Bank Holiday Travels

Bank holiday weekend and we were on our travels - starting on the Friday with a trip to Portishead, where Martin was working, and I had time for a bit of a wander . . .

Made my way out to the boating lake, with its novelty paddle boats, and model boat enthusiasts.



Took in the 'coastal' views, walking along the shoreline, then headed up round by the Lido . . .



. . . complete with its Banksy-esque mural.  Finishing my morning with a cider, sitting outside the Royal Inn in the sunshine with a good book.

Once Martin had finished work we had a bit of lunch, then headed on to Stratford-upon-Avon for a night of cider and curry.  The next day we moved on again to visit family in East Anglia, but taking the opportunity for a return trip to Kenilworth Castle along the way.

It's a fair old ruin, but still fascinating - particularly the apartment 'block' built for Elizabeth I's visit, where English Heritage have put in staircases throughout to allow you to climb up to the accommodation levels, and even look out of her bedroom window!

Built of local standstone, there is a lot of erosion - but even more graffiti - from the 1700s to the modern day:

We had a good wander round the ruins and the Elizabethan Gardens - luckily this time it was in glorious sunshine not pouring rain!

The remainder of the weekend was spent catching up with family.

Didn't do anything major (avoiding the bank holiday traffic) - our only 'outing' was to the local garden centre (complete with some rather scary inflatable Star Wars figures!) - but it was good to see everyone.



Then it was home again, home again, on the Monday - travels over (for the time being).

Acrobatics

And of course, not having seen one in a while, it (or one of its friends) was soon back, and in particularly acrobatic mode:

Baking Bread

Having been gifted some traditionally ground wholemeal flour from Houghton Mill, and home from work on a wet Monday afternoon, decided to have a go at baking soda bread.

Very easy to make - and it turned out really well - a nice accompaniment to a bowl of soup!

Ceredigion Coastal Path 4 - Llanrhystud to Aberaeron

With a nice day forecast and the garden not needing any urgent maintenance, we jumped at the opportunity to walk another section of the coastal path. 

Now moving further from home, we have to consider how we are going to get to the start point and return home again. Very kindly, the Welsh Government has provided free buses on certain routes at the weekend so a lot of consideration is going into trying to utilise these services.

For today, we decided to take the car to Llanrhystud and to catch the bus back from Aberaeron to the car.

Heading off out of Llanrhystud we walked down towards the beach, stopping to admire the straight ploughing lines in the adjacent field.

From here the path followed the beach boundary - walking on the stones was not a pleasant experience, but fortunately it did not last long as we were soon diverted back into a field.

The lime kilns just past Llanrhystud came as a surprise, having lived in Aberystwyth for over 40 years, it is good to know that there are still places on the doorstep that offer new things to see!

We got a bit lost in Llanon, the path signs were not very clear, and we ended up retracing our steps up and down the impressive metal stairs from the pebble beach to the upper path.  (For those also walking from Llanrhystud to Aberaeron, you do not climb these unless diverted by the flooded river.)

Another pleasant surprise came in the form of Aberarth village.  Having driven through it along the main road hundreds of times, this was the first time we have actually entered the village itself.

The only thing I could see that stopped it being "idyllic" (as the property programmes say) is the lack of a village pub.

It was another flattish stroll from Aberarth through to Aberaeron, finishing as we started, with a walk along a pebble beach.

As expected it was a relatively easy walk, the only hill we climbed did not prove to be difficult or lengthy:

The final stats from my GPS recorder:

Distance 13.3km
Duration: 3:30
Moving Time: 3:15
Calories: 1267
Ascent: 120 meters

Is it a bird?

No it's a squirrel . . .

Hadn't seen one for a while - obviously we chase them off the bird feeder, but still nice to know they are around!

Living It Up, and Chopping It Down

After more years than I care to remember, finally got my act together to make a return trip to Cambridge Folk Festival. 





Met up with a couple of friends from university, pitched our tent (after much searching for enough space!), and settled in for three days of music, cider and (we hoped) sunshine.




Noticed that they'd expanded the site a little - extending the field in front of Stage 1 back further, and making room for more concession / food stalls.

(Probably at the expense of the camping - hence the extended search for a pitch!).

For the most part it all looked very familiar though, with the addition of some interesting artworks (including two large male and female wickerwork badgers, and giant knitted bluebells!).

All in all it was a great few days - very relaxing, time to read as well as enjoy the music (which espoused a rather wide definition of 'folk').

The weather was mostly dry (even sunny) during the day, but with a few downpours in the afternoons / evenings.

Luckily we were mostly inside the stage tents when it rained - although it was amusing to see how some people dealt with the wet - one elderly couple seemed to be nesting under a set of umbrellas!


While I was chilling out and enjoying myself, Martin was hard at work at home on the hedges - returning to his leylandii hedge project (last tackled in 2015) - taking it down another foot or so:

Which left him with some major surgery on the other side of the hedge, where it had all got very overgrown:

So, while I was living it up, he was chopping it down - think he's due a well-deserved pint of his own!

Ceredigion Coastal Path 3 - Aberystwyth to Borth

This section of the coastal path has been graded as "hard", but having completed it  twice previously, we knew what to expect (although there were a couple of stretches Sarah was not looking forward to!).

We parked the car in Aberystwyth town centre and began by walking the full length of the sea front from harbour to Constitution Hill.

'Consti' is the second highest peak along this section of the coastal path, however, it is by far the easiest to climb due to its well worn path (or the Cliff Railway for those so inclined!).

Over the top, and we descend on the caravan cornucopia that is Clarach - the last stop for food and drink until Borth.

It is always a wonder to me why so many people visit such a small hamlet, even if it is located in such pleasant surroundings.

Just outside of Clarach we get to the Wallog old lime kilns and Sarn Cynfelin; an ideal spot to picnic and refuel in readiness for the climbs to come.

On the profile graph below we are currently at the 7½ km dip, just over half way in distance but with most of the climbing yet to come.

The Aberystwyth to Borth section of the Coast path follows the cliff edge for most of the way and as such it offers some spectacular views of the ancient rock formations.  

Some of the path is challenging, but Sarah was relieved to find that steps had been added to some of the steeper sections, making the footing much more secure.



It seems a long time coming, but the initial view of Borth does not disappoint.  Even from here we still had a long way to go to catch the train home, although it would mostly be downhill or flat.

















After checking the train times we had time for a swift drink in the Victoria Inn - I cannot help but wonder if Sarah timed her arrival in Borth to allow for this!  As I had to drive home when we got back to Aberystwyth I had to make do with diet coke :(

The final stats from my GPS recorder:

Distance 13.0km
Duration: 4:06
Moving Time: 3:12
Calories: 1487
Ascent: 381 meters