Tag: Wales

Dragons

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Found these three cuties in a shop in Llandudno. Well the red dragon is the symbol for Wales. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. And the country is full of mountains and valleys where they could be lurking, strangely England’s patron Saint is St George, although he was Turkish as far as I know. By the way, Scotland has Nessie (the Loch Ness monster) that could be of dragon like proportions. I’m not sure about Northern Ireland, perhaps they have their own myth. Although snakes never made it to Ireland and dragons seem to be a distant relation to snakes and lizards.

Being mythological doesn’t mean they may never exist. Maybe a bit of gene slicing could bring about something similar to fire lizards described wonderfully by the fantasy and sci-fi author Anne McCaffrey. She is a splendid author and I would recommend her books. Hopefully though they would not include breathing fire!

Hotel View

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Well it’s not a sea view although it is pleasant. I can’t see it because I’m having a lie down after a long drive. Hotel seems nice and friendly, we will see what its like for noise later on. That’s one thing that bothers me in hotels, noisy neighbours. I think people should respect each other. That’s why we usually choose caravans. I also bring coffee and sweetener with me in case there isn’t enough. And I hate uht milk….

Memory of the sea

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Sunny day, top of the steps, Rhyl.

Over beyond this wall is my sea, the one I remember as a child, the one we visited on steam trains when I was very young.

Out beyond this wall the beach is flat and spreads far out. The sand is yellow and ochre. There are ridged ripples in the sand caused by the waves. Lines of groynes (posts with flat planks in between) hold back the waves and stop the long shore drift washing the sand away. New sea defences have been built to try and prevent flooding during storms. In summer planes fly over for Rhyl air show. Thousands of people arrive in mid summer like a migrating flock of starlings to see the show. Then disappear as quickly. Sometimes the days are wet and windy, other times the sun beats down and uv rays and ozone help burn your skin.

This old lamp post was once lit with gas. Now it’s rusting in the salt air. It looks like it was highly decorated in years gone by. Rhyl itself sometimes feels like time is leaving it behind. There are attempts to restore its faded glory though. If you want to see the sea its worth a visit. Just follow the A55 road North West of Chester and on into Wales.

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Drawing outside

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Here are coloured pencil drawings I did a few years ago. They are views of church rock at Tenby, Tenby beaches, Tenby Harbour, Laugharne Castle and the boathouse at Laugharne where Dylan Thomas lived.

Tenby and Laugharne are both in the county of Pembrokeshire in South Western Wales. It is a beautiful place. Its known as little England in Wales. It is also the location of Pendine sands. A long flat beach in the Laugharne estuary where several land speed records have been achieved..

Clouds in Wales

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Bars of clouds ascend on high.

Coloured lights paint the sky

How I wish I could return,

to that land of woods and fern.

Mountains high

and valleys deep,

Singers from the Mines and Steel.

Workers with their hands and feet

Love their land through wake and sleep.

I can only look from far

Wishing always to be there.

Welsh by ancestors alone,

Looking cross the border land

Perhaps one day I will lie

Between the earth and cloud barred sky.

 

 

Manorbier castle

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This just popped up in my Facebook memories. A painting on canvas I did of Manorbier Castle in South West Wales (near Tenby). There was a guardhouse near the entrance and a shop and cafe There is a Chapel towards the side nearest the sea. The castle is surrounded by trees and if you follow the road down past it you eventually find a path that you can walk on that takes you out into a shallow bay. The rocks are very interesting with long thin bars of rock separated into long segments lying horizontally ( if I remember rightly) . On the left hand hill overlooking the bay you can see the castle and on the right hand hill, separated by a valley, is the church up in Manorbier village itself.

It’s a few years since we went and my memory is hazy, but my partner remembers Gerald of Wales lived at the castle. I think it’s one of the few privately owned castles in Wales and I’m pretty sure someone lives in apartments inside the battlements.. Its definitely worth a visit, there are lovely gardens there. The only thing is try and go on a dry day as some if the steps are a bit slippery in the rain.

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Llandegla fishery

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Up in the hills between Ruthin and Wrexham in north wales is a little fishery called Llandegla. Its almost at the top of the hill  before you get to the top then drop down into Wrexham, on the road, on the left hand side ( there is another fishery further down the road on a side road).

There’s a cafe and camp site for small caravans in the grounds of the fishery and the opportunity to catch fish if you want (Vegetarians look away now).

We had lunch there, hot smoked trout with new potatos and mixed leaf salad, which was delicious.

I kept up my habit of sketching, and did a few pictures, one of them I gave away because a boy there was interested in doing art.

So day trips continue, where will we go tomorrow?

Rhyl Air show

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A sunny August bank holiday weekend, at least today, forecast is for rain tomorrow……

Rhyl beach is long and sandy, there were food stalls and lots of things on show including the RNLI and RAF and Royal British Legion for the Poppy appeal.

We walked along the coastal path, towards the town and watched planes zipping by, aerobatics, an old Blenheim and a couple of Spitfires. All free, and as we had walked down from my sisters house we didn’t have to pay for parking!

Rhyl airshow takes place every August Bank holiday, when a free show is held and the planes fly out over the sea. There can be big crowds but it was not bad today….lots of space on the sand and great viewing conditions.

First we saw a five plane aerobatic team, then an old autogyro from the 1960’s, later on old war planes, a Blenheim and a Dakota and two Spitfires. There were other planes following, looping the loop, doing stalls and twists, soon there was a fighter jet trainer shooting across the sky.

The climax was a team of around 6 red devil parachutists, falling from the sky with smoke trails. I say 6 as the sun was shining in my eyes and I could not see the screen of my phone. As there parachutes opened they also flew the welsh flag below them. Brilliant afternoon. I even got slightly sunburnt!

I managed to get a few reasonable photos on my old Samsung phone, I also did some quick sketches of the planes.

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Found…2011 sketchbook

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I’m having a clear out/spring clean, and I found this sketchbook underneath a foot stool that isn’t used very often.

I always have to look in to see what I was doing, this was an orange book with nice thick cartridge paper, spiral bound so you can flip the pages and not end up trying to draw into the crease between them.

So I saw pictures of landscapes and some portraits.

I had clearly dated them so I know they were done over a couple of weeks in June 2011. I dont remember my health then, but I must have taken the week off from work and gone up to Yorkshire and also North Wales….

While these are black and white pencil sketches, I think they give enough detail so that you can understand the views I saw. I dont think they are that accurate,  but I sometimes prefer drawing to photography. I have joined a group of urban sketchers, but I dont get out often enough these days.

The portraits are just about OK. I feel like they are all flawed in some way. Perhaps I had done them too rapidly ? I don’t think the fact that there is a drawing of a pint of beer in there is of too much importance. I must have been feeling in need of refreshment, the drawing by the river was at a pub in Saltaire and I think I drew the landscape while we stopped for lunch and a drink.

The sketch of the lighthouse is at Talacre beach in Wales. The figure at the top us actually a sculpture of a person. I dont think its safe to enter and in any case I think the door is locked.

I will keep this short. I dont want it to turn into one if those  “slides of landscapes I took on holiday” moments!