Noah is our climber.... he just started climbing up the door frame recently... he make it look easy, but I tried it myself and it was definitely not.
There are many chains in the UK, but this is our favorite - Waitrose. Its a pleasure to shop in. This is a shot of the Waitrose branch in Cowbridge where I often stop at on the way home from work.
Over the last couple days we have had some stormed with some amazing clouds before and after. Here is a shot yesterday afternoon from our patio.
The storm passed through overnight with some heavy rain and thunder but was gone by the morning. Today swim classes started back up again for the kids so we were down at Atlantic College and got some nice shots by the castle and water.
With good weather this weekend, I thought it might be good to let Hunter and Noah attempt their first real mountain summit. Noah came down with a sore throat and flu symptoms during the night Saturday, so it was just Hunter and me. My target peak was Pen-y-fan in the Brecon Beacon area of South Wales. At 2907 ft it is the highest peak in south wales and the highest in southern Britain south of Snowdonia. Of course we were up Snowdonia in North Wales last summer, but as we gained the summit by train except for the last 100 ft, it doesn't really count:).
Hiking was great. Sunny, breezy, turning quite gusty at the summit. Hunters first mountain summit! Note the sheep in the pictures beside Hunter. This was an uber friendly .... and smart sheep that has figured out that people will feed it on the summit of Pen-Y-Fan. If you made eye contact with this friendly creature it would head your way.
This weekend, we wanted to get out and enjoy the summer sun. It was a little cool for the beach so I packed a picnic lunch and we headed over to another one of the castles in our home area - Coity Castle near the village of Bridgend. We first ran across Coity Castle last year when we were going to a baptism at the church next to it, and took a mental note to visit it again when the kids were in proper play clothes.
More pictures of climbing on the walls
View out through one of the broken castle windows towards the church with the surrounding countryside
Our friends Barb and her son Ian came for a visit. Picture of the boys up on the rock wall around the house. Climbing along this wall is one of their favorite pastimes.
I just got back from the US and Kelly and I wanted to go on a date night - just something simple so we decided to go for a walk down at Southerndown. I chilled a bottle of wine and grabbed the beach blanket and off we went.
With the amazing weather we are having, I took Friday off and we decided to pull the kids out of school since there is only a week left anyhow until the summer break anyhow. We decided to take a day trip to west wales in Pembrokshire to a place called Barafundle Bay after a recommendation from an office mate. The reviews were good too! According to wikipedia, It was ranked as one of the top 12 beaches in the world in 2004, the good holiday guide ranked it as the best beach in Britain, and in 2006 it was rated as the best spot in the UK for a picnic by Country Life magazine. Plus its a little out of the way to find, and requires about a 15 minute walk along a coastal path to get to it which keeps the hordes away.
The walk from the car park to the beach - beautiful:
Fun at the beach:
Summer is a bit late in coming this year, but normally in the UK and northern Europe the elderflower blooms. As I understand it the flower typically blooms in late may and June, but they have been in full swing this year in the second half of june and now into July. They are quite nice turning an otherwise dull bushes into brilliant colored trees. Take for instance this picture below of the elderflower growing out of the old church across the road.
Here is the same location a few weeks back prior to bloom. In addition it turns out that it can be used to make a very nice (non alchoholic) beverage referred to as Elderflower cordial. I probably will not end up making it on my own but I did end up buying some pre-made elderflower sparkling beverage from a local UK farm.
Kelly and I sampled it last night while enjoying the nice summer evening and it was really good. It actually had a very light, flowery taste to it.
Also - here is a good article on the elderflower as well.