Castles, coastline and crazy people chasing cheese... weekenders from Cardiff

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Since moving into our new home we’ve been much more comfortable, although we ended up moving the mattress down from the bunk on to the floor and using the bunk for storage as it was a nightmare climbing up each night.

We’ve been exploring some of the local area on our weekends which inevitably means castles. Our first expedition was to Castle Coch which is a 19th century replica of a 13th century castle and looks a lot like something Mr Disney might have dreamt up. It, along with Cardiff Castle in the centre of town (which has parts of various ages) were both owned by the Marquis de Bute who was the one of the richest blokes in the world at the time and loved to over-decorate with complicated and detailed artwork. We also visited Caerphilly castle and ate lunch in a pub overlooking the moat. Caerphilly looks just like you imagine a castle should although we didn’t enjoy our visit as much as we would have due to the miserable weather. On the upside, they were firing ancient catapults and other weapons into the moat that day.

On the Bank Holiday weekend in May we headed off in the car to the infamous coopers Hill Cheese Rolling contest which is exactly that… they throw a massive ball of cheese off a ridiculously steep slope and crazy people hurl themselves down after it. If you win, you get the cheese. Second gets £10. Most get bruises. A couple of guys from Mount Isa lined up to go in it and when we left one was still waiting for the other to return from the first aid tent (luckily we heard later it was only “minor” concussion). It was a wet boggy field after recent rain and people seemed to slip’n’slide down the hill, which was hilarious to watch.

We’ve been keeping up with the Rugby Union by getting down to the local “Australasian” pub, the Walkabout. The Walkabout is not very Australian and the only Aussie beer available is Fosters which funnily enough is on tap everywhere over here, unlike in Oz! We’ve seen Australia playing Wales and New Zealand a couple of times and Mick also saw the first two State of Origin matches.

One weekend my boss, Helen, took us and Nathan the other Aussie locum on a tour around some of South Wales. We cruised around the beautiful Mumbles and Gower coastlines and stopped for a picnic lunch at Rhossilli beach which is a huge expanse of white sand. We came back through the old mining villages of the Neath valley, now areas of low employment, with long streets of plain terrace houses and nothing to distinguish each town from the next.

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Photos

Cardiff Castle
This is inside the main walls and shows the oldest part up on that hill

Castle Coch
You can imagine Rapunzel throwing some hair out of this place

The Mumbles Coastline
Mick, Nathan and Helen checking out the sights

Rhossilli Beach
A lovely spot for a picnic