breath away, if I had any left, after that hike.

[C. Ross]

What a splendid thread. Thanks all...Wales is high in my list of places to visit soon.

[isla]

Thank you for this video. The facts about the design and construction of this bridge are very interesting. It is also a monument of the history of industrial technology. Those cast-iron elements would have been state-of-the-art technology then, and the fact that the bridge is still operational is a testimony to the longevity of the design. Cast iron was the material of choice at the time of the bridge's construction. Structural steel in large quantities and at affordable prices became available only after Henry Bessemer had invented the Bessemer converter in 1855.

I have found a short video about the Newport Transporter Bridge, which would be a testimony to the age of structural steel. I'll try to insert it here but I am not sure if it works - I've never before included a video in a post. So let's see if it works.

It seems to have worked after all!

Yes the video works fine, very interesting thanks.

[SOF64]

P. I. Stazzer-Newt, thank you for the information. I will look it up. It won't happen anytime soon - thanks to the pandemic - but one can always dream of better days.

[SOF64]

I've taken a bit of inspiration from the "This is my joke" thread. In a collection of Welsh jokes I found this:


Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Heaven, God was missing for six days. Eventually, Archangel Michael found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God, “Where have you been?”
God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds. “Look, Michael; look what I’ve made.”
Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, “What is it?”
“It’s a planet,” replied God, “and I’ve put life on it. I’m going to call it Earth, and it’s going to be a great place of balance.”
“Balance?” inquired Michael, still confused.
God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth. “For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity while southern Europe is going to be poor; the Middle East, over there, will be a hot spot; and the Antarctic, down there, will be a cold spot. Over there I’ve placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people,” God continued, pointing to different countries. “This one will be extremely hot and arid, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice.”
The Archangel, impressed by God’s work, then pointed to an unusually shaped land mass and said, “What’s that one?”
“Ah,” said God, “that’s Wales, the most glorious place on Earth. There are beautiful lakes, rivers, sunsets, beaches and rolling hills. The people from Wales are going to be modest, intelligent and humorous, and they are going to be great sportsmen, singers and poets. They will be extremely sociable, hard-working, and high-achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace.”
Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then exclaimed, “What about balance? You’ve given them everything, a perfect land, God. You said there would be balance!”
God replied wisely, “Wait until you see the neighbours I’m giving them.”

[isla]

^ Brightened up my day

[isla]

Some old photos of Cardiff in the 1930s..

Timber for mineshaft props. Cardiff docks 1936

[isla]

Giant baskets being made at the Cardiff Institute. These are destined for South Africa to be loaded with oil cake for animal feed.

[isla]

Boatmen in Roath park cleaning hire boats in preparation for the opening of the season on April 2, 1937

[isla]

Post Office engineers erecting telegraph poles on the Cardiff to Pontypridd road on December 23, 1936

[Peerie Maa]

Boatmen in Roath park cleaning hire boats in preparation for the opening of the season on April 2, 1937

If it were not for those iron oarlocks that could have been Thames skiffs at Richmond.

[isla]

^ When I was a kid my family used to hire very similar boats on Stanley Park lake, Liverpool.

[SOF64]

Isla, thank you so much for these pictures. I have got a book titled "Cardiff's vanished docklands" by an author called Brian Lee which covers the same subjects and shows more photos of this kind. After the end of the coal exports the docks were no longer needed and fell into disuse. In the 1990s the barrage across Cardiff Bay was built and the area was redeveloped. If you see historic pictures of the area and new ones, the only point of orientation is the Pierhead Building.

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It has been restored and turned into a museum that tells - among other things - the story of Cardiff Bay.

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This is a view across the bay from inside the Senedd building. It is an interesting area to visit and is considered to be a successful redevelopment, but it would certainly be very interesting to travel back to the old days of Tiger Bay.

[stuckinthemud]

In a normal year, you can still rent a row-boat for an hour on Roath Park, the cafe over looking the lake is most excellent too, one of my family's traditional treats and the only time I have ever sculled, as opposed to my more normal paddling.

[Hwyl]

When I was in college. I organised a 24 hour race on Roath Park. It was fun. We used Lark dinghies

[SOF64]

This thread has sunk quite far down the pages. I'll bring it back with something that should not be missing in a 'This is Wales' thread.

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I haven't had Welsh Cakes in quite a while now. I always bought some when I was on a visit. I have tried my hand on them myself and would like to do so again, but I must try and get hold of the ingredients first. Dried currants are hard to get in Germany.