Advertisement
Published: November 28th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Woolly says – why do women take sooooooo long to get up and ready in the morning? Having finally decided to ignore Jo’s advice of leaving daughter Zoe to wake up in her own time I jumped up and down on her until she appeared to be conscious which seemed to do the trick, I really think she could get up for her burpday!!!! Patience is not one of his strong points and once Zoe had blearily pointed out that she had been working until the wee hours whilst the manic fur ball had been snoozing she agreed to get up to start her birthday celebrations. Woolly says – for some strange reason there were no presents for me but having helped daughter Zoe to open and eat some of hers I insisted that we hurry before we missed the train and my plans turned to nothing. As I rushed into Aberystwyth train station I was delighted to find the train still there and having secured a seat for the short journey I left the girls sorting out tickets and snacks for my trip. Borth (meaning The Port in English) is a 7 mile walk or a ten minute train journey from my current home and during my research I had found that an ancient submerged forest is visible at low tide along the beach, where stumps of oak, pine, birch, willow and hazel (preserved by the acid anaerobic conditions in the peat) can be seen. Known at the Welsh Atlantis I was the mammoth for that!
The submerged forest is associated with the legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod of which there are several myths. The earliest known form of the legend is said to appear in the Black Book of Carmarthen in which the land is referred to as Maes Gwyddno (the Plain of Gwyddno). In this version, the land was lost to floods when a well-maiden named Mererid neglected her duties and allowed the well to overflow…. Which just confirms that you can’t trust a women! The more popular version known today is thought to have been formed from the 17th century onwards where Cantre'r Gwaelod is described as a low-lying land fortified against the sea by a dyke known as Saint Patrick's causeway, which had a series of sluice gates which were opened at low tide to drain the land. Cantre'r Gwaelod's capital was Caer Wyddno ( the Fort of Gwyddno) and the seat of ruler Gwyddno Garanhir. Two princes of the realm looked after the dyke, one of these princes, called Seithenyn, is described as a notorious drunkard and carouser, and it was through his negligence that the sea swept through the open floodgates, ruining the land….. which confirms that you can’t trust men either, if they had put a mammoth in charge everything would have been hunky dory!
As our small friend filled us in on the myths and legends of the area we pulled into the tiny station and followed him as he shot off towards the beach. Woolly says – Ok the myth is wrong, it’s low tide and there’s not a tree to be seen, humans can’t even get that right! Throwing a disdainful look at the waves I set my mind to part two of the day’s adventures and as I trotted off through the small seaside town I noted that the only three pubs would probably give each resident a pub each. A slight exaggeration Woolly, but It really is a small place and as we followed our leader over the railway lines I wasn’t all together sure what we would be doing for the rest of the day.
Woolly says – Being the bright and intelligent one of the party I had already checked out the times and prices for Borth Zoo and if I could only make the slower ones move faster I might get to see the lions being fed, yes folks it might be a small town but they have lions! Dedicated to conservation and saving endangered animals there should be lots to see and do and as I padded my way up the road to the entrance I was delighted to see sign posts for the lions. As Jo headed off to pay she returned with a bowl of carrot sticks, do lions eat carrot sticks? and a list of activities including bunny brushing. With the lions being feed at 3pm I happily led the way through the many cages of rather cute monkeys and onto the owls and exotic birds. None of the pens seemed to be very big and the three of us looked slightly alarmed at the size of the birds and the lack of wing space available to them. The wallabies seemed to have pulled executive digs and had plenty of space to bounce round in, bouncing however didn’t seem to be on the agenda today so having fed the goats, had a quick chat with the meerkats (nearly as cute as me!) I sat and watched the beautiful tiger pace up and down its small enclosure.
Space really was at a premium and the lynx and tiger looked anything but happy, feeling more uncomfortable at the living conditions we found the rabbits who had huge homes and looked happy in the luxury around them. Woolly says – I’m NOT brushing a bunny for anyone! Once the girls had finished oohing and arrrhing over the domestic pets I was eager to see the crocodile and pythons. Now bearing in mind that Jo is a bit jittery around snakes, even when contained these were big, they were HUGE and could easily consumed all three of us for a snack, fearing for my tusks and having read Harry Potter and the problems he had when the snake was terrorising Hogwarts I eagerly suggested that it must really be time for the lion feeding now.
Hmmmm how to explain to him!!! Woolly says – WHAT DO YOU MEAN WERE TOO LATE!!!!!! Running as fast as my paws would take me I arrived panting and out of breath outside the now closed lion enclosure……. He wasn’t happy, even lifting him to peek between the wooden railings so he could at least see the lions wasn’t going to appease him. Woolly says – Not happy is an understatement, all my planning for daughter Zoe to be eaten by the lions on her burpday lay in ruins at my paws. Ignoring my companions I followed the road back to the seafront and sat in the sun while I insisted that someone buy me a timepiece so that I could be in control since they obviously couldn’t even manage to read a watch! Having provided him with a range of snacks, sincere apologies and the offer of cocktails and an Indian our small brown seething mass finally consented to get back on the train, the journey back was tense as he muttered and murmured away to himself, I think I might be hearing more about watches in the future than I would like to be!
Advertisement
Tot: 1.02s; Tpl: 0.025s; cc: 43; qc: 193; dbt: 0.5812s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.7mb