It’s more than two months since we enjoyed this day out in South Wales. Today it’s too warm for outdoor activities, so I’m in the comfortable shade catching up on some loose ends, one such being this trip. So, here it is – visit “Three Valleys” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries, an illustrated account of our journeyings from Cardiff up the former mining valleys. The mines have all gone, but the railways are thriving – electrification, smart hi-tech new trains, new stations…
Mud-free Brown Clee
I was here in November last year, when the mud on the main descent was truly horrendous. Hadn’t been back since… This afternoon, Mrs Geoffspages is out eating cakes with her friends. I’ll make the most of it with a walk on Brown Clee – and it’s a wonderful day! It’s cool and shady under the trees on the way out, down the eastern side of the hill. When I cross the crest of the ridge, I’m in pleasantly warm sunshine, with a gentle breeze. There’s no-one in the chocolate seat either (I only passed 10 other people in 3 hours). It’s too warm for chocolate though; instead an apple is just right. And the mud? Practically all gone. Last November, it was hard to imagine it could ever be dry again.
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Linley fields
Our small visitors have gone out for the afternoon, so I’m taking the opportunity to enjoy an hour or two out in the fields – down Scots Lane and Bould Lane to the path across the field of oats, over the main road and on past Linley Hall to the top of the bank, then back beside Birch Wood to Linley Green and home again. There’s a crab apple tree down there which is well-laden – worth a revisit when they’re ready for picking, if I can time it before the deer get them all…
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Any old iron…
… will do to create these remarkable figures! We’re entertaining two small people, wondering what will keep them amused. The scrap metal creations are certainly eye-catching. Sculpture? Yes, I suppose they must be. Art? It’s in the eye of the beholder. The eyes of our two small beholders seemed to recognise most, if not all, of the weird creations here – which certainly kept them amused, as intended…
British Ironwork Centre, Oswestry
On a summer evening
It’s dry and bright, not too warm. We’ve been busy all day – we need a short leg stretch. Colemore Green and Boldings Pools will be perfect…
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Home ground
We were away for the best part of two weeks, and it’s taken a day or two to get straight… And it’s warm – really warm! So this morning we’re out shortly after 9am (and back by 11), enjoying the familiar landscape of Willey in summer.
View OS map in Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=367470&Y=298250&A=Y&Z=120
The right way round
I walked around the Heribusta lane a few days ago. This afternoon I’m doing it in reverse – clockwise, the right way round with a moorland “extra”. Once again, other than the museum and Flora’s grave, the place is deserted – the moor even more so – it’s desolate. Almost… There are the inevitable sheep, and once again a cuckoo and some curlews. There’s a bonus – the swanee whistle tooting of three lapwings, flopping* around just above me – a good note to end on. Tomorrow we’re heading south.
*a better description of their flight than “flapping”?
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Not the Giant’s Causeway
The Bornesketaig shore is remarkably similar in places – a pavement of hexagonal columns of black basalt rock. It’s not quite in the same league, but it’s good to look down on from the clifftops (and worth exploring, especially at low spring tides, when the gold cave may be accessible. Sadly, the gold’s all gone). The clifftop may be airy on this breezy afternoon, but the most dangerous part of this walk is probably the shore of Camas Mor bay – lots of big boulders, probably best avoided…
Having walked down the road past the ruined church, I’ll return to the village hall by the other road – saves retracing my steps…
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Night train
Wednesday 4 June: we’ve arrived at Crewe, by rail, to catch the sleeper to Inverness. We’re much too early, but delay (or cancellation) of the later train would have spelt disaster. So there’s time to kill: let’s see what can be done (while admiring the smart new red paint on the stairs!) with a hand-held camera and a high ISO setting…
Meall Tuath bothy
The sign at Kilmaluag points to Aird, which is where I’ll start. The path – now a part of the Skye Trail – leads across rough grassland, past the cemetery (Cladh), through the old settlement at Dunvannarain and on to the west coast clifftops, with great views to the north and west – from the little island of Trodday, the Shiants and the long island of Lewis and Harris to Skye’s northernmost tip at Rubha Hunish. I won’t be going out there today – instead, the seat just below the bothy (a former coastguard station) provides a wonderful view of the sea and the islands. It would also have been an excellent spot to nibble a piece of tablet – but I’d left it behind… Only slightly flawed perfection!
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=142459&Y=875853&A=Y&Z=120
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