BEICIO DYDD GWENER

 

You can just about see Swansea/Mumbles/Gower on the horizon 

CASTLEHUNTING 24 - LLANBLETHIAN

Cadw website llanblethian 

Wiki :- St_Quintins_Castle

From Cadw:-

Ruined remains of a 14th-century castle

Also known as St Quentin's or St. Quintin's Castle, probably built by English nobleman and military commander Gilbert de Clare in the early 14th century, the most notable remnants of this castle are its huge, twin-towered gatehouse and high stretch of curtain wall on the north of the site. In the centre of what was once a large fortress is an earthen mound with the remains of a thick-walled building on top of it, which may be all that’s left of an earlier keep.

Set on a hill overlooking Cowbridge, this must have been imposing in it's time. Now it's just an awesome gatehouse, but very little else left. Only one shabby interp panel doesn't do the site justice. 

BEICIO HEDDIW

 Ignore the duration - some fool forgot to pause for the stops.... Happy with 29 miles tho. Looking forward to Friday's Coffee ride, yet to be announced 

CASTLEHUNTING 23 - DRYSLWYN

 

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Cadw site Castell Dryslwyn 

Wiki:- Dryslwyn_Castle

(no english vowels here!) 

From Cadw:-

Fragmentary – yet evocative – remains of a castle laid low by conflict

Founded in the 13th century on an isolated hill in the verdant Tywi Valley, Dryslwyn was once an important seat of the ancient south Wales kingdom of Deheubarth.

Not much is known about its early history, but in 1287 it was the scene of a significant conflict between Welsh and English forces. In response to an uprising by Welsh lord Rhys ap Maredudd, 11,000 English troops were dispatched to lay siege to the castle. The conflict lasted two weeks as siege engines and sappers (soldiers with engineering skills, including tunnelling) chipped away at the fortress’s defences. The attackers eventually brought down a large section of the walls and the castle fell into the hands of the English crown.

Quite an interesting little site. Unfortunately not much remains of the defences, but the position is stunning. Great interpretation boards show the history really well, even explaining the cut terraces of the town that grew outside the main walls. What an incredible place to have a town. 

ONE SHEEP ON FIFTEEN ON TWENTY

 

Or 36 sheep to you....

Welsh counting is mental

From Wiki:-

The traditional counting system used in the Welsh language is vigesimal, i.e. based on twenties where numbers from 11 to 14 are "1–4 on ten", 16–19 are "1–4 on fifteen" (though 18 is more commonly "two nines"); numbers from 21 to 39 are "1–19 on twenty", 40 is "two twenty", 60 is "three twenty", etc.

There is also a decimal counting system, where numbers are "x ten y" unit(s), e.g. thirty-five (35) in decimal is tri deg pump (three ten five) while in vigesimal it is pymtheg ar hugain (fifteen – itself "five-ten" – on twenty).

So:-

Number	Vigesimal system	Decimal system
0	sero/dim
1	un
2	dau (m), dwy (f)
3	tri (m), tair (f)
4	pedwar (m), pedair (f)
5	pum(p)
6	chwe(ch)
7	saith
8	wyth
9	naw
10	deg/un deg, deng
11	un ar ddeg ("one on ten")	un deg un
12	deuddeg, deuddeng	un deg dau/dwy
13	tri/tair ar ddeg	un deg tri/tair
14	pedwar/pedair ar ddeg	un deg pedwar/pedair
15	pymtheg, pymtheng	un deg pump
16	un ar bymtheg ("one on fifteen")	un deg chwech
17	dau/dwy ar bymtheg	un deg saith
18	deunaw/tri/tair ar bymtheg ("two nines"/"three on fifteen")	un deg wyth
19	pedwar/pedair ar bymtheg	un deg naw
20	ugain	dau ddeg
21	un ar hugain ("one on twenty")	dau ddeg un
22	dau/dwy ar hugain	dau ddeg dau/dwy
23	tri/tair ar hugain	dau ddeg tri/tair
24	pedwar/pedair ar hugain	dau ddeg pedwar/pedair
25	pump ar hugain	dau ddeg pump
etc.
30	deg ar hugain ("ten on twenty")	tri deg
31	un ar ddeg ar hugain	tri deg un
32	deuddeg ar hugain	tri deg dau/dwy
40	deugain ("two twenty")	pedwar deg
41	deugain ac un ("two twenty and one")	pedwar deg un
50	hannercant/deg a deugain ("half a hundred"/"ten and forty")	pum deg
51	un ar ddeg a deugain	pum deg un hanner cant ac un
60	trigain ("three twenty")	chwe deg
61	trigain ac un	chwe deg un
70	deg a thrigain ("ten and three twenty")	saith deg
71	un ar ddeg a thrigain ("one on ten and three twenty")	saith deg un
80	pedwar ugain ("four twenty")	wyth deg
81	pedwar ugain ac un	wyth deg un
90	deg a phedwar ugain ("ten and four twenty")	naw deg
91	un ar ddeg a phedwar ugain ("one on ten and four twenty")	naw deg un
100	can(t)
200	dau gant
300	tri chant
400	pedwar cant
500	pum cant
600	chwe chant
700	saith cant

Then just to make it a little harder....

There are, for example, masculine and feminine forms of the numbers "two" (dau and dwy), "three" (tri and tair) and "four" (pedwar and pedair), which must agree with the grammatical gender of the objects being counted. The numerals for "five", "six" and "hundred" (pump, chwech and cant) also have reduced forms (pum, chwe, can) when they precede the object they are counting. The words for "ten", "twelve", and "fifteen" (deg, un deg dau/deuddeg, un deg pump/pymtheg) have the alternative forms deng, deuddeng, pymtheng used before nasals (which may be the result of mutation) and, occasionally, vowels;

back in 2009 I explained how to count like a basque miller

Seems they liked 20's too

CWRW'R WYTHNOS CHWEDEG TRI

 

SWANSEA TILL I DIE ;-))

Of course, I have been a lifelong fan.....

 

JUST A LITTLE ONE, THEN

Job done!
 

TAKING A PLUNGE

 

Off to Gowerton tomorrow to ride with the local CTC group to Llys Nini. 20 miles, 1000 ft climbing. 

Wish me luck!

ON THE PWLL

 Off to Pwll today, 2 wheels, 1 grum power. Took faaaaaar too long, as I was cycling into the teeth of a gale on the way there. Also, I got lost more than once, & even found myself on a part of the coastal path that had collapsed. I guess I'll know the way next time. The wind didn't seem to help much on the way back. Still, another 27 miles clocked. 

Collapsed path

Playing Bridge

Not a bad day, tho, only rained for about 10 mins

 

IL PRIMO SOCIALISTA?

 Saw a great tiktok this morning about this guy.

Apparently he thought that "the Church" had lost its way, was stinking rich, exploitative and totally at odds with the teaching of Christ. 

Three guesses how this ended for him? Yup, public torture, castration, perhaps torn limb from limb, then burnt.

The details of his tale are fascinating. 

From wiki:-

inspired by the teachings of Francis of Assisi, his beliefs were condemned as heresy by the Catholic Church. The Papacy condemned their practices of poverty, liberty, and opposition to the feudal system as heresy. 

Funny, eh? The very ideals/teaching of Christ:- poverty, rejection of property & wealth, helping the poor and suffering was classed as heresy. 

Of course, this made him & his followers a criminal, so they fled to the mountains, as any good revolutionary guerilla would, and then took a darker path:-

From wiki again:-

According to the Roman Catholic Church and most historians of the period, Dolcino and his followers, in reaction to attacks by Catholic troops, became criminals (today they would probably be called guerrilla fighters), who would not hesitate, for their own survival, to plunder and devastate villages, killing any who opposed them, and burning their houses. He justified the actions committed by his followers in this period citing words attributed to Saint Paul in the Epistle to Titus (1:15): "To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted", as reported by the Anonymous Synchronous (???)  Dolcino maintained: "[...] that it was legitimate for him and his followers to hang, behead, [...] people who obey to the Roman church and burn down, destroy, [...] because they were acting to redeem them and thus without sin".

So hanging & beheading roman catholics was ok... 

CASTLEHUNTING 22 - CAERWENT

Cadw website:-  Caerwent

Wiki:- Caerwent

VisitMonmothshire website

VisitWales website

TripAdvisor 4.4/5

A glimpse into a 

From Cadw:-

A glimpse into a Romanised market town

Perhaps its sleepy location in off-the-beaten-track rural border country is the reason why Caerwent, Venta Silurum to the Romans, is one of those ‘best kept’ secrets. Its thunder has certainly been stolen by nearby Caerleon (Isca), one of Britain’s most important Roman towns. Caer-went, established in about AD 75–80, served as a settlement of the Silures, a native tribe who became Romanised following the conquest of Britain. It was a busy place complete with public baths, spread out in a typical well-ordered Roman grid.

Impressive remains include walls still standing up to 17ft/5m, excavated houses, market-place and Romano-British temple.

Some photos:-

Info boards

Forum

Temple

South gate - filled in 

South wall & tower

Shops just bordering the Roman road

A suprisingly large Romano British capital city. Lots of floor plans, and a very large southern wall remain. Lots of the archeology has been removed & taken to the National Museum of Wales, but there are a few left inside the local church. Dunno if its a day out, but you could combine with Caerleon.