Thursday 23 September 2010

Wacky Wales

Warning - this post is rather picture heavy!

I have been meaning to show you photos from our trip to Wales for ages, so apologies for my delay.
During the summer holidays, the girls and I accompanied my parents to visit my family in South Wales. My parents go twice a year to see them, but this is the first time I have been back in eleven years. How bad is that! My family have been up to see us a few times, but I have been very slack at visiting them.
My family live in the Rhondda Valley in South Wales. The picture below shows part of the valley.
South Wales is one of the most beautiful places to visit. During our whirlwind tour, my uncle took us out to admire the scenery. We had a picnic lunch by this beautiful lake. I wish I had got the names of these places, but we travelled around at such a pace I forgot to ask.
The house below painted orange was the house where my mother was born. This is the first time I have ever seen it and it seemed surreal stepping back in time. My mother lived there with her brother, parents and grandparents. In those days, the whole extended family lived together. My grandfather was a coal miner, as were the rest of the men in the family. Unfortunately my grandfather passed away when my mother was young, so I never got to meet him.

The picture below is of my uncle and all the children. My uncle has never grown up and the kids absolutely adore him. Whilst near a river full of barges, he spent most of his time jumping on and off the decks with the kids, pretending the barges belonged to him.

I love the picture below. It is rather breathtaking. I would love to have a house overlooking this, where my writing desk faced onto the water.

As you can from the picture below, we did an awful lot of hill climbing. I thought I would have an asthma attack at the top, but luckily I didn't.

My wacky welsh family. That' s my mum in the blue. My dad is not in it as he was taking the photo.

The building below was the last coal pit to close in South Wales. I believe it has been turned into a museum now. A lot of the land where the pits were has now been replanted, so that all you see now is lush green hills.
I hope to get back a little more regularly to Wales in the future, as leaving it eleven years is far too long. Have any of you ever visited Wales?

16 comments:

  1. What beautiful pictures, I especially like the one 4th from bottom, so atmospheric.
    Uncles always seem to be one of two types - either like yours, a man who remains a child at heart or the real old fashioned, pipe smoking variety who it would seem was never a child.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I LOVE picture heavy posts--especially when they have to do with travel or the personal. :) I've never been to Wales--only been to London and on the train between London and Paris. It looks absolutely gorgeous and I love the picture of the lake nestled in the mountains. One day hubby and I would love to tour the around England, Scotland and Ireland.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely photos and such a marvelous view!

    You have such a beautiful family, Vivienne :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I remember going to Llandudno with my Mum, sis and Devon when she was a toddler. It was on one of those OAP bus holidays you see - myself, my sis and Devon were by far the youngest people on the coach but we had a blast! It's a beautiful country.

    One vivid memeory was my sis and I going in a cable car up a mountainside and with every judder, screaming our lungs out and clinging to each other. The tourists in the passing cars guffawing at us as they passed :P Such fun.

    That picture you say would be your ideal view for a writing room - that's my dream, except transplanted to Scotland and I'd be standing at an easel covered in paint. *sigh* We can but dream eh? Lovely post Vivienne :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love Wales! I did a semester there in Swansea and fell in love with the place. Love your photos!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wonderful photos and post, Vivienne! I feel the need for a light sweater as I look at these lovely, cloudy skies. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Petty Witter - most of my uncles are mad. I haven't any of the pipe smoking type.

    Trish - I hope you do get to come over here one day. We do have a pretty spectacular country. If only it didn't rain all the time though.

    Ladybug - thank you.

    Carmen - I bet you had a blast on the bus tour. I often see people queuing up with their suitcases to go on one. We can definitely dream and hope to reach our ambitious plans.

    Amanda - I wasn't far from Swansea. My aunt normally goes shopping there on the weekend.

    Suko - you would need more than a light sweater, the weather is atrocious over here.

    ReplyDelete
  8. How beautiful! Looks like a gorgeous place. I've never been to Wales or even ventured outside of London when in the UK, but I'd definitely like to see it someday!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What beautiful countryside! It sounds like a wonderful trip!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh Vivienne, thank you so much for sharing these! They're positively lovely! Glad you all had such a wonderful time. :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a beautiful place! Fantastic pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gorgeous shots. I got back from vacation recently but seeing these make me want to book a trip to Wales! :)

    I'm so behind on blog visiting but just wanted to say congrats on joining NaNoWriMo. I tried doing that one year and well, let's just say I got up to 3,000 words I think. haha... Hope you'll have great success!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love your pictures! Bring them on! The more the merrier. Thanks or sharing. The water pics are beautiful. I hope to visit Wales one day.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow! It's so pretty! I'd rather go to Ireland or Scotland but Wales is gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete

Hiya, thanks for stopping by, it is always nice to hear what you have to say, so do leave a comment if you have time.