I apologise for the quality of the audio in some of these clips. It's blustery on the coast. Adding to the poor quality is the fact that in most of the clips I was walking. My goal was to do things quickly and give it a sort of "instant" feel, but arguably this still could have been achieved while standing still and out of the wind.
The audio has the added factor of displaying my present hodgepodge accent. It's generally the old Minnesota-with-Texas-twang sound, but occasionally you pick up South Wales phrasing. It's most notable, I think, when I'm talking about mini-golf in the clip from Porthkerry Park.
The journey begins. I took the train from Sweet Home Radyr Way down to Barry. In the audio clip below, I misspell the Welsh name.
Angular waterway-thingy in Barry's The Knap area.
Lake in Barry's The Knap area.
This looks like a building site, but it is, in fact, a historical site. These are the remains of a Roman building that stood here in 45 AD. It's quintessential Britain that you have ancient sites sandwiched into everything else. Those are peoples' homes in the background. Just behind me was an ice cream shop. I was very obviously the only person interested in the site.
Above The Knap. The large body of water, of course, is the Bristol Channel. Off in the haze you can see Flatholm Island.
Audio from Barry:
The viaduct at Porthkerry Park.
Mini golf course in Porthkerry Park.
Audio from Porthkerry:
I don't know what a bulwark is, but this camp of theirs is mighty old.
In the haze, across the water, you can see England.
Phallic stone circle at Rhoose Point.
Giant compass made of rock. Impressively, the markings on the compass are in Welsh. In this picture you are looking to the dwyrain (east).
These stones were very clearly in a specific formation, but I couldn't make sense of it.
The golf course between life and death.
Audio from Rhoose Point:
According to a BBC cameraman I know, you can go down to the beach and see dinosaur footprints somewhere around here.
A ship heading out to sea.
Trailer park.
Audio from the trailer park:
That is a massive sign. Sadly, the sailboat hit it and sank. Two people died. Very sad.
Wetlands near East Aberthaw.
This is a family crabbing in the wetlands near East Aberthaw. I really wanted to take a picture of what they had caught, but I couldn't figure out a non-embarrassing way to say: "Can I take a picture of your crabs?"
Interesting-looking abandoned building.
Audio from the woods near East Aberthaw:
Even the garages are made of stone in East Aberthaw.
The Blue Anchor pub has been around since 1380.
A look at the inviting front side of The Blue Anchor, and its thatched roof.
Heaven.
Audio from The Blue Anchor:
And that's about it. I walked home the same way. I left my house at 10 a.m. and was back just before 6 p.m. If you ever come to visit me and want to see The Blue Anchor, I promise that we will just drive there.
6 comments:
Looks like this was just a fabulous day. With beer at the end, even, which made it obviously perfect.
That's a cracking little walk, I've never really wandered around that area. I read about that boat hitting the sign in the paper, it's an awful way to go.
That was great, and also made me feel pretty guilty about not taking a wander around my new area instead of sitting in and watching T4.
I think a viaduct is a bridge that goes over land instead of water, but I could be speaking rubbish.
Your accent is now much weirder than mine. Well done!
Ah ha! Ye ARE soundin' just a wee bit Welsh there, Chris. Fun videos - thanks!
Very interesting blog Chris. You should be doing voice commentaries for BBC Wales.
A viaduct is a bridge, normally a series of arches which carries a road or railway across a valley or dip in the ground.
There's a very famous one in Pontrhydyfen in West Glamorgan where Richard Burton the actor was born
By the way it's called 'traphont' in Welsh and not many people now that. They just call it 'y bont' in Pontrhydyfen :-)
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