CRUMBLIEPASS

Off to Shrewsbury today, on the Heart of Wales line. Thanks to Welsh gov.Uk for giving us over 60's free bus & train travel (t&c's apply) which paid for our away team jaunt.

Poo to the 07:40 start

On the way - 4 hours travel time

11:40

Welcome to Shrewsbury 

Some interesting architecture, Tudor, timber framed, & Georgian 

The grave of Ebenezer Scrooge 

(Well, the 1984 film version)

St. Chad's - the only Church "in the round" I've ever been in. 

The journey was spectacular - Mid Wales is stunning any time of the year. We even traversed 2 viaducts on the way. Shrewsbury was a revelation, too. We had only scratched the surfaced in the past, & there is so much more to see. So I'm looking forward to Kim getting her free bus pass, then we can go for a sneaky weekend with a free train ride. 

GIANT STEPS

 

Welcome to the stable, my boy! 

n-1 bikes

PROOF OF CONCEPT

 

Bollix again from Strava. It really does not like my phone. WTF is the above nonsense? The actual route was almost:-

Actually did a Home - West Cross Inn - Blackpill - Home run to test the Revolt. Passed with flying colours. Gears as smooth as a babies bottom, brakes good & not as harsh as I'd imagined for disk brakes, ride - middlin, not as soft as the Kona, but better than the leccy Giant. Quite acceptable. I'll put my gel saddle from the Allez on it, & add the SPD's from same, & all will be good in the hood. 

TAPAS NO GIN

We had a fantastic Birthday celebration @ Gin & Tapas, Newton Road, Mumbles, last weekend. Generously paid for by (ex) Dr. Mattie & his good lady; an excellent time was had by all. 

After struggling somewhat to choose an eatery of sufficient quality, and at a sufficiently reasonable price tag, Mel suggested the above. What a good choice that turned out to be! Even though we were 30 mins early, they welcomed us in, and gave us a great table in the bay window. The joint was jumpin, full to the brim of happy eaters. It was lovely to see the Forwood family installed, as Madlen & I share October 2nd for our Cumpleaños.

The choice was extensive, with even a German theme for Octoberfest! (Bratwurst for the brats amongst us). The other Tapas were delicious, and well portioned for the hungry Swansea crowd. They even had Kronenbourg 1664 Blanche on tap to the delight of the good doctor. At the end of the meal, they presented the Birthday Boy with a voicher for £20! I thought this was a brilliant marketing device, until 2 days later, I found it was from Mel, Ali & Jude - a point they had forgot to mention! Needless to say, the company was outstanding, wit and repartee flowing like wine.

I don't think we will be strangers to this great venue. 

PALESTINIAN RESILIENCE

Following on from my post, It's amazing how resilient the Palestinians are. If you look closely at the above photo, spotted on my way through town the other day, you will see the extent they are going to, to avoid being attacked by the Israeli Army. Blown up (no pun intended) section below:-

AND THE WHEELS ON THE BUS

More roundy roundy stuff, including the induction of Mrs H into the 28 mile along club. A very proud Me watched her spin, spin, spin! 

We had a lovely ride with the Matties, all the way to Neath, where they put on a Fayre for us! Which was nice. The weather was incredible for 3rd October, and made for a very special day out. We even had Pasteles de Nata, and a quick stop in BeerRiff! 

And it was on Strava, so it happened.

Much more successful than today's attempt @ Strava on my phone, which produced this :-

It's a pity that I'm a poor retired pubic servant, & can't afford a garmin.

The ride was fun, tho, from Dyfnant to Pwll & back, breaking fast @ the Pafiliwn Cafe. Pity about the drizzle.

Can ye ride tandem?

CWRW'R WYTHNOS TRIGAIN PUMP

LIMERICKS

Or Luimneach?

 

MORE RUM

 Latest news from A RUM DO:-

Ranulph Fiennes’s stepson says he is in contact with police about explorer’s wellbeing:-

The Guarniad.

A LIFE WELL TRAVELLED?

On the occasion of my 66th Birthday, my thoughts turned to how far I've come. Physically, not metaphorically.

On the surface of this planet, I have visited (or spent a little time, not just passed through) the following places:-

UK - I'd say most of Wales, most of England, most of Scotland (only a few of the Islands), none of Northern Ireland.

FRANCE - Paris, Papeete, Bora-Bora, Lille, Cannes, Antibes, Frejus, Macon, Annecy, Flaine, Les deux Alpes, Val d'isere, Tignes, Sarlat-la-Caneda, Vannes, Chamonix, St Tropez, Frejus, Toulouse, Albi, Bordeaux, Royan, Bergerac, La Rochelle, Cognac, Vannes, Lorient, Quimper, Rennes, Avranches, Bayeux, Liseaux, Mont St. Michel, D-Day beaches, Le Havre, Honfleur, Rouen, Le Touquet, Limoges, Calais, Arras, Cambrai, Amiens, Orleans, Cavalaire-sur-mer, Valenciennes. 

SPAIN - Madrid, Cadiz, Bilbao, Barcelona, Pamplona, Calpe, Valencia, Gandia, Denia, Benidorm, Alicante, Alcoi, Granada, Cordoba, Murcia, Malaga, Marbella, Seville, Jerez de la Frontera, Plama & most of Mallorca, Mahon & most of Minorca.

PORTUGAL - Lisbon, Porto, Cascais, Lagos, Albufeira, Algarve. 

ITALY - Rome, Bolzano, Trieste, Lecce, Brindisi, Otranto, Florence, Pisa, Sienna, Lucca, San Giminiano, Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi, Venice, Verona, Lake Garda, Genoa, Elba. 

GREECE - Athens, Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Lemnos, Santorini, Paros, Mykonos, Ios, Naxos, Delos, Palairos, Lefkada.

TURKIYE - Bodrum, Marmaris, Kusadasi, Istanbul, Izmir, Didim, Denizli, Pamukkale, Fetiye, Kas. 

AUSTRAILIA - Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Victoria, Coffs Harbour, Magnetic Island, Townsville, Mt. Isa, Darwin, Alice Springs, Ayres Rock, Kakadu, Coober pedy, port Macquarie Newcastle, Swansea, Cardiff (yes, really).

NEW ZEALAND - Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington Christchurch,Whakarewarewa (great name, eh?)*

TRUMPTON - New York, Brooklyn, Tampa, kissimmee, Orlando, Cape Canaveral, LA, San Francisco, Route 66, Route 101. 

EIRE - Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Killarney, Dingle, Limerick, Galway, Portumna.

BELGIUM - Bruges, Ghent, Tournai.

CANADA - Vancouver, Victoria, Squamish.

SLOVENIA - Ljubljana, Bled.

CROATIA - Dubrovnik, Split.

NEPAL - Katmandu, Pokhara.

CUBA - Havana, Viñales.

INDONESIA - Bali

INDIA - New Delhi

SWITZERLAND - Verbier

POLAND - Krakow

HUNGARY - Budapest

THAILAND - Bangkok

ICELAND - Reykjavik 

NETHERLANDS - Amsterdam

CZECHIA - Prague

AUSTRIA - Salzberg

SINGAPORE 

& I've probably missed some. Phew!

However, there are so many places left! South America, Africa, South east Asia, China, Eastern Europe, (post bellum ;-) Scandinavia.

So, onwards! AFRICA & Marakkesh next!

Distance travelled I hear you ask? Well.....

BY WAY OF THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH 

24901 x 66 = 1,643,466 plus one circumnavigation 24901 = 1,668,367 miles

BY OUR ORBIT AROUND THE SUN

584 million x 66 = 38,544 million miles

AS PART OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Around the Milky Way Center

• Distance: About 3.9 billion miles (6.3 billion km) per year. = 257.4 billion miles

Relative to the Cosmic Microwave Background

• Distance: About 7.2 billion miles (11.6 billion km) per year. = 475.2 billion miles

TOTAL

732.6 billion miles or 0.1246 of a light year (plus change)

No wonder I feel tired!

* Whakarewarewa is a shortened version of the full 37-letter name, Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao - "the gathering place for the war parties of Wāhiao" or "the uprising of the army of Wāhiao" in the Māori language

ZIONIST GENOCIDE

A Genocide is going on in front of our very eyes, perpetrated by those who said "Genocide Never Again". It stuns me that the government of Israel can carry out this act whilst the world stands back & watches, or is complicit in supplying the tools to carry it out. 

The Arab Nations have been incredible in their inaction.

You want evidence? Take a look at these pictures:- 

2023

2026

I feel sick to be party to this in our lifetime.

From The Grauniad :-

More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, mostly civilians. The conflict was triggered by a surprise attack by Hamas into Israel in October 2023, in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage.

That's a gross simplification. The conflict was triggered by The Balfour Declaration, almost 110 years ago, foisted on the region by the British & French after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1917.

Don't start me on the illegal settlements in the Palestinian zones, and the actions of Jewish "settlers"....

THE HORROR

From The Grauniad:-

Nearly 4m records of enslaved people in 20 former British colonies now searchable online

 

This article blew my mind. I don't think I ever truly realised the magnitude & horror of the slave trade until I dove into this resource. 

I had a quick look by searching on the surname Howell, as that can be the enslaver, or the enslaved. Often, the enslaved were given their enslaver's surname. Often the progeny of raped slaves were also given the surname of the enslaver. I think this accounted for the entry showing "Creole". How else would a black American have a Welsh surname? 

A quick search showed over 10 entries for slaves, surprisingly all in Jamaica, with the surname Howell.

The detail was startling. By chosing one first name randomly, I found this:-

Which led to this - 

That's just the first 20 out of 715. Digging on, and thence on to this ;-

Look at the numbers & ages of those involved. Shocking. 4 million slaves. That is just British colonies. 

A RUM DO

Bizzare news re:- Sir Ranulph Fiennes from Nation Cymru website & BBC News 

https://nation.cymru/news/king-blocked-from-contacting-explorer-after-concerns-raised-at-welsh-care-home/

BBC News - Sir Ranulph Fiennes' relatives tell BBC it's 'very painful' not being able to visit him

What on earth is going on? It seems quite a Rum do.

I think Snakey Jakey was his factotum back in the day? Berto?

UP THE UPS!

A la recherche du temps perdu, I went to Upper Killay to watch Swansea Uplands on Saturday. They had a home match against Tenby United in the 3rd match of the "Admiral National League 1 West" (quite a mouthful) , and my, how times change!

Firstly, they wanted money for me to come in! They used to have to pay people to watch! And £5, too! Still, they gave me a nice shiny programme with lots of adverts in to look at.

Not sure about the player & staff portraits, though, it's all a bit gay. Players sponsored individually, too! We were lucky if some old cove put a fiver behind the bar to buy a jug after the bloodletting.

The next suprise was that the team had nice kit! Matching, new, with the correct numbers, & names goddammit! Not a hole in sight, correct shorts & socks too!

It was nice to see them flourishing, though, and the match turned out to be a bragging rights decider to see who could remain unbeaten this year so far, & to top the league.

The Ups are also very fortunate to have been left a hefty sum on money by an old player, Freddie Abraham - enough to raise & level the pitch, install floodlights, and build a magnificent 2 story clubhouse, replete with viewing balcony, bar, lounge, various rooms where the dark arts are carried out, and to resurface the moonscape that was the carpark. Chapeau to him. I think it's no coincidence that the club has attracted enough talent to help them rise from division 3 to 1 over the last few years, and has them poised to be promoted to the next level of Welsh Rugby hopefully this season.

To be fair, chwarae teg, the rugby was excellent. The boys ran out several fine tries, a mixture of forward power & fast running back play, and held a commanding lead at half time. The discipline in defence was notable, with some fine individual performances from #4, and the 10. The game ended with The Ups  winning by 64 - 26 quite deservedly. What a great day.

Half time huddle/love-in

Lineouts ain't what they used to be

A well deserved "W" 

Hat-tip to lifelong supporter, Stu Osborne, for suggesting the visit. I'm sure that without people like him the club wouldn't be half as successful.

CWRW'R WYTHNOS TRIGAIN PEDWAR

 

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.