Wales Outdoors Weekly Roundup 18/8/24

And Wales Guided Tours too :)

Sep 01, 2024

Wales Outdoors delivered three waterfall walks and Wales Guided Tours delivered one tour, North of Cardiff…

Waterfalls

It was, for us, a huge day, sunny and warm and 18 clients, split into two groups, with two leaders. We gave the cafe at Clungwyn Farm a heads up and they coped well with the rush of orders at lunchtime. We even had a few swimmers at the end of the day :)

Andy is the only guided walk leader working in the area that carries a throw/rescue line and likely the only leader who received the highest level of water rescue qualification, Beach Life Guard. He gained this when delivering coasteering but the skills are transferable and he maintains his skill level.

Waterfalls

Another lovely day chasing waterfalls. Indeed this week’s three trips to the waterfalls were all on sunny days, us missing the rain on both Tuesday and Thursday :)

The Valleys

I visited Rhondda Heritage Park with clients from the US from Italy on Thursday. Unfortunately, we could not get to Treorchy for lunch due to the closure of the Rhigos road, which will be closed until late October, so we made new friends in Ferndale instead.

I must say, the attractions visited are all great, Penderyn Whisky, Rhondda Heritage Park and Castell Coch but come on Wales, major road closures at peak tourism season, seemingly every CADW owned property in South Wales covered in scaffolding and this on top of many attractions not being able to serve food to my guests, at lunchtime... I try to paper the cracks but sometimes the cracks are so huge rethinking the project seems like the best bet.

Whilst at Rhondda Heritage Park I had time for a wander and was drawn to the Anderson Shelter. I used to play in one as a kid as it remained in my aunt's garden long after the war and likely into the late 1970's...

The Waterfalls

Eight out today, from the UK, from Turkey, Romania, the US of A and from Kazakstan, the last being a first for us :) They were a great bunch and they all gelled quickly, with plenty of banter in the glorious sunshine of this most typical Welsh summer.