Autumnal Activities

The last few weeks have provided a remarkable variety of activities based largely around Wales where the transitional Autumnal colours have been providing a changing back drop.

A visit to Coventry and across to Shropshire to see family and inspect an impressive new wood chip boiler system at my brother's cottage included the spreading of many tons of stone chippings to tidy up his drive. This was followed in South Wales by assisting in the spreading of 8 cubic metres of concrete at a friend's latest project.

A trip to the informative Deep Pit mine at Blaenavon followed by the adjacent blast furnace remains provided a fascinating glimpse in to Wales's historic industrial heritage.

Further evidence of this was apparent on my cycle along the canal towpath from Abergavenny to Newport - very well worth doing with a number of surprises along the way. Long term plans to reopen the waterway seem ambitious but it would be good to see the flights of disused locks functioning once more. 

After a social event in Brecon I returned to Coventry once more to register with a local GP and then took Crad to an outpatient appointment where progress seemed satisfactory. Later that week we headed over to West Wales on a trip for him down memory lane to the Cliff Hotel near Cardigan. I picked up my old slides and photos whilst there which provided me with an opportunity to look back more than a decade to early life on the farm, my caving days and even life as a student nurse in Hampshire over 30 years ago.

A good meal at the Penycae Inn in the Upper Swansea Valley with a friend from my smallholding days was a chance to visit this comfy pub which is much changed from the days when it was a rather more basic affair. I also picked up a new netbook as this machine is showing signs of age after several years of trouble free performance - said replacement will just sit tucked away until things crash permanently.

Our planned re roof of Nant Rhys bothy in mid Wales fell foul of new asbestos handling regulations but we all met there anyway for our Autumn Area Meeting where progress on other projects, new possibilities and current issues filled a constructive evening. The proposed new bothy in the Elan Valley seems likely to go ahead next year as planning permission has been granted - our initial involvement will centre around the shovelling out of many tons of sheep sh*t in mid November - can't wait.

We all then migrated north to Dolgellau to stay at Penrhos bothy and walk some of the local hills  - 3 of us recreated 'Last of the Summer Wine' scenarios on a couple of gentle but jovial jaunts.

To make use of booked leave and willing volunteers we again moved north to isolated Dulyn bothy in Snowdonia at the back of the Carneddau. An excellent meal in the local pub provided fuel for the hour's walk in which Chris and I neatly avoided by kipping up at the car park. At the bothy the stove required major work as much of the flue and exit pipe had corroded away. Given the remote location and distance from the roadhead we were fortunate that the hydro electric scheme workers were inspecting the adjacent reservoir and valve house and were willing to haul out said stove on their tracked load lugger and Land Rover. Phil and Mike then dashed down to civilisation to effect repairs, returning safely late on a frosty Tuesday night.

On Wednesday the power workers again provided much assistance with the stove, cement, ply and coal and after a busy day by all the bulk of the work was completed along with external pointing, internal painting and a new chimney cap and cowl.

Today heavy rain has sent me down to Llandudno for supplies and a catch up as next week I will be over near Caernarvon where house sitting and keeping an eye on three horse will leave me time to explore some of Snowdonia's tops or if the weather closes in the many attractions of Anglesey and perhaps the Lleyn Peninsular. 

Photos here capture some of the highlights of a busy 3 weeks since my last musings and Spotty Spot here will enable monitoring of my whereabouts.

Slides top right return to Japan as a marked contrast to my current location!