Getting Wet & Wild at Plas Newydd

“You can do kayaking, canoeing, raft building, high ropes course or sailing”

The words were spoken by Jane, our Business Support Coordinator at Plas Newydd when I asked if I could join one of their Wet & Wild days. 

I paused and glanced out of the window towards the Menai Strait. 

“Mmm.  Let me think…” I ruminated.

Kayaking and canoeing? I can do this any weekend. 

Raft building?  Sounds a bit like hard work. 

High ropes?  Too terrestrial for a Coastal Engagement Project Manager.

And, Sailing..? 

Yes, I thought.  I’ve always fancied doing that, but never had the opportunities – financial or otherwise – to have a go.

So here I am, a month later, unglamorously clothed in purple waterproofs and life jacket with three families of friendly strangers on the quay below the Marquess of Anglesey’s ancestral home on the banks of the mighty Menai.

Ready to cast off

 For some time now, the Trust has been keen to complement the more cerebral attractions of the James Wyatt –designed 18^th century mansion with activities that could appeal to people of all ages and interests.  And we didn't have to look far for ideas.  The Conway Centre which provides all sorts of educational, art and adventure experiences sits right next door.

So it was two teachers from the Centre, Colin and Charlie who were to show us land-lubbers the ropes.   They split us into two groups: the younger children and a father with Colin and the older children (including me) with Charlie.  A few minutes later our group was stepping carefully from the little motor boat onto the graceful lines of Jouster, one of two 8m long J/80 fixed-keel sailing boats that the centre owns.

Jouster, waiting at her mooring

Sitting attentively with my fellow cadets, Charlotte, Emily, Alfred and Alex, I learnt the names for the sails, ropes (some curiously called sheets), cleats and other vital equipment.  Soon we were setting off into a stiff south-westerly and learning to ‘beat a tack’, ‘come about’, ‘jibe’ and how to avoid the ominous-sounding “danger zone”.

Charlotte takes the tiller as Charlie checks the trim of the sails

Alfred and Emily off Felinheli

Emily takes a turn as helm

A dozen or so tacks brought us to the far side of Felinheli and in high spirits we made for home, securing the yacht to the mooring minutes before a squall hit us.  The final task – requiring the combined teamwork of both crews – was to haul the motor boat in one continuous motion up the steep ramp to the safety of the quayside.

And so we made our way back to the kit store, pleased with ourselves for taking the trouble of broadening our horizons in such an enjoyable way. 

Now all I have to do is start saving up for that yacht.

Why not go Wet & Wild yourself?  Trips continue until the end of August.  Click here for details.

ABERDARON BOAT SAILS 50 MILES INLAND

After the longest voyage she's ever taken, Orion is hoisted onto the National Trust's stand at Builth Wells.  

A little bit of maritime history was made yesterday when "Orion", one the few surviving Aberdaron lobster and herring fishing boats arrived at the National Trust's stand at the Royal Welsh Show ground.

Orion, which is named after the local cove Porth Orion, is one of two boats now in the care of the National Trust that were originally owned by Guto Christmas Evans of Cae Mur .  The other boat – Annie – is awaiting restoration, but it is hoped that Orion can join the other surviving Aberdaron boats in the annual regatta next summer.

Guto Christmas Evans promised his father that he would make sure that  his boats would be looked after.  Both are now in the care of the National Trust.

The last people to carry on the age-old boat building tradition at Aberdaron were Siôn Tomos and Wil Jones; both worked through the first half of the 20^th century.  It is said that Siôn Tomos, who at one time was also the village postmaster, had to be cajoled to build the boats by his wife when they needed the money. 

These little boats - of which 30 have survived - were built to a unique design favoured for its manoeuvrability in the rough waters of the Bardsey Sound, where willow lobster-pots were laid in deep water close to the shore.  Some say that the design retains features that may have been handed down from the Vikings.

Olympic Beach

Staff and Volunteers drew a huge Paralympic logo in the sand of Rhossili Beach under the watchful eye of a time-lapse photographer. Agitos on Rhossili Beach / Chris Russell-Jones

When the London 2012 committee approached the Trust to produce a time-lapse film showing the creation of the Paralympic logo, we knew we'd have to work fast. They'd seen the Oak Leaf Challenge film we did last September and were inspired.

We only had a short window of time before the tide would cover the beach so it was vital that nothing was left to chance in the planning stages.

On the day 27 adults and two classes from local Penclawdd Primary School helped us to dig the design.

"This is the second time-lapse film we've done on Rhossili Beach, so many of our digging team are getting quite professional at this." said organiser, Kathryn Thomas (NT Gower). 

"And our volunteer surveyors did an outstanding job marking out the grid for us. Then all we had to do was transfer the design from paper to beach!"

The film for this spectacular will be released to worldwide news agencies and be shown on London 2012 and YouTube websites, as well as the BBC Big Screens around the country.

To watch the video, click here

Aberdaron Coastal Tourism Centre of Excellence

This blog post was published last July, so is totally out of date now.  However, it does provide a valuable insight into the architect's approach to the design of Porth y Swnt (as it's now called), which is due to open in March.


Aberdaron will be the location for a new heritage

centre.  But how do you design a building for such a beautiful place?

Photo: © Turtle Photography

 
"God is in the detail"  

So said the Aberystwyth-based architect Iwan Thomas at a meeting I recently attended.  We were considering sketches for a new building that will be built in the heart of the picture-postcard village of Aberdaron on the Llŷn peninsula.

The project will be one of the most exciting developments to take place on the Welsh coast over the next couple of years.  It will involve the creation of a new visitor building at the centre of the picturesque cluster of higgledy-piggledy white-washed houses that huddle around a beautiful medieval seaside-church 

The need for a building to interpret the area's rich natural and cultural heritage has been discussed by the community many times over the years.  But it was purchase of the village car park - together with Henfaes, a former guest house - by the National Trust that was the catalyst that enabled the project to be a possibility.  Then, a successful grant bid to Visit Wales for a Coastal Tourism Centre of Excellence ERDF grant, turned that possibility into a reality.



The Aberdaron area is exeptionally
rich in nature and culture.  Soon there will
be a facility that will help people learn
about it.

 When you consider that this will be the only new building to be built in the heart of one of our most beautiful villages for a generation or two, then you'll realise that the discussion with the architect could not have been more important.  

The discussion was an insight to the sort of questions that architects have to wrestle with when designing for a sensitive site: A contemporary building may disturb the visual harmony of the village; a vernacular building may come over as mawkish pastiche; a tailor-made building may be difficult to adapt if the purpose changes; a future-proofed building that's able to cope with any change may end up an undistinguished 'box'...

Luckily, Iwan Thomas was able to tap into the combined experience of a group of some of the most eminent architects in the UK, during a recent advisory visit of the Trust's architectural panel.  The result of that meeting was the realisation that the starting point for a new building should be based on a greater appreciation of what makes Aberdaron beautiful now.  

Looking at the village through the eyes of an architect is a revelation:  You notice that funnelled gaps in between buildings invite exploration; and how glimpses through gateways into small yards enclosed by whitewashed walls add to your curiosity; and how domestic and working buildings interact with each other to create pleasing diversity.  Above all, you begin to appreciate that the gaps between buildings – and the way that they relate to each other – are as important as the buildings themselves.

Fired up with these observations, Iwan summarised the situation nicely.

“We must work with the grain of the village…the building will only succeed through the quality of its detailing and the richness of its materials.”

With the benefit of this approach, Iwan has started to sketch out some tentative designs that will be shared with the community and the planners over the next few weeks.

Having been instrumental in this building’s conception, and possessing in equal measures a passion for its purpose and a wish that this special village retains its unique character, I was mightily relieved that we have found an architect who is prepared to work in such a sensitive way.

If you’re interested in coming along to see the sketches – and to have an opportunity to comment on them – there’s an open day at Henfaes, Aberdaron on the 13^th of July.



Henfaes is located at the centre of the village.  The new visitor centre will be located near the car park behind this building



Getting to Grips with Gower

Space below my feet.  One of the wonders of the Gower peninsula.

 

“Well done everybody.  You’ve made it.  We’re on the Worm!”

These were the words of National Trust Warden, Claire Hannington, and they were shouted triumphantly just as I arrived – along with a group 30 other walkers – on the tidal island of Worm’s Head, just off the tip of the Gower peninsula. 

And we had a good reason to be triumphant.  From our grassy vantage point we were able to look back to the mainland over the half mile of jagged barnacle-encrusted limestone, seaweed and rock pools that form a natural causeway over which the intrepid walker can scramble at low tide.

Time and tide waits for no man...this is not a place to linger.

I’d joined the walk – organised as part of the hugely popular Gower Walking Festival – as part of a long-standing promise I’d made to myself.  After a number of ridiculously brief visits over the years, at last I was going to spend two nights and two days exploring this most intriguingly beautiful part of the Welsh coast.

I was the guest of the small team of dedicated staff and volunteers that looks after the National Trust’s 26 miles of amazingly varied coastline on the peninsula.

 

The ideal guide: Warden, Claire Hannington in action

Claire, who says she’s more at home when she’s attending to practical tasks, could not have been a better guide for my first morning’s ‘walk to the worm’.  Her explanations were down-to-earth, witty and highly informative and they helped bring the landscape alive to us better than any information panel or leaflet ever would.

Having conquered the worm and marvelled at its amazing diversity of wildlife, I returned to the team’s base at South Pilton Green Farm and - after joining a planning meeting for the Cwm Ivy Wildlife Day on the 30^th of June – I was free to explore the peninsula under my own steam.

I headed to the north coast, where I explored Whiteford Burrows National Nature Reserve, the first National Trust property to be purchased through the Neptune Coastline Campaign, back in 1965 and soon found the recently-restored Lodge bunkhouse which is now available for group bookings. 

A visit to the cosy Britannia Inn at Llanmadoc for my evening victuals was followed by an ascent of ‘The Bulwark’, an impressive prehistoric earthwork with a spectacular view of the mighty Loughor estuary to the north and, in the opposite direction, the intricately-embroidered patchwork quilt of farms, hedges and scrubby heaths that makes up the rural heart of the peninsula.

Lengthening shadows.  The view over Whitford Burrows from the Bulwark

An early start the following morning saw me weaving my way through ‘The Vile’, which as I'd learnt on the previous day’s walk, is a rare survival of the medieval open field, still with its strips of arable crops, sinuously curving away from the hamlet of Rhossili towards the coast. 

The next few hours were coastal walking at its very best. Seven miles of dramatic limestone cliffs and flower-filled grassland, enjoyed to the accompaniment of that evocation of happy solitude, the soaring melody of the skylark.  The only thing that detracted from my enjoyment was the fact that this is a walk that rewards the relaxed rambler with time to spare.  Purposefully striding towards my rendezvous at Port Eynon, I spurned opportunities to descend scrubby valleys that invited happy detours to hidden coves.  These included the remarkable fortified cave of Culver Hole and the famous Goats Hole, Paviland, the location for one of the most famous prehistoric burials in Britain.

At Port Eynon, I was met by the Gower team's admin assistant, Roni, who turned out to be a veritable mine of local information as she showed me around the Trust's properties on the south coast.  As Roni met with Megan, our car park attendant at Pennard, I was able to explore the wonderful Three Cliffs Bay.

Picture-postcard Three Cliffs Bay never fails to impress

Have you noticed how famous picture-postcard views sometimes disappoint when you actually visit them?  Well, Three Cliffs Bay is not one of those.  Stepping into the classic view and exploring its delights rewarded me with a succession of wonderful scenes, including sweeping beaches, flower-studded hillsides, dramatic cliffs and a gracefully meandering river.

Wiping the sweat off my brow as I rushed up to meet Roni at the entrance to Penmaen Burrows, I reflected on how lucky I am to have gained a store of memories of this wonderful part of the Welsh coast.

You too can enjoy the delights of Gower...

For an introduction to the National Trust on Gower and to find out about planned events, like the guided walk I joined, click here

To follow my footsteps, here are the links to download walks I did.  Rhossili to Worm's Head, Whiteford Burrows , Port Eynon to Rhossili (and beyond) and Three Cliffs Bay

Pembrokeshire's World Cliff Diving Championships will be a UK First

Abereiddi's Blue Lagoon.  The perfect venue for the UK's first World Cliff Diving Championships
©National Trust Images/David Sellman

 EXTREME athletes from across the globe will test their nerve on the Welsh coast this year when the National Trust host the world cliff diving championships.

The dramatic Blue Lagoon at Abereiddi in Pembrokeshire is to be the first British site ever to stage one of the seven legs of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series at the end of the summer.

 The National Trust owned cliffs will be the venue for the incredible televised competition which sees only the best and bravest divers in the world leap from a specially made platform 27 metres above the waves.

 “It is hard to understand just how extreme a sport this actually is. The cliff they dive off is the same height as an eight storey building,” said National Trust Ranger Nicky Middleton-Jones.

 “The divers hit the water at almost 90 kilometres an hour, and the impact on their bodies is such that even the slightest mistakes could be almost unimaginable.”

Abereiddi’s Blue Lagoon is the sixth stop of the series that sees 11 of the world’s best take on incredible cliff dives in France, Norway, Portugal, USA, Ireland and Oman.

 Nicky said: “The divers not only have to deal with fear and the elements, but they also have to impress the judges with perfectly executed twists and somersaults.

 “And, of course, they have to get the entry into the water absolutely right. Unlike normal diving where competitors hit the water head first, cliff divers have to enter the water feet first as the pressure of hitting the sea from such a height, at such speed, is too much for the head and shoulders to take.”

 British reigning World Champion Gary Hunt and former British Olympic Diver Blake Aldridge will lead the event on the 6, 7 and 8 September.

Nicky said: “The many dangers of cliff diving are obvious, and we remind everyone that these divers are experienced professionals taking part in a carefully managed event, with measured risks and a host of safety experts. The consequences of members of the public attempting something like this could be fatal.”

 1500 tickets for the event’s spectator area will be made available nearer the event.