Days 76, 77, 78, and 79

Rhia’s comments are italicized

• Car ride to Cwmaman

Our Stay with old Interact friends in Aberdare ended, but we moved just three miles away to Cwmaman, to visit our brother-in-law, Brian.

Cwmaman is a tiny village that’s part of Aberdare that developed around a coalmine…but it’s a great jumping off point for many interesting places. Bri took us to visit the beautiful old town of Brecon, located in a mountain range in South Wales called The Beacons. This mountain range is so huge, challenging, and isolated that elite military squads are trained there. There were some nice shops, and beautiful views.

The massive amount of rain that they have had this summer has all the streams and waterfalls running. It’s not uncommon for Wales to have a massive amount of rain, but it’s certainly atypical to have such a wet and dreary summer. When we brought the children here (when they were little) they were aghast that not only did we take them to the beach in the rain, but also that we made them sit in the rain to eat ice-cream 😂 Perhaps they learned the meaning of the expression ‘needs must’ that day 😂 But I marvel at the beauty of Wales, even on a rainy and dismal day!

Unsurprisingly, this rain has filled all the reservoirs. Five years ago, they were low enough to expose the bottom, and a time long lost.

The following day, we took the bus back into Aberdare. We wanted to visit an old friend who stopped responding to us last year. Unfortunately, she did not answer, so we toured a little bit more of the town. We visited a war memorial to commemorate the veterans of the valley that had been built since our last visit . It’s a lovely, low-key memorial incorporating one of my favorite quotes:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

Down the road sits St. John’s s church, still in use after 900 years. Rhia’s sister, Hefina, is interred in the consecrated grounds of the church. I remember a group of us nipping into St. John’s on Christmas Eve for mass (after an evening out 🤨) with my brother dressed as Santa Claus. Dad was sitting in a chair waiting for my brother and I to get home…already knowing what we’d done…!!! Aberdare used to have very communicative jungle drums, especially when your dad was a preacher 😲

Across the road runs the river Dare, for which the town is named. A lot of information is contained with the names of Welsh towns. ‘Aber’ is Welsh for river’s mouth. So Aberdare means Mouth of the River Dare. There is also the word Caer, which means fortress or castle. The Welsh spelling for the capital city, Cardiff, is actually Caerdydd. So you can tell by the name that the city had originally been built as a fortress. I won’t even attempt to explain Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. 😂😂😂 I bet you’ll research it, Connie 😂

Our final trip from Cwmaman was to the Gower in Swansea. Some of the Gower beaches are consistently on the Most Beautiful Beaches in Europe list. Even with this year’s dismal weather, it’s easy to see why.

Our heartfelt thanks to Brian for the warm welcome he gave us…he even returned from his holiday early so we could visit. There’s a popular Welsh song called “We’ll keep a welcome in the hillside” and our friends and family have certainly proved that to be true. We are forever grateful!