A Simple Life of Luxury

Just a quick note to say that I’m in the process of building a little website aimed at promoting the ’sport’ of geocaching in the Aberystwyth area. Aber-cachers.co.uk will be a comminuty site where local and visiting geocachers can plan trips, ask for advice and generally get to know each other. As well as covering all aspects of geocaching in the area anyone interested in walking, hiking or simply enjoying the outdoors around here will be welcome to join in.

It is very early days with the site at the moment, it hasn’t officially gone live yet and I still have lots of work to do on it, but I thought I’d give readers of ‘A Simple Life of Luxury’ a sneak preview. So check out the geocaching forums and photo galleries. Feel free to register and join in the fun. It is a nice bright site that should liven your day if nothing else

It seems like ages ago that Anna and I first met… I guess it is quite a while, but one of the first places we went together was Dolgoch Falls.

Under slightly strange circumstances we met a group of ‘hippies’ there for a party around a camp fire and slept out under the stars. It was a summers evening and after the steep walk to the top of the valley we ended up skinny dipping together in the pools!

Things were a little different yesterday, it was a a damp January day and we had Morgan with us, so no skinny dipping and no camping out. But we did walk to the top and find a geocache. Morgan did really well and managed to walk almost all the way up, not bad considering he isn’t even 2 yet. I did end up carrying him back down, but mainly to speed things up a little.

We found the cache without too much difficulty. This was the second of the day, the first being a steep walk up a tarmac road which Morgan really enjoyed, but Anna didn’t like because it was too high!. Yet another nice day out in the Welsh hills… Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera, so we’ll have to do it again just to get some photos.

I managed to convince Alan that it was far too cold last weekend to go running about in the middle of nowhere looking for a plastic box of tat (otherwise known as geocaching!) so we went out for a family lunch instead.

The big decision is always where to get nice food that is also family friendly. Morgan is usually well behaved but, as I’m sure anyone with kids will agree with, there is always the possibility they will kick off and have a tantrum, or fill their nappy or just be a bit more boisterous than some people out for a quiet Sunday lunch want to put up with.

We went to the Kings Hall Carvery on the seafront in Aber. Morgan behaved himself and enjoyed the food. They were happy for him to just have a bit of our dinner but do also have a kids menu. Whilst this was nice it was nothing compared to the lunch we had the weekend before at New Cross Inn. We used to live out this way but haven’t been to the pub for food for a couple of years. It’s changed hands and the food was lovely. the staff/owners went out of their way to make Morgan welcome, giving him small portions of soup and pudding and didn’t charge us for it. As I said the food was excellent, good home cooking and really good value for money. I’m sure we’ll stop off here again soon.

I’ve just found a website about child friendly places in and around Aber. I’ve not had a good look yet but at first glance it looks fairly useful. I might go and have a look now for somewhere to go next weekend.

What a perfect day here. First up windsurfing in the estuary at Ynyslas with decent 25-35 knot winds and the sun shining and then a lovely walk in the hills near Plynlimon.

The road up there is pretty scary at the best of time, but as I got towards the top there was loads of snow and ice on it and I was certainly pleased of my 4WD. I could see the tracks of one other car that had been along there today and they had gone off the road on a number of occasions. I then saw the car abandoned (and pretty well stuck) in a ditch besides the road. I stopped to make sure there was no one still in it, but no one could be seen so they must have had a long walk home. The road didn’t improve much around the Northern edge of Nant y Moch but I made it to the place I wanted to park and headed off on foot towards the summit of Plynlimon.

It was just gorgeous up there. Loads of snow and ice, up to knee deep in places and a super clear day which provided perfect views out across the hills and right out to the sea.

I was little worried that the roads were going to get worse as the afternoon wore on and the temperatures fell further so I cut my walk short just in case. I didn’t get to the cache but the walk was well worth the effort. I took the road back into Ponterwyd as I thought that would be safer and it was in fact OK. The one little bit I was worried about was pretty slippery and not easy to negotiate but I made it… It was probably a good idea to head back when I did though as it was only going to get worse.

Oh….. And YES, I did do some work this morning before going out as well!

As Anna has said elsewhere our holiday plans have taken shape. The cottage and B&B are booked as is the ferry…. I just hope it is a little calmer than this!

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We’ve had a pretty wet and windy spell here in West Wales recently. There have been quite few days with wind gusts exceeding 50 knots, but so far the winter has been pretty mild. Temperatures have been above average and I can’t remember when we last had a frost. It even looked as though spring was on its way. The snowdrops are out and the daffs are on their way. All that is about to change though and next week looks as though it will be cold and wintry.

Metcheck are saying:

Next week still has uncertainty surrounding it with regards to just how long the cold will last and how much wintry precipitation is likely to develop. One thing’s for sure though compared to the winter as a whole so far, the coming 2 to 5 days from Saturday will feel very cold indeed with many places seeing below average temperatures, frequent and harsh frosts and some places will indeed see snow.

The temperatures have already dropped, the maximum recorded by the Borth weather station today has been 8.3ºC, and it is set to get colder tonight. Dig out those woolies and the deicer, you’re going to need them this week.

Despite the cold and wild weather today I did do a bit of gardening. I ventured down to the compost bin to feed it with some kitchen waste. This was an adventure in itself as it was a bit soggy down that end of the garden and I did it in my wetsuit. Whilst I was there I covered the Gunnera with some hay to keep it a little warmer over the coming days.

We’ve had a windy winter so far, but today looks as though it will be one of the bigger storms. The weather station here is already reading gusts in excess of 55 knots… Could be a record breaker today!

The recreation ranger from the Forestry Commission has given me permission to hide some new geocaches so I’ve hidden them and published the cache logs at geocaching.com. They form the Watery Wales series which is a series of caches on the banks of lakes and streams in the Welsh Hills. Most are pretty easy to find and don’t require too much walking to get to, although the idea is that you walk between them and have a nice tour around some of the local lakes.

So far there is one at Llyn Pendam, one at Llyn Syfydrin, one at Llyn Blaenmelindwr and one at Llyn Rhosgoch. What’s more is they all have Travel Bugs or geocoins in them and of course they are all in tranquil waterside settings. Happy hunting.

Well, it looks like we will definately be going now.  I’ve booked a B&B on Arran for 2 nights and a cottage for us all in Port Charlotte on Islay.  Mingulay B&B looks nice and friendly and I’m sure we’ll update you when we come back.  The cottage on Islay looks perfect for what we need, in a small village with a bus service although from experience this may be few and far between.  There are a couple of places to eat and a playground which should keep Morgan happy.

I’ve booked the time off work which actually means I have a nice long holiday once I add the days the uni is closed for Easter so it is only the boat to go.  Alan’s got his maps which should keep him happy and as long as he manages to repair his board before we go there’s plenty to keep him busy.

I think my mum is looking forward to it as well and has probably taken the sensible option of meeting us on Islay.  The only bit I’m not looking forward to is the long drive up with a 2 year old.  It can’t be much fun for Morgan stuck in the back of the car but we’ll plan plenty of stops for him to stretch his legs and hope he sleeps quite a bit to.  I have to say that so far his bit of the holiday is free.  No charge on the boat or in the B&B.  Everyone seems very child friendly and try to do all they can to help (supply travel cots, stair gates etc).

I’m counting the days now and really looking forward to some time away.  I just hope the weather is OK and windy enough for Alan to have a nice time but not too windy for the boat crossings!  Am I asking too much??

It never rains it pours… First I had a big swim last week after snapping a mast and had to ditch my boom at sea to get back in. On Saturday Steve trashed a sail whilst windsurfing at Borth and today my mast extension snapped leaving me with yet another big swim back to the beach and a big hole in my board (the only brand new board I have ever owned!)

To add insult to injury I even had the lifeboat out looking for me today as Shem was on the beach when my kit failed. He could see my board and sail through his binoculars but coudn’t see me so decided to call the Lifeboat. He is a member of the Aberdovey Lifeboat crew himself anyway so knows that it is best to be safe rather than sorry on such occasions.

I actually managed to swim back to the beach unaided, dragging my broken kit with me . As I got to the beach I could see the Aberdovey Lifeboat turning back as Shem had phoned them to tell them I was now OK and I was then greeted by the RNLI land-rover from Borth lifeboat station. Details were taken and they were probably glad they didn’t have to get wet themselves. I think Shem was surprised that I managed to get back in quite as quickly as I did and had expected me to be getting a lift with the boys in orange!

It was of course a fairly expensive days windsurfing for me as I now have a nice big hole in my board and need to buy a new mast extension. A shame really as not only was that board a lovely board but the conditions were really good so the little mishap prematurely ended a good windsurf session.