St Illtud’s Church, Llantwit Major

View of St Illtud's church with a snow covered graveyard
St Illtud's Church - north

St Illtud’s church in Llantwit Major is a remarkable place. A church was first set up here by St Illtud in AD520 when he created the first collegiate church and monastery.

It has often been called “the oldest university in the world”. Llanilltud Fawr became the centre of learning throughout Christian Britain.

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Useful South Wales Travel Information

View of a pond and trees in snowy conditionsI’ve been getting lots of visitors over the past day or two looking for information on South Wales travel and M4 webcams.

Here are some previous posts that I’ve done over the last year or so that you may find useful rather than you having to search around:

http://www.south-wales.org/2009/uk-weather-rain-and-snow-radar/

http://www.south-wales.org/2009/m4-motorway-traffic-cams/

You may also find this page useful as it has lots of useful links to all sorts of travel information – http://www.south-wales.org/useful-south-wales-links/

Update: Wednesday 6th January – it seems the webcams are struggling with the load of people trying to have a look.  You may find that they don’t work for you.

Update: Thursday 16th December 2010 – you may find this new page useful – http://www.south-wales.org/2010/useful-information-for-south-wales-snow/

St David’s 2 Shopping Centre, Cardiff

View of the St David's 2 shopping centre
St David's 2

St David’s 2 is a prestigious new shopping centre in the centre of Cardiff. It builds on the existing St David’s shopping centre that houses Marks and Spencer, Debenhams and Boots.

With the opening of the new shopping centre in November 2009 it is now possible to shop totally under cover from Cardiff’s main shopping street Queen St. right through to the Cardiff Marriott Hotel on Mill Lane.

Building on Cardiff’s shopping arcade history the centrepiece is a large 2 storey glass-topped arcade that runs from Debenhams through to a massive new John Lewis store.

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Christmas Travel

winter sceneWith all this bad weather it’s worth highlighting a post I did earlier this year on travel information if you’re travelling by road to, or through, South Wales – http://www.south-wales.org/2009/m4-motorway-traffic-cams/

My Useful South Wales links page also has other travel resources that you may find useful – http://www.south-wales.org/useful-south-wales-links/ especially if you’re travelling by train, coach or plane.

Trials bikes at Ogmore by Sea

A couple of weeks ago we walked from Ogmore by Sea to Southerndown.  It’s a great walk along the coastal path with great views across the Bristol Channel.

As we passed one of the bays I spotted these Trials bikes practicing on the limestone slabs. 

It looked like a lot of fun and the guys were pretty skilled. Pretty impressive 🙂

Update 26th January 2010: it seems one of the riders was Dave Kerr – both guys are top of their sport in the UK

Nice view of Cardiff Bay

Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay

We had a nice walk around Cardiff Bay last weekend just as the sun was setting.  The light was really nice though it was a bit cold for me!

You can see the Pierhead Building to the left, the Senedd next to it and the Atradius building with the sloping roof to the right.

It’s well worth a walk around the Bay and now that the pathway across the Barrage is open you can now walk all the way across to Penarth.

Be warned though that the path gates are closed at 8pm so make sure you are back before then.

Click on the picture for a larger version.