Open Invitation to any Welsh Members

Steve , a Victoria sponge ?

wash ya own car.. or wait for it to rain

Tom Jones stopped dying his hair, dunno if you saw the brits.. he should be happy to have hair.. I'm half his age and it's not long till it's all gone.

ORIGINAL: Fog


wash ya own car.. or wait for it to rain

No - it was the Welsh rain that caused the Welsh mud that currently is lying about a half inch thick on my motor. Worse still, it smells of sheep sh1t

Apparently the Elan Valley was chosen to create the reservoirs that provide Birmingham with water because it rains up there, on average, 417 days a year

This fact in itself makes my photos above extremely rare - what with the sun and the blue skies

ORIGINAL: Wookiee

This fact in itself makes my photos above extremely rare - what with the sun and the blue skies

True oh how true, once spent 9 days in Wales, of which it rained for 8 and 1 half.

LOL - it probably snowed the other half day 'eh John

True oh how true, once spent 9 days in Wales, of which it rained for 8 and 1 half.

I spent a week in Wales in the summer of 1976 (the worst drought in British history) and remember thinking on the way there at least it wont rain this time. It started tipping down half an hour after I got there and never stopped all week!

Hard luck. I spent 2 weeks near Portmadoc in 1976 and it was just wonderful all the time.

I also really like the Elan Valleys and I think if you can see the dams when they're cascading water over their rims it's amazing.

Steve, I always make sure my car is fully laden with Gloucestershire 'mud' when I take a trip over the Severn Bridge so hopefully that helps redress the balance.

Phil

ORIGINAL: edentowers

I also really like the Elan Valleys and I think if you can see the dams when they're cascading water over their rims it's amazing.

I agree Phil - the lowest dam was overflowing, I didn't post a pic because it was quite grey... but here you go:




All the others were just inches away but judging by the amount coming through the sluices this might have been done deliberately - the hydro-electric generators were certainly running at full.

Wookiee,
I hope that your trip to Porthmadog included a trip on the FFestiniog Railway enjoyed in the comfort of the observation coach with best bitter on tap. Most civilised.

Steve,
great photos. I really wish there was a web cam that showed the state of the dams so you plan a trip when conditions were good.

Phil

ORIGINAL: edentowers

Steve,
great photos. I really wish there was a web cam that showed the state of the dams so you plan a trip when conditions were good.

Yeah, that would be very helpful Phil - if I fancy a photography trip up there, I take a bit of notice of the weather forecasts for Wales for a week or so.

I got it absolutely right just once! Plenty of rain for a few days followed by a perfect sunny day - those pics are all on slide film, as soon as I get round to getting a scanner that can handle transparencies I'll be able to post 'em.

There's a really interesting site that details how the reservoirs were planned out and the subsequent engineering work were undertaken. Even Sir Barnes Wallis did some experiments up there - not with an actual bouncing bomb but to test his theory that an explosion would have the most effect if happened as close to the face as possible (he blew up the 30ft high dam the original navvies built to provide water for the homes of the workers and their families).

Here you go: http://history.powys.org.uk/history/rhayader/elanmenu.html

I never gamble with any of them either.

I haven't placed a bet in 2244 days today.
And yes, I'm counting.

ORIGINAL: Bristol_Jonesey

We spent a few days down in South Wales a couple of years ago, and had the pleasure of driving through (quickly) delightful little places like Maesteg, Merthyr Tydfill & Ebbw Vale.

We came home early, after 2 days.

Merthyr is a dive now, used to be a very industrial town.
Same as Ebbw tbh, used to have a massive british steel site that supplied the world with its metals.
It also had a very good coal mine. Its gone down hill bad and now the recession is kicking in, town is empty, even on weekends. I've lived here most my life, but also spent a few years in newcastle, swansea, cardiff...always came back to ebbw.
Its far from what people say of it, but it does definately seem daunting and a bit of a rough place to outsiders haha.

I guess I've been blessed. I've visited Wales twice and both times the weather was wonderful. Except that being from Florida here in the USA, I never expected to freeze my ears off on the 4th of July.

I used to go to port talbot.. to go to ireland errm rosslare (or was that the ireland side) anyways years ago my dad clipped the exhaust on the way up the ferry, so we ended up in wales for a few days waiting for a part..

although I got chatting to a woman at my car insurers , they are based there. She didn't want to hang up , but I did in case I got her in trouble with her bosses.. I did try to ring back another time and asked for her.. but hey .. my luck was out..

Half-time score: France 13 - Wales 13

What a game though.





As a neutral Englishman I can only hope they both lose