September sibling stay

 This weekend Cait visited us in Cardiff for a couple of nights. She arrived late on Friday night after joining a friend for dinner in Bristol. I had to set an alarm to make sure I picked herself up from the station as I was mostly asleep on the sofa!

On Saturday I persuaded Cait to come out for a run, and had to reel her back in when she sped off like a guinea pig who has just heard the fridge door open, before we enjoyed a calm 5k around Roath Park. Meanwhile, Mark was pretending to be a football dad and watching some of the games in the park, completely missing us when we (who he was waiting for) ran past. 

Look! Matching shoes!

We enjoyed coffee at Sibling (who else was I supposed to visit it with?) before enjoying a mooch around some charity shops. We treated Mark for his patient with a shop to his favourite pick and mix sweets at Siop Sero. Lunch was very tasty at a Japanese restaurant Ichiban - the interior was gorgeous but the exterior street view leaves something to be desired! If you get the Friends reference, well done. The evening was spent chatting with our financial and housing advisor Ms Caitlin Adams - we will essentially steal all of her hard work in return for her borrowing my ski jacket. 

On Sunday I’d booked for us to go to the Queen Inn in Cwmbran as I’d heard good things about their roasts - a fully vegan pub! Cait planned us a nice 7.5km amble up and around a forest, with a trig at the top! It felt like the first gorgeous weather we’ve had in a while. I love a cosy rain day, but also love a crisp blue sky. We played card games in the pub garden until we dropped Cait back to Newport station for her train home. 

A lovely weekend! Although I did once again fall asleep on the sofa… zzzzzzz…

Tour of Britain

I first noted a few months ago that the Tour of Britain was likely to finish in Cardiff to honour cyclist Geraint Thomas who is retiring this year. I swiftly invited dad up for the weekend (Caitlin apparently has more important places to be) as I’ve heard he’s fond of a bike.

He arrived on the Saturday (bringing with him my lost Bananagrams, which is pretty much the only game Mark will play with me). We mooched out in the evening and enjoyed the Everyman cinema for a drink with views. 

On the Sunday we first stopped for dad’s favourite meal, brunch, before heading up to see the finish line & look for goodies. The Cardiff 10k was also that morning so Cardiff felt very busy! Mark kindly exerted himself on a static bike to earn us some casquettes… only for us to see later they were handing them out for everyone else too. Dad was very pleased when we spotted they were handing out cowbells too. 

We found a spot about 100m up from the finish line and waited. The atmosphere was great! We saw a sprint finish (but had no idea who had won until later) and cheered as G wheeled in. The final race presentation less focus on the stage or race winner than the Welshman of honour. 

I hear the Tour of France is coming to the UK in 2027 - hopefully we’ll see another stage then!

A damp camping trip

Mark suggested a camping trip a while ago so I booked our favourite Brecons campsite - Pwllyn Farm Camping. We stayed here once a couple of years ago and really loved the view, community barn and protected fields. Not that we got a view this time!

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We pitched up in the same spot as we did 2 years ago, and leaped inside just before the heavens opened. We’ve just bought a new bigger tent which, whilst a bit more of a faff to put up, gives us much more room to enjoy relaxing in when it’s raining. I can even stand up in it!

We went for the tiniest walk around the campsite and picked up some orange juice from the campsite’s honestly shop before escaping back into our tent to get into sleeping bags and read our books/fall asleep. We discovered a new friend on our return to the tent!

It was pretty rainy overnight but after packing up our tent we decided to brave the weather for a walk. It turned out to be a four seasons sort of walk - Mark was between being in a T-shirt and complaining about his lack of suncream, to us hurrying to put on full waterproofs as the heavens opened. This is the second time I’ve walked the Blorenge, and it’s still a favourite due to its variety and quietness. The trig needs a repaint though!

Now that we actually have a sleeping bag and roll mat each, we can hopefully go on more camps! Only took us 6 years after buying our first tent...

Flower picking

 A few weekends ago Mark & I headed to Forage Farm near Cowbridge for flower picking! We started off planning to look at them all before choosing which to pick, but about halfway through we'd fallen in love with a stem, picked it, and subsequently opened the floodgates to pick everyyyyy flower! We ended up with a gorgeous bunch and a lovely afternoon out in the sun. 

And a tractor boy.

We're already anticipating the pumpkin picking season...! 🎃

Exam news

At the start of July I sat the first of 3 my speciality exams (MRCOG = Member of Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists). Today I found out I passed - YAY!

 

Visits from the Grown Ups

 The last two weekends have been filled with parents visiting, clamouring to see me before I delve back into the dark depths of a medical training programme.

Mark and I have started to look into buying a house (still many moons away but fun to look), so dad was bought on a tour of our potential future neighbourhood of Penylan, mainly to satisfy my craving for another trip to Penylan Pantry. One shower of rain only, so a lovely walk around the parks!

On Monday dad and I headed up to the Black Mountain to do my favourite hike - the ridge around Llyn y Fan Fach and Fan Fawr. It managed to be both more and less misty than the last time I did it.

And they've repainted the trig - I like it both ways.

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2022:

We were planning to get to the National Park Visitor Centre before it closed, but got held up by road closures and some certain Welsh natives. Fortunately, Google maps was wrong about the closing time so we had time for tea and cake. 

The following weekend mum and JC popped up - apparently to visit me but most likely so she could go on a boat trip. There are 2 islands in the Bristol Channel that I cycle past regularly when I go over the Cardiff barrage; Flat Holm and Steep Holm. Steep Holm is English and only accessible from England, whereas Flat Holm is Welsh and accessible from Cardiff - yay! Please enjoy my cunning diagram. 

   

The boat trip took us through the extensive lock system in the barrage and then out into the open water of the channel. We had a great tour from one of the volunteer wardens, and learnt all about Flat Holm's history which included multiple military purposes, a home for a lighthouse and foghorn, cholera/isolation hospital, and possibly once a monastery. Did you know that Holm is the Old Norse word for 'small island'? Cool! About 8 (rare Boreray) sheep live on the island as well as 2 types of gull (Grey and Lesser Black-backed) and lots of rabbits. We finished up with a quick cup of tea in apparently the most Southerly pub in Wales - it has a sign to prove it. The way back involved getting from low tide/sea level up back to barrage level through the lock, which was probably around a 5m rise in just a few minutes. 

I wonder where I get the need to walk on everything from:

Thanks for visiting lovely parents (+JC)! And thank you for the many teas and cakes and takeaway...