stuff and nonsense!

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.

CWRW'R WYTHNOS CHWE DEG DAU

A DAMNING AUTOPSY ON STARMERISM

Zoe Williams writes in the Grauniad: Farewell Keir Starmer, a terrible politician whom we desperately wanted to be something more

I guess I agree with this assessment of Starmerism. I'd hoped for a bold return to clear socialist values, and an attempt to reverse the damage done by 15 years of Tory rape & pillage to the heart of our nation, but instead we got a damp squib. No, perhaps a Catherine Wheel spinning in random directions with no steady plan. I now hope against hope that "The King in the North" does not follow this pattern, or it's back to Toryism or worse, Fararse....

CASTLE(?)HUNTING 21 - MARGAM STONES MUSEUM

Margam Stones Museum | Cadw

There is also a Wiki of this place
From Cadw:-

Not only water from his butt, but a full on Meat & 2 veg, too

Lovely little old schoolhouse that now houses the collection

you can just make out the Ogham on the right edge

Really cross

Apparently that's a Dragon....

Stoned again

What a fab little Museum! only open at specific rare times, but well worth a visit. The Interp panels were legion & excellent. I must revisit with Mrs. H

REVOLVING AROUND RESOLVEN

Did it. Resolven & back.

27 miles, 2,hrs 40 1000' climbing

51 miles this week

Go me! Still far too slow, tho

Stopped for brunch @ The Ranch, Resolven. Real full on "Tonto Evans". Bizzare how there is a Welsh/Cowboy thing. A Texas ranch themed diner up a Welsh valley.

Oh, and here's some Swans on the Neath canal:-

2 WHEELS, 2 MOTORS, 2 LEGS, 2 FEET & 73 HORSES

Monday, 2 wheels, 2 leg power (& a little help from my lecy friend), Tuesday 2 feet power, Wednesday, 2 wheels, 73 horses and many miles. Including a Castlehunt, a bikecafe scopeout, The Bwlch, a Pitstop, an Onllwyn (no, not Brace), and Seven Sisters. Gosh what a busy week! The plan for tomorrow is 2 wheels & 2 leg power again, I'm Resolven to do this.

The Margam Stones Museum

Afan Valley for scran

Over the Bwlch

BlaenGwynfi

Cwm Rhondda

View to the Beacons & beyond

The Pits Cafe

& home!

KNEECAP & (Film review - spoilers)

I've just bought tickets to see Kneecap when they play Swansea Arena on their World tour. they are an unlikely, and sometimes controversial Hip-Hop trio, who rap in Gaelic and English. they consist of Mo Chara ("My Friend" in Irish), Naoise Iarla Ó Cairealláin, better known by his stage name Móglaí Bap, (He had a haircut like a bread roll crossed with Mowgli from the jungle book) and James John "JJ" Ó Dochartaigh, ( O'Docherty to you) known by his stage name DJ Próvaí, an ironic reference to the Provisional IRA. They made headlines recently by waving a palestinian flag at Glasto. Also:-

e,g. During their performance at Coachella, the Irish rap trio displayed screens reading "Israel is committing genocide" and led crowds in "Free Palestine" chants. This drew severe backlash and calls from figures like Sharon Osbourne to revoke their US visas.

Chatting to Stu H, my gig buddy with immaculate taste, he mentioned that they were featured in a film about their genesis, so, I had a look.

It's a funny, crazy, and sometimes touching story of 3 guys finding purpose in the Gaeltacht of Belfast. There is a fair bit of bad language, a bit of sex, & lots of drug use, but I guess that's how it was. I'm sure it's a dramatisation of the events, but the bones of the story is true. It turns out that the balaclava was a way of disguising JJ, as he was working as a music teacher at the time - he was of course, sacked.

There is a few similarities to another good film chronicling life in Belfast - Good Vibrations. I thouroughly enjoyed it, and laughed out loud several times. 8/10