Our Holiday
This year we thought we would visit Wales, visit relations and get some walking in, and other stuff.
Jackie found a nice four-person cottage in Llangattock a small village near Crickhowell in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Jackie’s Mum Pam hadn't seen hear cousin for a while and so was to come with us. She would stay at a motel in Ebbw Vale.
A last minute addition to our happy band was Sunayana, David’s girlfriend.
The cottage we had rented for the week was only insured for four people so Jackie suggests we take the tent for the surplus (i.e. Jackie and I).
I thought Jackie didn't like camping.
Friday 2nd. August
In which we try and organise stuff
Picked up up the car Friday from Hertz in Watford. VW passat estate, Seven seats, six gears and not much go.
Hmmm… would it all fit in? We discussed calling Grandma to ask her to take the excess baggage.
The mounting mountain of bags kept being swallowed and amazingly it all fitted. We hoped Sunayana didn't have much to take!
Saturday 3rd
In which we move a bit
Excitement mounts!
Everything seems to fit. We have looked up the cottage on Google Streetview, so we know what to look for. Unfortunately it’s down a tiny cobbled lane, too small for a vehicle so Mr. Google couldn’t take us to the door.
David’s girlfriend Sunayana is joining us on this trip, luckily she has a normal sized suitcase and it slots in nicely into the only available space left. Everything fits.
The plan is to follow Grandma down, taking the rather leisurely A40, as she has knows the way like the back of her hand. (It seems that Jackie and her extended family have lived or were stationed or were born or grew up over most the South West corner of the British Isles)
We left at 10:00. The RAC said it would take 4 hours. Add a couple of hours for lunch and stops, we should make Crickhowell about 4 o'clock.
Well, so much for the plan. All’s well until the break at some services outside Oxford, but as we get near Gloucester the sat-nav in Grandma's car loses the plot and takes us on a lovely tour of the countryside surrounding Northchurch, finally ending up outside Cirencester.
We worked out later that the sat-nav, after Grandma took a wrong turning, recalculated and tried to take us over the Severn Bridge.
Now, the night before we had dug out a couple of road atlases, ready to take with us. We thoughtfully left these on the dining room table in case we lost them.
Grandma dug out a road atlas from her car, unfortunately so old it only showed Roman roads, so we splashed out on a nice new one, so new it had ‘2014’ across the front, showing roads that may never exist, but at least now we had a fighting chance.
Now, you would think keeping to the A40 (one road from London to Crickhowell) would be easy. Huh! If it didn't keep disappearing, we would have stood a chance!
With Alex now installed as navigator, yours truly as pilot, Grandma and Jackie as rear guners (Jackie jumped ship for Grandma’s car at Oxford) and David and Sunayana as DJ and cabaret, we set of with renewed hope.
This all worked pretty well, until I missed the pub we were supposed to visit on the way down - The Air Balloon, near Lekhampton Hill.
Half a pint of Airman Bitter, several pints of water and an extended lunch saw us leave at 3:45. We were to drive to Auntie Muriel’s at Abertillery.
With Alex doing a sterling job, we turned onto the A465 (Heads-of-the-valley- road), then A467 to Abertillery, but then failed to find the Abertillery turning.
Muriel and Graham had recently moved into a bungalow because of Muriel’s bad back. It took Grandma and Jackie to find their new house (with a little help from Graham).
Nice to see them again. We were last here over eight years ago and they still looked the same.
Jackie made a plan for Sunday lunch to eat at The Tyler’s Arms (the local), and afterwards we would meet more relatives! Sunayana looked a little worried, mind.
After the visit Graham kindly offered to show us where Tesco was, then the Premier Inn where Grandma would stay, then come back and take us to Crickhowell, or more precisely Llangattock, the adjoining village, where our wee cottage was! What a fine fellow.
I tried to memorise the route (but failed miserably), as we have to pick up Grandma tomorrow.
We found the cottage and what a delight! Part of a terrace of stone built ‘two up, one down’ worker’s cottages, completely modernised inside, down the little cobbled alley we had seen on Streetview. Very cosy.
Parking was a bit sparse, mind.
Thanked Muriel and Graham. Graham gave the impression that he’d driven to a different country, out of the valleys, like. The people are different, the climate is different. They don’t get out this way much.
I noticed that the majority of people ‘in the valleys’ had strong Welsh accents while the people North of the valleys mostly had English accents.
By this time it was rather dark and Jackie was tired so we decided to stay at the cottage.
Jackie and her phone:
The journey down was rather stressful for Jackie who constantly worried we would loose Grandma!
At Oxford she transferred to Grandma’s car. I thought she would relax then.
Now I was in front we kept getting calls to slow down and accusations of recklessness! Also every time we phoned her we got put on hold!
Then Jackie deleted Alex ... we shall miss him ...
Sunday 4th.
Where we have lunch
After a unexpectedly comfortable night on the stone floor, I took an early morning stroll. What a place. The church (the bells were sounding) with the mountains in the background, peaceful atmosphere and clean fragrant air. I could get to like it here.
Off to put the tent up. The light drizzle at the start progressed to a steady rain by the time I finished, and I got soaked.
Today we are mainly having lunch with Muriel and Graham. With rain..
We leave to pick up Grandma. Retracing our steps from last night kind of went ok, but the nearer to Grandma we got, the more lost we hot. There seemed to be more roads in real life than on the map. We finally picked Grandma up at the Premier Inn at Ebbw Vale with a little help from Graham on the phone.
On Graham’s and Pam’s (Grandma) recommendations we head South and take a route across the bottom of the valleys to Muriel's.
A cup of tea at Muriel’s and a three course Sunday lunch at the Tyler’s Arms, with the worst ½ pint yet (Red House, or something, they obviously don’t sell much). A good solid meal though, with outstanding roast beef. Alex is happy - he ends up with four Yorkshire puddings.
Back to Muriel’s to meet with some long lost relatives.
In all nine of them turn up and the gossip lasts all afternoon! Alex meets Reece again (last time they met was over 10 years ago). He’s a year older than Alex and a full 2 inches taller!
The gossiping and catching up lasted all afternoon.
I got pronunciation lessons from Graham and gallons of tea and mountains of biscuits were consumed.
Finally left for Llangattock late in the afternoon. With Jackie navigating, no-one got lost.
We looked at the weather. Rain is forecast for tomorrow so the plan is to visit the mountain railway at Merthyr Tydfil.
I watched a bit of ‘Blade’, then wandered off to the tent. Jackie was fiercely ensconced on the cottage sofa!
Monday 5th
In which we take a trip
After a rainy night under canvas, I decided to check out the campsite showers. Mmm… nice and warm. Well, a bit hot, actually. More Jackie’s temperature range than mine.
Time to try out my new titanium stove, I thought, but couldn’t find the lighter! <sigh> To the cottage then…</sigh>
Raining proper now. We are to pick up Grandma and then drive to Merthyr but everyone gets up late and with the road works we don’t get to Grandma’s until 12:00.
Grandma has had an invitation to lunch with Muriel, but with the rain and the roadworks, we just have lunch at the Premier Inn. Even though the ‘bottomless’ Costa coffee and Pepsi machines are broken. (Perhaps they are meant to have bottoms!)
Now, the day before my raincoat had finally failed so after lunch we paid a visit to the outlet stores conveniently located down the road from Grandma’s hotel (coincidence? I think not), where I pick up a cheap replacement. It had a cafe with excellent views down the valley.
Through even more roadworks, we reached Merthyr Tydvil and the Brecon Mountain Railway. We didn’t get lost once; we’re getting better and better (well, we are now I’ve stopped arguing with Jackie!).
Although a little short, the train ride was quite interesting, especially on the way back as the engine manoeuvred to our end of the train. We were in the guard's van and got a front row seat. Lots of pictures were taken.
the guard was quite interesting; he told us about the engines (this one runs on diesel, you know) and about the plans for the line.
Sunayana seemed (as a physics student I suppose) particularly interested in the inner workings of the engine.
At the main station there was a workshop with the biggest lathe I’ve ever seen, with what looked like a bogey axle being machined.
End of the day - dropped off Grandma, dropped in at Tesco (yes, I know).
David and Sunayana cooking tonight!
Walking about the village I spied some swallows nests, and took a picture or two, trying to capture mum coming and going.
Dinner was excellent - a Thai style vegetable curry with coconut rice. Well done guys.
To the tent. With Jackie!
Tuesday 6th
In which we meet a cyclist
No-one’s up. Again. As usual. I nip off to Crickhowell to raid the local butchers for sausages, milk and stuff.
Alex was not well. David, Sunayana and I had a walk planned which, by the time they woke up, was an afternoon walk. Alex was a bit peeved he was too ill to go.
David picked out a circular route from Llangattock to some disused quarries.
With Jackie having a day off, we set out on a nice hot day with increasingly stunning views across the valley towards Tabletop and Sugarloaf mountains, with David and Sunayana talking ‘19-to-the-dozen’.
It turns out that this is Sunayana's first walk in the hills, she and seems to have taken to it like a duck to water.
We met a bloke on a bike near the quarry. I asked if he was going somewhere, he said no, just popped out for a cigarette. How far? Only six miles… He told me about ‘Sportstracker’ software he uses to monitor his progress. Pity I can’t download anything to my phone!
We also saw some shy pot-holers, the nutters.
After a spot of lunch we found a cave with a spring in it. Stunning views across the valley, with Llangattock and Crickhowell nestling below.
The path actually passed below the quarries before turning into a farm track that eventually turned back to the valley through fields.
We passed a group dismantling a large marquee before climbing a lump for that one last view and finally bisected the campsite my tent was in and entered Llangattock.
Not bad.
A quick shower saw me off to pick up Grandma before dinner at the much recommended ‘The Bear’ hotel. ‘Loved it’ and ‘Pretty mind blowing’ were the comments. I had a brilliant lamburger.
Later that night I actually felt cold in the tent. It got me thinking that to save weight in this ‘lightweight’ down bag of mine the manufacturer did not actually use any down! Looking at the bag I get the distinct impression that they put most of the down in the foot - this (by comparison to the rest of the bag) seems quite well padded.
Wednesday 7th.
In which we visit some canaries
Jackie’s off shopping with Grandma and Auntie Muriel today today while I take ‘the children’ to The Big Pit for the afternoon (They are definitely not early risers!).
Alex started navigating and took us the scenic route over the top of the hill. Unfortunately the map was not detailed enough and navigation was taken over by the back seat brigade with their new fangled gps enabled wosnames.
The last pit to close, they still used used canaries into the 1990’s and as it’s still a proper mine, although not worked, they still maintain 4 hourly safety checks. We were issued with proper miner’s kit and gas masks and had to leave anything with a battery in it at the surface. Good job I don’t wear a pacemaker.
The pit turned out to be well worth the visit. A tour underground showed what life was like for the men (and women and children, in Victorian times the whole family worked). Children as young as 10 spent all day in the dark opening doors for horses or working alongside the fathers at the coalface, moving 6 tons of coal via 1 ton trucks. The trucks when full were pushed by the mother for up to 100 yards to the pit head, where they were unloaded.
Thank goodness the arrival of pit ponies put an end to this.
Thank goodness the arrival of pit ponies put an end to this.
We arrived late so we couldn’t make the most of the surface attractions but we did have time for a couple of snacks (and blew £20!) at the cafe we got our own back by hanging around too long and upseting the staff, before dashing off to pick up Grandma and Mum.
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| The gear room |
In which we protect a pigeon
Up early, a long drive to the South coast is planned to Bary, or as near as we can get, via Ebbw Vale to pick up Grandma.
Left Ebbw Vale at about 10:00 (quite early for us) and reached Bary (Whitmore Bay as it turned out) in about an hour. Not bad.
It was the start of a boiling hot day, marred initially by a temporarily misplaced camera.
Sun, sand and ice creams. A beautiful long sandy bay with, as the tide was right out, the sea a distant hazy line. The ‘kids’ all dashed off to the sea (after a liberal undercoat of sunblock) and I left Jackie and Pam guarding the shops while I explored the rocks. I saw a guy being interviewed about his music(?).
The rocks are a marvel. Not the rockpool rocks - no life there.
The rocks comprising the ends of the bay. The strata that would normally run roughly parallel to the horizon were set at a jaunty angle (nearly vertical) and on top of that a layer of ‘normal’ (horizontal) strata. That illustrated to me what an incredible amount of time had passed to form these rocks.
The rocks comprising the ends of the bay. The strata that would normally run roughly parallel to the horizon were set at a jaunty angle (nearly vertical) and on top of that a layer of ‘normal’ (horizontal) strata. That illustrated to me what an incredible amount of time had passed to form these rocks.
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| Strata |
Imagine a sea, millions of years ago, busy silting up through the millennia, underlying layers slowly being compressed and transformed into rock. Then more time passes and the Earth contorts this now ancient sea bed into hills.
More time passes. More millennia. Enough time to erode the hills down so the ‘ends’ of the strata formed by this silt are now visible, like putting a slice of layer cake on its side.
The whole process gets repeated. Silt from a new sea gets laid down over more millennia, then more compression.
Now the silt of the new sea bed is rock, more upheaval takes place and this sea bed becomes land again. This isn’t quick, it’s slow. Heavy with time. More time than you could shake a dinosaur bone at. The sea now reclaims its silt and attacks the land to create cliffs and Whitmore Bay, Bary Island and more. All this before us lot have even started walking on our hind legs!
Kind of makes you feel small.
Anyroad. Brain back in neutral, junk food for lunch, with the ever present seagulls eager to help us out if we get too full. We chased them away and helped a sad looking pigeon get a decent lunch.
The biggest game of the day was ‘where are the kids’. Like a real life ‘Where’s Wally’. It didn’t help that the beach remained very far away.
They periodically turn up asking for food or drinks, before running back to the shoreline.
After a 2 hour absence I caught up with them at the rock pools at the other end of the beach.
On the way back Alex and I found a seafood stall, and I tried crunching my way through some sandy cockles. Well, you have to really, don’t you.
We took an interesting route back - motorway and trunk routes to the ‘head of the valleys’ then dropped down to drop off Grandma. It only took 12 minutes longer. Weird.
Off home for a late omelette supper then to the tent. Alone (sigh) as Jackie was too tired.
Friday 9th.
In which we fall in a bog & investigate some springs
Alex was finally well enough (just) to join Sanayana, David and I on a walk up Table mountain, and then if there was time, to the ridge above.
We left late (normal) and cut through the village so everybody could pick up supplies if they wished, only for some reason David didn’t!
We took it easy so Alex could keep up (he really was still ill).
The views increased as we climbed.
After several stops we make it to a windy TableTop where we have a windswept lunch and Alex calls it a day.
A sheep came to investigate and beg for food, along with her lamb.
David and Sanayana headed off for the summit ridge while Alex and I explored the several springs in the area.
We disturbed a butterfly under a rock that hid one of the springs.
Nice tasting water.
I carefully replaced the rock with the butterfly and climbed a little to get a better view.
After a while I phoned David. He said he’s coming back.
They didn’t reach the summit, there was a small incident with Sanayana and a bog!
Time to go.
A lazy route back took us a different way.
Trying to make sense of the field boundaries, some footpaths shown on the map were nowhere to be seen. Just can’t trust those farmers!
Trying to make sense of the field boundaries, some footpaths shown on the map were nowhere to be seen. Just can’t trust those farmers!
Finally hit the cottage at 7:30. Just in time for a quick shower.
Dinner at The Horseshoes pub, just around the corner with Muriel and Graham. Very welcoming.
As I wasn’t driving for a change, indulged in some Brains bitter.
Good evening. A good last night.
Saturday 10th
In which we annoy the locals
Got up late (as usual).
Mum tried to hurry us up by telling us we had to leave by 11:00. Later she revealed that the deadline was 11:30. We relaxed and slowed our packing a little before the cleaners turn up expecting us gone by 11:00. I think we upset the them!
We ‘found’ an extra bottle of wine I’m not sure we were supposed to find.
It was delicious.
We rendezvoused with Grandma and set off, accidentally missed the turning for the A40 and ended up taking the M4 home.
Well at least we didn’t get lost…
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