Based in Cardiff, Wales I like exploring not just my city and its rich history but also other countries and cultures. Past adventures have included walking the entire coastline of England and Wales and climbing all the mountains. Oh, and going to all 52 European Capital Cities and having a pint of Guinness in each.
This is more like the type of bus I anticipated myself catching when I started this challenge. A bus that travels between two significant destinations, Cardiff City Centre and Cardiff Bay, not some out of town industrial estate as was the case with the 1A and 2A or a nighttime journey to the Bus Depot as with the No.4. Here I was mixing in with the late-summer tourists and some Belgium football fans over for the World Cup qualifier game with Wales tonight.
Cardiff Bus No.6 in Cardiff Bus Interchange
I’m guessing Cardiff Bus probably deliberately put one of their most cheerful drivers on this route to give a good impression of the city. I felt like asking him why is the bus called the ‘No.6 Baycar’, when it’s obviously not a car, it’s a bus. And why haven’t the other buses got a name such as ‘miserable-industrial-estate-car’? I didn’t have the heart to ask him.
To wow the tourists the No.6 drops you right outside the Millennium Centre. It’s hard not to be impressed by this slate and copper-fronted building with its giant words in Welsh and English set to confuse many a tourist and even the natives when they discover that the English translation of the Welsh words is different from the English words. I like this area with the Millennium Centre, the Senedd and the Pierhead building. Yes, it not a grand as was at one stage proposed but it’s still good.
Wales Millennium Centre: I must admit I didn’t know until now that the words These, Stones, Horizons, Sing are four words from the end of four lines in a poem.
I’m much less impressed with Mermaid Quay around the corner but this is where I was heading on a mission to see the E.T.Willows clock. I’m thinking of doing a talk on the airship pioneer, Ernest Willows and this was part of my research. The clock is looking a bit battered these days and some bits, notably the gold model airship have gone missing.
E T Willows Clock tower in Cardiff Bay.
The clock’s outer kinetic components that were in sync with the hour hands, include landmark buildings and aeronautical motifs depicting key events in Willow’s life. On the one face the buildings are from Cardiff, and the other face shows buildings from London. Both clocks have a second-hand that has a model of an airship on its tip that used to sweep around fairly quickly.
The clock was designed by Andy Hazell.
I’d even bought some Ernest Willows reading material with me in the form of a book called Weekend with Willows about a trip in a balloon in 1924. Willows was a great inventor but a lousy businessman. By 1924 he was broke and making money by taking people on balloon trips. It’s a fascinating account of ballooning. Willows would descend when he was lost and shout to ask passers-by on the ground where he was.
I sat alone on the deck of the Mount Stuart pub, enjoying my pint of Exmoor Dark and imagining myself up there with Willows, floating quietly across the skies over London.
Exmoor Dark and a Weekend with Willows in the Mount Stuart Cardiff
I took a stroll along the boardwalk outside the St David’s Hotel and arrived at the Cardiff Welands, first to enjoy some of the art; Cadair Idris and Ship in a Bottle, and then onto the wooden jetty to look at the birdlife. Much of it moved up the coast towards Newport when Cardiff Bay was flooded after the barrage was built but some decided to stay put (I guess I’m talking about the bird’s ancestors rather than the present generation of waders. No idea how long a duck lives for.)
Ship in a Bottle – Cardiff Wetlands
It was then a few more building to look at on the way back and then a short wait for a No6 Baycar back into the City Centre. A fascinating couple of hours.
Cardiff Bus No.6 Baycar outside the Wales Millenium Centre
Some additional pictures from the trip:
Cardiff Bus No 6 Baycar routeCardiff Bay Wetlands ReserveCardiff Bay Rugby Codebreakers – Billy Boston, Clive Sullivan and Gus Risman that was unveiled in July 2023 Caardiff Bay (L to R): Mermaid Quay, Pierhead Building, Millenium Centre and the Senedd Building
I never imagined when I dreamt up this challenge that it would require getting up early. I naively thought that all busses ran throughout the day and I would be able to pick and choose when I travelled. Who would have thought, apart from a rather mean bus planner, that the last trip for bus 2A is 8.15 in the morning. The 2A is a workers bus that goes out to Wentloog Industrial Estate and a few other industrial estates along the way.
Cardiff Bus 2A in Canal Street, Cardiff
Yesterday I rose to the challenge, rose early that is, for me anyway. I was surprised, though perhaps I shouldn’t have been, that the bus was pretty crowded. Fifty years ago passengers would probably have been reading their newspapers, 25 years ago they’d probably have had a Walkman with headphones. Now it’s all mobile phones and Bluetooth earphones.
Cardiff Bus 2A route east of Tremorfa
We passed through Splott and Tremorfa, picking a few more up, dropping a few off, before heading out to the Wentloog and the Great Point Seren film studios. I kept my eye out for any stars getting off the bus but Russell Crow nor Sigourney Weaver were nowhere to be seen today. The bus terminus is a rather bleak roundabout with no tea wagon in sight.
smart
A 15 minute walk was therefore required up a shaded path to Trowbridge but still no beverage seller in sight so it was another 15 minutes up to Rumney and a trusty Greggs. The sun was out so I walked on to Rumney Hill Gardens and had my breakfast and read.
Breakfast with the Morels in Rumney Hill Gardens
My book for the day was the Morels of Cardiff, that’s the ship owners not the mushrooms. I’m leading the walk around Cathays Cemetery tomorrow. I told them about Philip Morel last time so this week it is his brother Sir Thomas Morel, who was Mayor when Cardiff purchased Cathays Park off the Bute family and had the Town (City) Hall built and later the museum and university.
Rumney Hill Gardens map and history
Rhymney Trail sign in Rumney Hill Gardens. Yes, it took me a while to realise both are spelt correctly.
Disaster! How can I possibly catch three busses, all the No.2, on the City Circle route, and forget to take a picture of any of them. I’ve a long way to go before I’m a true busaholic I can tell. Having said that I’ve still got the tickets so if you really want to know what bus numbers they were I can tell you.
Victoria Park, Cardiff
The No.2 took me around to the other side of the city where I had a very pleasant time exploring Victoria Park and its history. I learnt about the zoo where they once had Billy the Seal. A vegan sausage roll was had outside the cafe that used to be the public conveniences I think. After another lap of the park my hour was up and time to head home. Another No.2 took me into town, a quick walk around then back on the same No.2 bus to home.
Drinking Fountain, Voctoria Park, Cardiff
Bloc Cafe, Victoria Park, CardiffLunch at Bloc Cafe, Victoria ParkCardiff Bus No.2 City Circle route
This challenge is much harder than I imagined it was going to be.
Cardiff Bus 1A Wentloog Business Park
Cardiff Bus 1A goes from Wentloog Business Park into town but only three times day, in the afternoon, coinciding with the finishing times for workers. To make things more difficult for me the bus travels there ‘out of service’ so to catch the 1A I therefore had to somehow get myself there. The answer was to catch a 44 or 45 to Trowbridge and then walk down a dodgy footpath, over the main railway line and onto the industrial estate.
Cardiff Bus 1A route map near Wentloog Business Park
I tried it yesterday and failed. It was a horrible wet day and I got soaked. I managed to get to the 1A bus stop in Wentloog but the bus never turned up. I got even wetter trudging back up to Trowbridge.
My misery was compounded by the fact that I’d picked up a book to read in a charity shop about Peace. The back cover professed it would tell me how to bring about world peace even though I wasn’t a political leader or campaigner. It quickly transpired that the answer being put forward was to pray. Things got worse when I Googled the author, a French Canadian, who had won his fair share of prizes but then had some withdrawn for sexual scandals.
I had it all planned yesterday too. After the bus adventure I still managed to salvage the day and go to a meeting of the Cardiff Scientific Society where Professor Sir Colin Humphreys spoke about ‘Next generation ultra-low-energy consumption 2D semiconductor materials and devices beyond silicon’. This was a very topical lecture given the announcement yesterday about Microsoft investing £ billions in datacenters in UK. To power them we will need more nuclear power stations and still have the most expensive electricity in the developed world. We can only hope that the inventions of Sir Colin Humphreys come to reality, cutting the energy needed to power these datacenters and keep out lights on. I can’t help thinking UK has got the raw end of this trade deal. Once datacenters are built they sit there not employing people but using up massive amounts of electricity. Whereas the US gets a multibillion dollar investment from GSK employing a highly skilled workforce.
Anyway, back to the bus. I tried again today. I binned yesterday’s book and bought a new one. The bus turned up on time and picked up four other people on the industrial estate before we got to Tremorfa where we joined the conventional City Circle route into town.
smartJamima’s Pitchfork at the Great Western Hotel, Cardiff
I headed over to the Great Western, (maintaining the transport theme) and ordered myself a pint of Jemima’s Pitchfork, went upstairs and found a quiet corner for a read of Richard Ayoade’s Ayoade On Top. He has a unique style of humorous writing with a rich vocabulary. I was a third of my way down my pint when my corner got invaded by a group of noisy school children, who had no intention of buying anything. In fairness they were fine, having harmless fun playing a card game. I took my hearing aid out and continued to read.
Richard Ayode On Top and a pint of Jemima’s Pitchfork
I wonder what the next bus adventure will bring me.
A new idea for autumnal days when the weather is looking a bit inclement.
I was introduced to the bustimes.org website recently. Fascinating stuff. It got me thinking of something I could do on days when the sun isn’t shining and I know I shouldn’t be spending all the time hunched over a laptop.
Accompanying me on my journey would be a book for when I got bored with the view out of the window or people watching on board the bus. I’d also aim to take in a beverage of some sort at some stage on the journey.
Cardiff Bus No.1 Canal Street
So today I felt like Laurie Lee stepping out on a new adventure, my senses heightened.
Embarking passengers took part in the wobbling skittles game i.e. could the somewhat heavy-footed driver make us fall over before we got to a seat.
I alighted at the terminus in Canal Street and went and had a coffee in John Lewis. The 3rd floor café is very tranquil, a good place for a read.
John Lewis, Cardiff
I’m part way through ‘The Golden Orphans’ by Gary Raymond. He is an author, critic and presents of The Review Show for BBC Radio Wales. It’s good quality descriptive writing which I’m enjoying.
Gary Raymond – The Golden Orphans – John Lewis Cafe
I mooched around the Alliance sculpture by French installation artist Jean-Bernard Metais outside the library. I think it’s somewhat changed from its original installation, less reliance of moving parts and projected images, but still an impressive piece of art.
Alliance sculpture Cardiff
I caught another No.1 to continue my clockwise journey which stopped off at the hospital for those people requiring A&E after a somewhat jerky ride. Fortunately, I arrived home unscathed and am now working out the intricacies of the No.1A bus.
Well, I wasn’t expecting that. It turns out my family has a Dylan Thomas connection. His great-uncle, the man who inspired Dylan Thomas’s middle name Marlais, was the minister at my ancestor’s church, where my hard of hearing g-g-g-grandfather James used to sit in the pulpit to hear the sermons. It is also said that the same minister probably inspired the character Rev. Eli Jenkins, in Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood.
I was looking around the lovely Dylan Thomas Museum on Swansea Marina when for some reason my eye was caught by an open book in a display cabinet. It was open at a page about Rev. William Thomas (bardic name: Gwilym Marles). He was the great-uncle of Dylan Thomas or Dylan Marlais Thomas to give the famous poet his full name.
Dylan Thomas, Swansea Marina
It is said that Dylan’s father decided upon his son’s first and middle names. Dylan comes from the Mabinogion, the collection of mythical Welsh tales. Marlais is a derivation of his great-uncle’s name Marles. In fact Dylan Thomas’s sister also had the middle names Marles.
Rev William Thomas (Gwilym Marles) was a Welsh radical Unitarian minister, poet, school master and political activist. He led his congregation during the scandalous Llwynrhydowen Lockout of 1876, when they were evicted by the local landowner because of their religious and political views.
Rev William Thomas (Gwilym Marles) – on display at the Dylan Thomas Museum, Swansea
The sentence that had caught my eye in the open book on display at the museum was the first about Rev William Thomas ‘Born in Brechfa, Carmarthenshire in 1834, educated at Ffrwdfal, Carmarthen College and University of Glasgow, took charge of Llwynrhydowen and Bwlchyfadfa in 1860 and in the same year opened a grammar school in Llandyssul, came to the front as a political leader in 1868, became a convert to Unitarianism’.
It was only a few weeks later, the evening before I was about to take a group on a trip to Swansea and to see the Dylan Thomas Museum, did it click into place.
Bwlchyfadfa, mentioned in that first sentence, is a tiny village in Cardiganshire where my great grandfather Evan Christmas Thomas was born. I’ve visited it a couple of time researching my genealogy. My g-g-g-grandfather James Thomas is buried there in the churchyard of the Unitarian chapel. The last time I was there I met the present minister who showed me around the chapel and then took me to nearby Llwynrhydowen chapel where we discovered some obituaries in church magazines to my ancestors.
Bwlchyfadfa, Cardiganshire approx equidistant from Cardigan, Aberaeron, Lampeter and Newcastle Emlyn (map credit: Open Streetmap)
Great grandfather Evan Christmas Thomas family tree, Bwlchyfadfa
Having read the fact that Dylan Thomas’s g-uncle Rev. William Thomas (Gwilym Marles) was minister at the Unitarian chapel in Bwlchyfadfa between 1860 and his death in 1879 I went back my notes. He would have been officiating there when my great grandfather Evan Christmas Thomas was born in the village in 1864.
Evan Christmas Thomas (1866-1936)
It appears Rev. William Thomas officiated my g-g-grandmother Mary’s funeral in 1875. Her obituary makes sad reading.
Obituary for my g-g-grandmother Mary Thomas, unmarried, in Ymofynydd magazine, with rough translation using Google translate.
It also appears Rev. William Thomas was also due to officiate at my g-g-g-grandmother’s funeral in 1879 but could not due to ill health (he died later that year).
Obituary for my g-g-g-grandmother Elizabeth Thomas, in Ymofynydd magazine, with rough translation using Google translate.
My g-g-g-grandfather James lived to the age of 84 in 1890. His obituary stated he was hard of hearing and used to sit in the pulpit in order to hear the sermons. I’m guessing these included sermons of Rev William Thomas (Gwilym Marles) before he died.
In 1876, the local landowner evicted Gwilym Marles and his congregation from Llwynrhydowen chapel because he disapproved of their “radical” politics (they supported the Liberal Party and electoral reform) and unorthodox Unitarian faith. The eviction caused a national scandal and Gwilym emotionally addressed 3,000 people on the steps of the locked chapel, famously declaring that while the landlord could take their chapel and its contents, down to the candlesticks, he could never take the burning flame – that could never be extinguished.
I am guessing my g-g-g-grandfather James and maybe Evan Christmas Thomas, being a keen Unitarians in Bwlchyfafa chapel, may well have been among the 3,000 people on the steps of the locked nearby chapel Llwynrhydowen.
Llwynrhydowen Unitarian chapel information board with information aobut Rev William Thomas (Gwilym Marles) and the lockout at the chapel.
Barred from their beloved chapel and the graves of their ancestors, the congregation built a new chapel a short distance away, but Gwilym, defeated by stress and ill-health, tragically died in 1879 aged just 45, before the opening ceremony of the new chapel, where his body was laid to rest.
It is said that Rev. William Thomas (Gwilym Marles) probably inspired the character Rev. Eli Jenkins, in Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood set in the imaginary village of Llareggub. Reverend Eli Jenkins is Llareggub’s reverend, preacher, and poet. He addresses the town in the poetic daily sermons he delivers from his doorway, and he is constantly writing, thinking about, reciting, and praising poetry and dreams of Eisteddfodau. Eli Jenkins loves Llareggub, though he knows that there are places more magnificent and exciting than the small village. He’s in the process of writing a book the town called the White Book of Llareggub. Though Jenkins knows Llareggub’s citizens “are not wholly bad or good,” he thinks that God will judge them on their goodness and forgive them their sins, and he sees Milk Wood as a symbol of “the innocence of men.”
When I next listen to Richard Burton reading Under Milk Wood I’ll be imagining my hard of hearing g-g-g-grandfather James sitting at the feet of Rev Eli Jenkins.
There was one more piece in the family history jigsaw that revealed itself during this little bit of research. Looking at the information board for Llwynrhydowen chapel online it specifically mentions Christmas Evans, the man who I think my g-grandfather Evan Christmas Evans named himself after. I had known Christmas Evans came from the Llandyssul area but hadn’t realized there was such a local connection to Bwlchyfadfa where my g-grandfather grew up.
Llwynrhydowen Unitatian chapel information board – about Christmas Evans. For more information about Christmas Evans see previous blog It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
We wanted to sample some Jamaican cuisine was part of my Armchair Travel Challenge and had heard about Jam-Welsh based at the Horseshoe Inn, Llangattock. We had a lovely Coconut Vegan Curry served in ½ pineapple and a Jamaican Spice Jerk Chicken Breast Burger, served with chilli & mango salsa, chips & coleslaw. I later gifted chef Raymond and Sheila a clock in the shape of Jamaica I had made earlier in the week.
Drink
When walking through a park in Butetown, Cardiff following a party I noticed the bins were full of empty bottles of a Magnum Jamaican Tonic Wine (16% Alcohol) – made in Jamaica. The nearby international supermarket had never heard of it but a tiny corner shop near the police station had some in the fridge – bottle purchased for future consumption. The bottle reminded me of cough mixture and there was something about the taste that had a similar resemblance too. We drank the Magnum with some Jamaican Jek chicken made at home.
Jamaica JerkcChicken and Magnum Tonic WIne
Clock
Not a bad shaped country for making a clock but barly enough room to nail the hanging triangle in on the back. Out of hands now – must remember to get some more.
Literature
I made several attempts to read ‘A Brief History of Seven Killings’ by Jamaican author Marlon James but must admit I struggled with it and never finished it. Ah, well, that’s how it goes sometimes.
Music
I’ve always liked a bit of reggae so how better to spend our ‘virtual’ time in Jamaica than by playing Bob Marley, the king of reggae.
I also heard some live Caribbean music when I gate crashed a Windrush event at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay. I caught some of the closing speeches, lots of thank yous followed by 20 minute fun Caribbean music sing-along. They started with Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. I desperately tried to remember the background to the controversy of the song being sung in rugby matches.
Windrush Cymru
Film
Staying on the theme of Bob Marley we watched the 2004 film One Love about a young Rasta musician falls in love with the gospel-singing daughter of a Pentecostal preacher, meeting her as they both sign up for a music contest. It stars one of Bob Marley’s children Ky-Mani Marley. I must admit I think we watched it by mistake after I had read there was a biographical film about Bob Marley called One Love. It turns out that one has only recently been released.
Railways
Well, I wasn’t expecting to discover that. There is a railway in Jamaica! Only just and not many. In fact Jamaica has a long association with railways going all the way back to when the first tracks were laid in 1845. The railways of Jamaica were mainly for agricultural purposes and in later years more for industry, specifically transporting bauxite (aluminium) ore. There have been passenger services in the past but they died out until in the past year or two a school-train service started up and as far as I can tell is still in existence. I like the way the seats are in the same colour as the Jamaica flag.
Geocache
There are presently no Puzzle geocaches in Jamaica for me to solve. I had a look at some of the Earth caches there but I just don’t like Earth caches – and that’s putting it mildly. I find the answers can be so ambiguous. In the end I took a look ay a Virtual cache Rainbow Country that is at Bob Marley’s birthplace. It encourages visitors to find the piece of rock, now painted with a rainbow design, where Marley used to sit and compose some of his songs.
Sport
Jamaica appeared in the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Australia in August 2023. They made it through the group stage with a 0-0 draw against Brazil and into the last 16. If they had managed to beat Columbia they would have played England in the Quarter Final but unfortunately they lost 1-0.
The other sporting event that took place whilst we were ‘virtually’ in Jamaica was the World Athletics Championships held in Budapest. Needles to say Jamaica did well in both the men’s and women’s events. In the 200m race Shericka Jackson became the second fastest woman ever with a time of 21.41 seconds.
I also kept an eye on how Jamaica were doing at the World Lacrosse Championships in San Diego, California as I was also following how the Welsh team were getting on there.
Highest Point
The highest point in Jamaica is Blue Mountain Peak in the south east of the island. It is 2,256 metres (7,402 ft) and home of Blue Mountain coffee. By a stange coincidence I came across Blue Mountain when I was putting together a talk this month on the Mackintosh family. Alexander Mackintosh, the 24th chief of the Mackintosh Clan became a merchant in Jamaica, built a house there called Moy Hall (the same name as the family base in Inverness shaire, Scotland).
The Blue Mountains are popular for hiking and camping. The traditional Blue Mountain trek is a 7-mile (11 km) hike to the peak and consists of a 3,000-foot (910 m) increase in elevation. Jamaicans prefer to reach the peak at sunrise, thus the 3- to 4-hour hike is usually undertaken in darkness. Since the sky is usually very clear in the mornings, Cuba can be seen in the distance. Judging by the YouTube videos I watched however the summit of often shrouded in fog).
Stamps
I purchased a set of 1971 stamps celebrating the 300th anniversary of the post office in Jamaica. One of the stamps is upside down presumably a replica of an actual printing error in the past.
Current Affairs
I read around a bit about the news from Jamaica. There was quite a bit about the proposed move to cut links with the British monarchy and form a republic, a view that appears to be gaining traction since the death of the Queen last year. There was also continued discussion concerning reparations for slavery in the past.
Touring Jamaica
We were able to fly to Montego Bay, Jamacia direct from Birmingham with TUI. Where did we go? Well, naturally we didn’t stay in the same place all the time. We took some inspiration from some suggestions I found online such as the Ultimate five day tour of Montego Bay and the Jamacia Travel Guide blog by Oliver.
Moldova is a small eastern European county, with neighbours Ukraine to the north and east and Romania to the south and west. I visited Moldova for real in 2017 as part of my quest to have a pint of Guinness in every European capital city. Revisiting it now, all be it virtually, Moldova appears to have become more openly western facing, no doubt hastened by the war in neighbouring Ukraine. It is not only openly applying for EU membership but also in the last month hosted a summit of European leaders.
Food and Drink
We dined Moldovan with delicious homemade Sarmale – cabbage leaves filled with rice, mince then wrapped in bacon and baked with tomatoes. All credit to my wife, not only for the cooking but also for finding the enormous jar of pickled cabbage leaves and carrying them home.
In Majestic Wines I found a bottle of white Moldovan wine – Carpe Diem, which was also delicious. I never knew you could buy single bottles in Majestic; I always thought it was for cases only.
Literature
The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov is I think the only Moldovan novel translated into English. It’s a quirky work based on a group of villagers that will do anything to escape the drudgery of Moldovan life for a better one in Italy. I was worried when I read the synopsis that only a small part would be based in Moldova and the rest in Italy thereby defeating the purpose of me reading it which was to get an insight in to the Moldovan way of life. I needn’t have worried. They don’t succeed. A humorous read, almost fairy-tale in parts and well translated.
To add to the quirkiness, my copy that I picked up on eBay was an ex-library book from Stonnington Library which seems to be in Melbourne, Australia. How these books travel!
Railways
I have travelled by train in Moldova. I wasn’t planning to – it just worked out that way. When I was there in 2017 in search of a pint of Guinness I was travelling with Ian, a great train enthusiast whose mission is to travel by train in every country in Europe. There is a very limited choice of trains in Moldova but he managed to plan a day out for us from the capital Chișinău to the town of Călărași, and what a day it turned out to be. We travelled there in a smart Moldovan train and returned on a Russian sleeper train.
When we were in Călărași we were looking around for the museum when a gentleman came up to Ian and introduced himself as the Mayor. He kindly arranged for the museum to be opened especially for us as it was closed for repair. He also arranged for us to have a guided tour by Marianna and her friend Corina. They very kindly spent the day not only showing us the museum but also the fire station, the police station, the old synagogue, a church and a lot more.
Stamps
Some themes seen on stamps are quite common e.g. sport, transport, wildlife but rarely cakes! I like it. I wonder if the gum on the stamp tastes like the cake.
Film
The Unsaved. A short film about a young Moldovan man, lives with his mother and minor drugs dealer, trying to work out the right way in life. The IMDB summary is pretty accurate.
Geocache
I have found some geocaches in Moldova but never solved a puzzle cache there. In fact it seems there are only three puzzle caches there. I chose to have a go at ‘UTM’s outdoor technology museum Mystery Cache GCA9B27 . It wasn’t too much of a challenge. I just needed to find a binary to text converter. UTM’s outdoor technology museum is an outdoor park in which you can find old buses, trams, statues, tractors and even helicopters! I also have a ‘virtual’ look at the park as one does.
Highest Point
Moldova isn’t a mountainous country. In fact it doesn’t have a mountain at all if your definition of a mountain is something over 2000 feet. Their highest point is Balanesti Hill which stands at 1411ft / 430m. Wales is positively mountainous in comparison to this. I looked up the successful summiteers of and rather liked the account of Lee Humphries who got to the top of the field in March 2017. His ascent was more a battle with the train network than it was mountaineering.
Music
My search for Moldovan music took me down some rather strange avenues. I discovered the folk-punk band Zdob și Zdub and the jazz band Trigon who put together the Moldovan Wedding in Jazz in 1993 described as “a milestone in so-called world music”. I was however most at home with the Compilation of Moldivan Folk Music by Anatol Rudei.
It has also been a month to keep an eye out for how Moldova do in footballs’ European Championship qualifiers. Things haven’t being going so well there with Moldova loosing to Albania 0-2 last weekend and loosing 2-0 to Poland at half-time tonight. But wait! Just as I published this blog the Moldova team come back and score three times in the second half to give themselves a 3-2 victory over Poland. Bet things are hopping tonight in Chișinău.
Our virtual trip the Indian Ocean islands of the Seychelles has just been completed. Some challenges were met, others not. Their President is even over here for the Coronation. He was interviewed by BBC’s Hardtalk programme apparently – due to be aired next week. Look forward to watching that. It looks a beautiful place and their flag must be one of the best.
Food
Using our imagination we dined on the deck overlooking the white sandy beach as the waves swept in. Margaret kindly prepared a taste of the Seychelles – king prawns with tamarind and coconut with Creole saffron rice.
Literature
Voices: Short Stories from the Seychelles by Glynn Burridge. An enjoyable read with lots of pirates, coral, aeroplanes, boats, sharks and rays.
Film
The Seychelles aren’t known for their film industry but I did happen to discover that some of the film Thunderbirds was made there. Now if you’d have told me that Ben Kingsley stared in Thunderbirds I wouldn’t have believed you but he does and was actually very good. The film bought back childhood memories of watching the TV series.
Highest Point
Morne Seychellois, 905 m (2,969 ft), is the highest peak in Seychelles. It is located on the island of Mahé in the Morne Seychellois National Park. It may not be that high but it sounds a devil to get up. I read these two accounts by Eric Gilbertson and Lee Humphries and was left feeling exhausted! Hats off to them.
Music
Sandra Esparon – A bit poppy but she sounds very Seychellois and seemed to bring the island vibe into the house.
Whoever would have known that someone from the Seychelles played in the Premier League, admittedly only one game for Fulham. Kevin Betsy had a long career playing and coaching in Britain.
Stamps
Some bargain Seychelles 1970s first day covers depicted colourful island scenes.
I’ve visited Belarus previously. I was there in 2015 as part of my European Capital City Guinness Challenge. I’ve just re-read my notes from that trip. It was a great adventure and I enjoyed it. A country rarely visited by tourists. It was good to go back ‘virtually’ and cover some aspects I’d missed on my 2015 trip.
Food and Drink
We looked up what they eat in Belarus and had a go ourselves. Here’s our attempt at a traditional Belarusian dish – draniki (potato pancakes) with a pork stew washed down with a bit of vodka.
Music
I’ve been listening to jazz trumpeter Eddie Rosner. His story is told in a documentary Jazzman from the Gulag. I eventually found it as part of a Zoom call on YouTube. He escaped occupied Warsaw and settled in Białystok, which was then part of Belorussia. Rosner was already well known, and he formed a Big Band, which soon became the State Jazz Orchestra of the Belorussian Republic of the USSR, and which toured the Soviet Union. Rosner was promoted to running the Soviet State Jazz Orchestra, before falling into disfavour in the 1940s, and spending eight years in a Gulag.
Literature
I read Chernobyl Prayer by Svetlana Alexievich who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2015. I think that’s the most depressing and gruelling book I’ve ever read. It is a series of monologues derived from interviews with Chernobyl survivors. The story is very similar to that dramatised in the TV series Chernobyl but has a very different impact on the reader/viewer. In the drama you get lost in the cinematography, the science, the characters. In the book it is straightforward grim – the illness, sickness, poverty and political regime. It also left me both thinking and confused. The scientific academic viewpoint seems mainly to be that deaths and illness (acute and chronic) were relatively few, in strange agreement with the Eastern Belarusian/Russian/Ukrainian ‘official’ view and in contrast to the picture painted in documentaries and literature.
I also read The Ticket Collector from Belarus by Mike Anderson and Neil Hanson and tells the story of Britain’s Only War Crimes Trial. This was a very readable book and evoked different emotions such as ‘Why am I enjoying reading this book when it is about a truly abominable event – the Holocaust’?
Film
I watched In The Fog, a Belarusian film about events in German-occupied Belarus in WWII. A good film and not what I was expecting at all. I agree with a reviewer who described it as a melancholic masterpiece.
Clock
I managed to rediscover my clock-making mojo which had been missing for quite a few months and shape a clock in the shape of Belarus. This was helped by the local timber merchants who went to the trouble of finding me a nice 2m bit of timber when I explained I wanted it for craft purposes.
Then came even more of a pleasant surprise. Via a friend, the clock managed to get to Belarusian Dzmitry who lives in Wales.
Railways
No need for me to imagine a journey on a Belarusian railway as I’ve previously visited the country and enjoyed a bit of train travel. I travelled from Minsk to Brest by train and met some lovely Belarusian people on the train. In Brest I went to a railway museum. A few days later I travelled from Brest into Poland on the Moscow to Nice train. Not many pictures of trains though as taking pictures isn’t exactly encouraged in Belarusian stations. I did get some of the sleeper train after I disembarked in Poland.
Highest Point
Belarus is a pretty flat country and must have one of the lowest high points for a country of its size anywhere in the world. The high point is Dzershinsk, west of Minsk and is 345m high. It’s apparently named after the founder of the KGB. The challenge is more getting there than climbing it. On the Peakbagger website someone has jokingly posted a picture of someone summiting using an ice axe. I enjoyed reading the account of Denise and Richard McLellan from 2019. They made it a bit more of a challenge and managed to get a 9 hour day, 16 mile walk, 2 bus trips and metro ride out of this very straight forward summit- all for less than £2. They reported that Minsk is highly recommended.
Stamps
I purchased a set of five stamps depicting paintings by Belarusian artists.
Sport
I went back in time and recalled Belarusian gymnast Olga Korbut who became the star of the 1972 Munich Games. She was the first gymnast to perform a back flip on the uneven bars which became known as the Korbut Flip. Wikipedia says she now lives in Arizona and works with private gymnastics pupils and does motivational speaking. She sold her medals and in 1999 and has spoken out about alleged sexual assault and rape she suffered at the hands of her coach.
Geocache
When I visited Belarus back in 2015 I was lucky enough to find eight geocaches including Sidetracked – Minsk. I like to try and solve a Mystery cache as part of my Armchair Travel Challenge. Most Mystery caches in Belarus are understandably in the Cyrillic alphabet but I did find Send More Money GC6MQ50 and managed to solve it.
Science
I looked at Belarusian-born Zhores Alferov who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000 for the development of the semiconductor heterojunction for optoelectronics. The development of semiconductor heterojunctions revolutionized semiconductor design, and had a range of immediate commercial applications including LEDs, lasers, barcode readers and CDs. Alferov moved to Russia and became involved in politics serving in the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, as a member of the Communist Party from 1995.
Current Affairs
Lots in the news about the war in Ukraine but my eye was caught by news of another Belarusian Nobel Prize winner, Ales Bialiatski who won the Peace Prize in 2022. This month the pro-democracy activist was sentenced in Minsk to ten years in prison.
Cardiff Capers 