A visit to Wales starts with two nights in Swansea and a trip
to the theatre.
Combine that with seeing family, catching up with friends,
local walks and sightseeing
and our short holiday starts at a pace that continues on for
the best part of a week.
A road trip south from Cumbria finds us at my
old home town of Swansea.
Loes and I are down here for a theatre production
where my daughter in law, Rhian, plays a staring roll.
We will also catch up with family and friends
whilst in town, but we'll start with a walk out to Mumbles pier.
It was getting dark by the time we had parked
the car, found our accommodation and eaten. A short walk along
the 'prom' this evening would do nicely.
The illuminated building on the hillside in
the distance is Oystermouth Castle, sitting above the village
of the same name.
We notice that they have started to re-develop
the foreshore, with the secondary purpose of raising the sea
wall to prevent flooding.
Perhaps that is why the parking is so difficult
in the village tonight.
The Coronation was last weekend and the royal
decorations are still up at the Pier buildings.
In the distance you can see Mumbles Lighthouse,
which sits on the outer island, about quarter of a mile offshore.
Local knitted handicrafts adorn the railings
as we look over to the pier
and to the old and new lifeboat houses which
have been constructed over time at its outer end.
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We have tickets for
an afternoon matinee performance
of the theatre production, along with all the family.
In the morning however
we have plenty of time to enjoy a walk
around Mumbles Head
and the coast path to one of the first of the 'town
beaches'
We park for our walk at Limeslade Bay
Being further south and close to the coast
the garden flowers here are a little more exotic
than mine.
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A popular path starts at Mumbles Head with a
tarmac covered, user-friendly walkway.
In the old days it used to be a gravel track
with steps and steep climbs.
The Path leads around to Rotherslade and Langland
Bay, with views of the Gower Coast down to Pennard and Oxwich
headlands.
[ For those wanting a challenge, there's a 38
mile long distance path all around the Gower Coast to complete,
in a weekend if you wish.]
Langland Bay has the classic beach huts and
a regular bus service to town.
The amount of sand on the beach varies each
time I come here, but today there doesn't seem to be as much
as usual.
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The main reason that we're here in Wales
is to see my daughter in law Rhian
taking the lead,
the Whoopi Goldberg part,
in the stage production of "Sister Act".
The play is being performed
by the Swansea Amateur Operatic Society,
"The
Swansea Amateurs"
We join Gareth, my older grandson Luke and Paula
plus Rhian's extended family, for the Saturday matinee.
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The audience arrive, well this part of it has.
The third person in the selfie is my daughter
Paula, who we met beforehand for lunch.
[The dogs are being dog-sat by my aunt and uncle
in Mumbles, as it is too hot for dogs to sit in the car]
The Owens Family have arrived and sit with Gareth,
Luke and ourselves.
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The months
of rehearsals are complete . . . |
. . . the make up has
been applied |
. . . and Rhian and the cast hit the stage singing
!
Without giving too many secrets away . . . Deloris
was a singer working for Shanks, a shady Philadelphia gang boss
Disco-diva Deloris’s life takes a surprising
turn when she witnesses Shanks murder a fellow gangster.
Placed under protective custody she is hidden
in the one place she shouldn't be found – in a local Convent!
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She naturally has difficulty fitting into the lifestyle
but goes along with it as her old school friend, now
a policeman
had organised her secret hiding place.
Her situation gradually improves
as she gets to know her fellow Nuns.
However the Convent has no money and is threatened
with closure.
She could be forced to move out of town and away from
protection
unless something dramatic happens !
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Encouraged to help the struggling choir, she helps her fellow
sisters find their true voices as she unexpectedly rediscovers
her own.
The Convent choir moves from chanting old Hymns
to singing modern Gospel songs, which boost the congregation
and the funds !
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The Convent
is saved by the money but the publicity becomes a problem. |
Shanks finds her and
threatens to shoot her so she can't testify in his trial. |
Eddie, the policeman, steps up to the task, captures Shanks
and saves Deloris.
The Convent is saved, the bad guy is in prison for the gang
murder, Deloris falls in love with Eddie and the world can
sing again.
If you get chance to see the musical do go along.
If Rhian is playing the lead then you're in for a great performance.
[ All photos courtesy of the Swansea
Amateur Operatic Society Facebook page . . . with thanks
]
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In the evening we enjoyed a meal out in Mumbles with Gareth
and both my grandsons, Owen and Luke.
Rhian is missing, as she's on stage for the second performance
of the day and what will be the 'final night' of the week-long
run of the play.
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Sunday morning dawned bright and dry and we met up with friends
for a walk in Clyne, one of Swansea's more ornamental parks.
This is Sandra with her two dogs and Gill, Ann's long-time
school colleague, who are both from Swansea.
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The park
is set in an ornamental valley full of Victorian colour. |
A picture of myself,
Loes and Sandra, courtesy of Gill. |
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The park has a rather muddy stream
flowing down through the woodland.
Dougal, who enjoys water at the best of times,
is in the water and soaking wet in no time.
No matter, he's got all day to dry off
before we have to go anywhere posh !
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As a kid I used to climb this huge castle, made
even more exciting as it was hidden deep in the woods.
In my later years it seems to be easier to find
and smaller . . . I wonder why ?
Still, this is the first time Loes has been
here, so she enjoys the climb, closely followed by her eager
companions.
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At the top of the park is an ornamental
Japanese garden |
. . . with a lovely bridge and the
waterfall flowing out of a lake. |
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On the other side, a lady
stops to read about the Handkerchief Tree |
. . . so called because of the large
white flowers that waft in the breeze. |
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Morning walk complete I take Loes on a tour of Swansea, aiming
for Townhill where, you've guessed it, you get a fine view
of town.
First we stop off at another town park, this time Cwndonkin,
close to where I used to live.
Cwmdonkin Park is also famous as being Dylan Thomas's park.
The poet was born and lived his first 23 years of his life
in a house overlooking the park which provided inspiration
for some of his poetry.
A memorial stone in the grounds commemorated the fact, as
does a Blue
Plaque on the house itself.
The park has changed in the last twenty years, the trees
have grown, the pavilion and tennis courts have been refreshed
and the bowling green seems to have been abandoned and is
now a grassy area for playing other games.
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If you walk to the top path in those trees you find
a gate
that we often used to get into the park to walk
the dogs.
Our house was on the side of the hill,
thirty steps to the front door, another thirty
on the inside to get to the loft bedroom.
The house now has low railings around the patio
but in all our time there, the kids never fell over
the edge !
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Time for a spot of lunch . . . I know a place
down Gower that would be great . . .
On the way I might as well take the road past
another of my old haunts.
Number 3 was the first house I ever bought.
I took out something like a £13,000 mortgage . . . those
were the days.
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Well lunch didn't go to plan as we were late
and the pub I chose was packed out . . . so we adjourned to
the sea side.
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Lunch ended up as Fish
and Chips at the cafe in Port Eynon . . . |
. . . where there's another huge
sandy beach, one of many on Gower. |
[ photos courtesy of the Tourist
Board site]
The weather wasn't quite as sunny and with
my phone low on power I didn't take many pictures
but I did capture this old thatched cottage
in the village.
What I had actually stopped for was for
picture of the Lifeboat
Memorial
to 3 members of the crew who were lost at
sea during a bad storm when the the SS Dunvegan went aground
on the cliffs in 1916.
The local lifeboat station subsequently closed
in 1919 and the boathouse became the Port Eynon Youth Hostel.
A new 'D' Class inshore boat was re-established
at Horton, the small village a short distance around the bay,
in 1968.
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Visit over, it was time to be heading west
to Pembrokeshire,
for the next stage of our adventure.
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