CASTLEHUNTING 17 ( PROXY ) RAGLAN CASTLE)

Some splendid work done by the Good Doctor Maturin & his charming wife this weekend in contributing to this series.  

Lo & behold the wonder of Raglan Castle

Just a snippet of the legion of images collected to help Cadw catalogue & improve the interpretation of the site.

Chapeau Mr & Mrs M xxx

CASTLEHUNTING 16 - GWAITH HAEARN BLAENAFONn

A surprisingly interesting visit to Gwaith Haearn Blaenafon. One of the world's first Iron production sites, set at the head of the South Wales valleys. Managed by Cadw, hence I claim it as Castlehunting #16, and as I am the writer, editor & owner of this organ, I can do what I like :-)

There are the skeletons of the works themselves, and the original workers cottages, restored to various periods of the site's history. Fascinating stuff, especially the 60's cottage, which had bits of memorabilia familiar from my grandparents homes. 

The workers homes

Interior 

THE ODYSSEY (Film review - spoilers)

Yes, I had to check the spelling... 

The Odyssey. 8.4.

I was mildly disappointed by this. After reading the 5/5 Grauniad review, I was expecting a cracker. It was not. It was overlong, a little skippy timewise in parts, and less action than I expected.

You all know the story, and the film was true to this. Matt Damon was excellent as Odysseus, so were the supporting cast. The costumes & sets looked good, drawing a lot from the palace @ Knossos, but the ships looked very viking to me. The scenery was perfect. There was even a scene channeling Agamemnon as a latter day Darth Vader figure, (Yes, I do mean latter day;-) strolling into the gates of troy calmly, in black, surrounded by chaos.

The backstory was too drawn out.  However, the action, when it arrived, was superb, large scale & cinematic. The climax dragged a few tears, and then was frantic. 

As for the "IMAX" premium tickets, I could not see a difference between that & normal cinema. Oh, the seats had slightly higher headrests c/f the standard ones.

I'd give it 8/10. Worth a watch. 

Prodnose :- this is the difference, you fool...

Latest review here

CWRW'R WYTHNOS PUM DEG DAU

 

6 SIXES & FINALLY OUT

The Right Excellent Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers (Garry Sobers to you) (28 July 1936 – 17 July 2026), has sadly passed away. Another Icon of my youth fading to black. 

One of his feats of derring do being to hit 6 "sixes" off the bowling of Tony Lewis @ St. Helens ground in Swansea. Is it me, or did the stars of the day seem more like giants than the flawed bunch we get now? Perhaps this is due to the ficle meedia spotlight shone on them these days.

The Grauniad have him as the greatest all-rounder of all time in their article here. I struggle to disagree

 

CUP OR CHAMPIONSHIP?

We are being swamped with World class sport at the moment.

Alongside the nations-championship, we have a similar tournament being held for second tier nations (are Wales soon to be playing in this?)

Its called the Nations Cup, and seems to be getting little or no coverage. From the Wiki:-

As with the 2026 Nations Championship the initial competition will consist of two broadly geographic pools:

an America-Pacific pool, consisting of the four American teams plus Tonga and Samoa; and

a European-African-Asian pool, consisting of the four European sides, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong.

Each team will play all the teams in the opposite pool across the summer and autumn international windows.

For the first two editions in 2026 and 2028, there will not be a finals day, and two champions will be crowned, one in each pool.

Website can be found here:-

https://www.world.rugby/nations-cup/en

Current standings are:-

There is no promotion/demotion for the first 2 years.

Oh, and there's footy, tennis & cycling on, too ;-)

FATHER'S DAY PRESENT (2)

 

As unique a present as one could get - bespoke!

The logo I designed in a different life emblazoned on a beautiful green tee. 

Chapeau First Born Child

CASTLEHUNTING 15 - OGMORE CASTLE

Off to Ogmore/Ogwr next, to see what another "Naughty Bill" built next. Unimpressive from the outside, but stunning from the inside. Amazing position on the lowest crossing point of the Ewenny River, and a great example of a motte & bailey Castle. 

Keep & Bailey

Drawbridge over the dry moat

Reconstruction

Entrance with Keep

Inside Keep

Commanding view over the Rivermouth

Naughty Bill II

 

CASTLEHUNTING 14 - EWENNY PRIORY

These monks must have been unpopular! 2 portcullises, murder holes & walls to keep out wild Cymro! 

Quite an estate

Gatehouse

Two portcullises & murder holes

Feck off big bastard walls

Stunning church next door, must have been quite impressive back in the day. 

Dead Knights

MORE SWANSEA BLUE PLAQUES

 

I drove past this the other day, on my old school, Terrace Road. She sounds like quite a Lady!

CWRW'R WYTHNOS PUM DEG UN

ANN WIDDICISNT

If you have to ask if it's ok to not be sorry if a person has died, then I guess you have answered your own question about said person. 

Whilst not condoning murder in any instance, I can't say that I'm sad that Ann Widdicombe is no longer. I won't be mourning her. 

She was a nasty, divisive, opinionated right wing nut job, who fled the Tories to jump on Farrasshole's bandwagons of Brexit, and then Reform. We are better off without nasty people like her. How nasty I hear you ask? Well apart from the above mentioned jumping, 

From her Wiki page:-

She described herself as a social conservative and stressed the importance of traditional values and conservatism. As a member of the House of Commons, she opposed the legality of abortion, opposed granting LGBT people legal rights such as the same age of consent as heterosexuals, and opposed the repeal of Section 28. She supported the reintroduction of the death penalty for murder. She was opposed to all forms of assisted dying. 

Nice then.

I felt the same when Tat the Rat died - my only regret was that she hadn't died sooner.

A LITTLE COOL DOWN

 

A little blast to cool down this morning.

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART

So, Gaynor Hopkins, 

You held out for a hero, 

Left Skewen,

Met Bobby,

Moved to Mumbles,

And eventually became 

Lost in Portugal.

It is, indeed, a heartache.

(After E J Thribb.)

EFFI O BLAENAU (Film review - spoilers)

Effi o Blaenau 8.1

Off to see this much lauded Welsh drama @ the Taliesin. I read a glowing review recently, and then it popped up on the Taliesin's schedule. It's in Welsh with English subtitles. 

It's a retelling of Iphigenia in splott, it's set in North Wales. 

The Grauniad review here gave it 4 stars

I'd give it 9/10. Outstanding. Superb acting, wonderful scenery, real, witty dialogue, even though it was subtitled. Sad, gritty & uplifting all in one film. I'm not sure that I catch the links to Euripides, tho. Catch it if you can. 

 

FOOTBALL HAS A HEART?

The next global superstar, (?) Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana (born 13 July 2007) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right winger or right midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. He is regarded as one of the best players in the world.

Niiiice. 

I have often thought that football is the sport of the underdog, the dispossessed, those from the wrong side of the tracks. Coincidentally, if you plot player birthplaces, the greatest number of players in world cup 2026 come from the suburbs of Paris. You're welcome. 

TOURIST AGAIN

A great article from BBC Sport on TDF 2026, today, including maps of the route. I suppose that after the excitement of the Frank gig, and Wales's 3rd win, I should go back to following Le Grande Boucle again. 

Can Poj win a record equalling 5th Tour? Time will tell.