Cardiff Bay – Cardiff Capers

I was early for my No’8 Cardiff Bus to Cardiff Bay via Grangetown so went for a wander around Central Square. It’s a dangerous time of year to dawdle around there as you may get speared in the head, not by Cupid’s arrow but by a ripened seed pod from what looks to be a Catalpa bean tree of some sort. I won’t complain though. I’ll leave that to the many others who moan about the lack of greenery in Central Square and continuously mention the words ‘Why don’t the Council…….’ in their social media posts. That reminds me. There must be a huge opportunity awaiting for anyone who can develop a Google Extension or alike that filters out posts containing the word ‘Council’.

Catalpa bean tree in Cardiff Central Square

I still had time for another find before I caught the bus, this time a mislaid passport left on a bench in the bus station. I pictured someone on the way to the airport and barred from boarding their flight without their passport. This one however was battered with ripped pages and more likely used for ID purposes that international travel. I handed it in to one of the attendants. These finds are getting a regular occurrence. It was a mobile phone when I was on the No.6 route.

I like the No.8 route. Instead of going direct to Cardiff Bay from the centre of Cardiff it does a sort of slingshot type route through the multi-cultural community of Grangetown. I got off part way and visited Grange Gardens, one of the smaller but still splendid Cardiff Victorian parks. It has been modernised with an up-to-date playground and five-a-side football pitch but still has relics of the past in the form of a war memorial, bandstand and not forgetting the park caretaker’s shelter complete with Cardiff motif above the door. In 1938 an inventory was made of the contents of the shelter and it included pruning saw, axe (felling), a set of drain rods and kettle (copper).

I went into the Pavilion in search of a bite to eat and a beverage. It was a hive of activity. There’s a lot of community initiatives going on in here and a pleasant atmosphere. I had a seasonal biscoff hot chocolate and cheese and chutney toasty. The menu appeared to comprise of three type of cheese toasty: cheese and jalapeno jam, cheese and chutney and 3-cheese toasty. I was tempted to ask what their signature dish was but thought better of it. Bet it included cheese.

My book today was ‘The People on Platform 5’ by Clare Pooley. I must admit I had picked it up in error in a charity shop. I thought it was going to be travel book but it’s actually a novel. When I discovered this I feared it may be chic-lit but I’m halfway through and no chicken has appeared nor fowl of any sort. Actually, it’s pretty good read, very funny, about a group of people on commuter train who break the rules of commuting and start talking to each other. My only disappointment is there’s no mention of the types of trains e.g. are they loco-hauled or multiple-units?

Biscoff Hot Chocolate and Clare Pooley The People on Platform 5

I still had time after lunch for a walk around the streets Grangetown with its Victorian schools and churches. I even went down to the Taff embankment and had a view back up the river towards the Principality Stadium in the distance.

I then rejoined the No.8 which took me down to its terminus at Cardiff Bay and after a five minute scamper around the area and hopped back on the same bus to bring me back to town.

Click here to see more Bus-Book-Beverage adventures.

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.

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.)

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.