Saturday 2nd August – Cardiff #10 (and the Brecon Beacons)

Today Cate, Julianne, Jill and I have all been invited to visit friends of Ray and Kath, Chris and Vanessa Bond who live at Hirwaun at the base of the Brecon Beacon Mountains about 70km north of Rhoose. This meant a drive up the valleys past where the Music Festival was last Sunday. There is a lot of lovely country in this area of Wales. Hard to believe it was all coal mines not so many years ago.

One of the reasons for the visit was that Cate had on her “wish list” a horse ride in the Welsh Countryside. This was fulfilled thanks to Chris and Vanessa's daughters Steph and Victoria.

While they went riding, Chris took the rest of us on a drive through the Brecon Beacons. First stop was Sgwd Clun-gwyn falls one of a number of falls in an area called Waterfall Country.

 We had a lovely walk into the falls and back before heading on to the village of Ystradfellte where we had a look at the 12th century St Mary's church (a beautiful building and some equally beautiful old spruce trees in the grounds.)

 After coffee at the very cute The New Inn (which is actually very old), we headed north through the Brecon Beacons to the Visitor Centre north of the mountains. At one stage we crossed a high pass with a very steep and windy road down the other side. We passed a number of cyclists who had actually ridden up the mountain. We were impressed.

Visiting the Brecon Beacons Information Centre brought back memories of our 2011 European visit where we visited from the east after having spent the night in Abbergavenny.  No time for walks this time around. Chris had a special spot for lunch lined up in Brecon but unfortunately, there was a wedding on and no room for extras. We had to settle for second best with lunch at a pub in town.

It was then back through the Beacons to Hirwaun, mostly through moor country. Lots of sheep along and on the road and a few Welsh ponies.

Kate had had a good time on her ride and after a cup of tea we hit the road back to Rhoose