A Simple Life of Luxury

Little Egret

On the way through Borth yesterday I saw a Little Egret flying just above one of the drainage ditches so today morgan and I headed off for a walk along the River Leri in search of it.

The Little Egret is a recent colonist, normally found along the south coast, and on parts of the east coast. I’ve seen them here before though so knew they were around so thought I’d try to get some photos of it with my new larger lens.

According to the RSPB there are around 150 breeding pairs in the UK around 1600 of them over-winter in the UK. Not rare, but not that common either.

Of course, being with Morgan and simply wandering around on the banks of the Leri isn’t the best way to find one. Somehow, 3 year ol boys and the words, stealth, quiet and patience just don’t mix. Amazingly though we did see one and I managed a few hasty photos before it flew off.

Cold Offshore Winds - Borth

After a couple of days of Xmas inactivity I couldn’t wait to get back out and do something. The weather was cold but sunny and there was a freezing east wind blowing so I went out for a windsurf session on the seafront at Ynyslas on Boxing Day. It was fine to start with but then the wind dropped and as it was offshore I then had troble getting back to the beach. It was freezing cold, there was no one on the beach so my only option was to swim back to shore. he fact that I’m here writing this means that I made it!

The next day I decided to play it safe after my little adventure yesterday and sail in the estuary instead. there were no wave anyway so the estuary was the better option. The wind was also stronger and less gusty here so I had a good sail despite the arctic conditions. A kitesurfer did join me for a while but it was too cold for him so he only stayed on the water for a short while. I had a good sail though and managed a top speed of 31.3 knots.

Sunday was once again sunny, windy and cold so I had a day off windsurfing and went for a mountain-bike ride instead. I ddin’t feel too fit and was quite slow, but I’m glad I got out and now need to get out a bit more to get some fitness back. The new forks and serviced bike felt good though.

I managed to find some time for a walk on the beach with my new lens as well, so have some photos for you.

So, whatever the weather, get out there and do something, you won’t regret it.

Chilly Welsh Waves

Winter Reflections

Offshore winds

Cold spray

Winter Waves

Winter Waves

Sunshine and Spray

Winter Sunshine

Hope you all had a good Christmas.

Somehow we managed to keep Morgan awake on the way back from visiting Santa so he went to bed fairly excited but fairly early on Xmas Eve. Anna and Imanaged an early night too so I think Santa must have visited fairly early as well.

Presents under the tree

Morgan woke up at 12:30am and came into us and Santa had already been as his stocking was full of presents. He opened a couple of them and then went back to bed. In the end we had to wake him up at around 8:30am as we Meeting Santa wait any longer. Santa had inded been and there were lots of presents under the tree.

We spent the morngin opening presents whilst Anna simply tried to survive through her flu. Morgan enjoyed himself and received lots of nice presents. Thanks to everyone who sent us presents. We haven’t played with all of them yet but we are working on it!

After opening the presents we had our Christmas Dinner to look forward to which this year was a four-bird roast rather than just a turkey. We bought the ‘birds’ online (as is our way!) from Heal Farm. It was a  small boned turkey with pheasant, guinea fowl and chicken breasts layered with an apple and pear stuffing, chestnuts and pork forcemeat. … Mmmm Mmm!

The cooking went without hitch, unfirtunately Anna wasn’t really feeling well enough to enjoy it, but I made up for that by eating as much as I could. I don’t think we’ll have a multi-bird roast every ear, but it would be great when we have a few guests for Xmas. There is of course plenty left and I;ve just finished carving it and placing it into freezer bags so that we can keep some for later.

All in all a nice Xmas day if a little disappointing for Anna as she wasn’t well.

Meeting Santa

Xmas Eve was here at last so we headed off to Tywyn and the Tal-y-Llyn railway station where after a quick look around the museum we boarded the Tal-y-Llyn steam train along with a few friends and headed off up the valley into the hills.

After a while and a nice scenic train ride we reached the station of ‘Plas Nadolig’ where we stopped and were greeted by elves. We soon found Santa’s Grotto and went in to say hello. Morgan had a nice long chat with the big bearded man and received a nice present then we all wandered around near the station for a while before heading back to Tywyn on the train for some refreshments at the station.

All very nice and luckily Morgan didn’t ask Santa for anything that he may have had trouble getting hold of at such late notice!

We had a good party here on Saturday.. Nothing too mad as it was an early start for drinks and mince pies but it went well and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

In fact it felt like two parties at once really, one at around 5-6 foot for the adults and one at around 3 foot for the children. Things did get a little hectic with around 30 people in our little house but we enjoyed it, so thanks to everyone who came: Me, Anna, Morgan, Helen, Rhiannon, Alan, Caroline, Bernd, Joan, Jan, Tony, Simon, Sarah, Josh, Jackie, Peter, Cameron, Eva, Mike, Rachel, Cameron, Jamie, Jackie, Aidan, Grady, Erin, Kirsten, Kirsten’s Mum, Bethany, Janet, Dave, Sarah, Richard and Louise (Hope I didn’t forget anyone?).

And thanks for all the presents you brought with you too, including the toilet roll!!

I decided it was time to get a new camera bag to go with my new camera. For a start the bag I had been using was a little too small for the camea and two lenses and more importantly it was BRIGHT PINK! No, really it was pinker than you can imagine!

So, I looked around and the Lowe Pro Stealth D100 AW looked to be perfect. The bumpf says “The Stealth Reporter D100 AW is designed to withstand the elements while providing quick access to lenses and digital accessories” and it certinaly seemed to be packed with features. I fund a good deal on it and ordered from Jessops online yesterday evening and amazingly it arrived this morning.

For those of you into gadgets you’ll understand how I can get excited about a good quality bag with plenty of features and this one certainly fits the bill. As well as a rugged, well built bag with all of the usual adjustable dividers etc. you get a strap to hand hold the bag, a shoulder strap and a waist strap to stabilise the bag should you so need it. You also get plenty of extra pockets for accessories, although they are quite small. On top of this you get a little wallet for storing memory cards, an extra removable pouch for cables etc and an ‘All Weather’ cover that stores away in the base of the bag and provides a waterproof cover for the bag. The All Weather cover is likely to come in handy here in Wales!

Best of all though it isn’t pink!

Not sure how best to pack it yet and once I get my second lens that will have to change anyway, but as bags go it is as good as they get!

Xmas Tree

Unlike previous years we didn’t go Xmas Tree hunting this year. We normally use Xmas tree hunting as a family get together, but this year the timing was wrong. Jay and Jenny were in Lapland along with many other family members getting married so we met up earlier in December instead and went Ice-Skating and out for a family meal.

This meant that we had to get a Xmas Tree from somewhere so after much deliberation over a fake one or a real one we ended up buying a real one and now have the decorations up. It wasn’t that long ago that there were only one or two houses in our village that had Xmas decorations and lights up. Most of the other houses were empty in the winter as they were only used as holiday homes, but it is nice to see that the community is growing and there are more children around. Driving along the road now there are quite a few houses with lights and it makes everything feel a little more ‘Chrismassy’.

The village Christmas Drinks party was well attended this year as well.. We often miss it as it tends to coincide with our weekend away Xmas Tree hunting, but this year we were able to go and it was good to see everyone and let the kids run around playing together.

Bauble

Family Get-Together

Glaslyn

After a busy day on Saturday, Anna and Morgan were off to the Arts Centre in Aberystwyth to see Peter Pan on Sunday, so seeing as my bike was in the shop being repaired I planned a day walking and geocaching in the hills with my new camera.

Just before leaving I wandered across to the beach to check the surf and it was ‘going off’, however the tide was to high and I felt so cosy in my warm, dry down jacket that I couldn’t quite face getting into a cold wetsuit and plunging myself into the sea in the sub-zero temperatures (old age setting in??), so I stuck to my original plan and headed for the hills.

I drove up to Glaslyn and then did a little ‘off-roading’ to get to the nature reserve where I left the car and headed off around the lake on foot. It was a glorious day, still, sunny and cold. I had my new camera with me too so spent quite a bit of time taking photos.

The first geocache was one on the shores of Glaslyn, which funnily enough was called ‘Glaslyn‘. It was easy to find and really well stocked with swag. I’m not into the various trinkets you find in such caches, but had Morgan been with me he would have taken hours deciding what to swap. I left a Travel Bug and geocoin in the cache and then headed off through waist deep heather to the track and then down along the valley heading west.

I was heading towards another geocache called ‘Beyond the Source of the Severn‘. This wasn’t the advised route to it but I fancied a decent walk so as the trail came to an end I headed off through some pretty boggy terrain and headed up towards the source of the Severn. I found the cache easily and once again it was in perfect condition and really well stocked with swag. None of your rusty, dirty, smelly tat in these caches, just lovely dry trinkets in perfect condition.

After signing the logbook I headed off to find the source of the Severn and was surprised to see it marked with a proper post and a well laid (almost paved) path which headed off along the Severn towards Hafren Forest. I didn’t take the path but headed off across the ridge before dropping back down into the valley and back towards the car.

A good day out in the hills, two god gecoaches and lots of photos.

Glaslyn Reflections

Mountain Stream

Reflection

Grass in Water Droplet

We went to Morgan’s nursery Christmas party at the weekend. All of the older children did a little nativity play (well, they all dressed up and sung a few songs). The outfits were good, although there were only two Wise Men, Mary seemd to have been stood up by Joseph and for some reason there were a couple of snowmen!!

Father Christmas arrived earlier than expected but had some presents for all of the children and then we spent some money on raffle tickets and such like, ate some food and the children had their faces panited and ran riot! Perfect.

The 'two' Wise Men

Wise Men and an Angel

Nativity

Gift from Santa

Face Painting

A Robot!

A Fairy

A Wise Man

Just a few photos from our recent Ice-Skating session in Bristol.

As you can see it was an outdoor ice-rink set up outside The Mall at Cribbs Causeway for Christmas Along with the ice-rink there was a Santa’s Grotto and various stalls selling fudge, candy floss, doughnuts and other bits and pieces.

Fortunately it was fairly well organised and there was just the right amount of people on the ice. Not too many to make it too crowded but enough to make it interesting. I hadn’t been ice-skating for years and certainly wasn’t as good as I used to be, but I managed OK. Morgan did well for his first ever attempt as well.