Bongo Fury

Well having had a successful tour of North Wales a couple of weeks ago, in the interests of balance we thought we should have a look at the south Plenty of castles to explore here too

Some of the photos below are from a phone, you’ll know which ones they are when you get to them


First stop the Newport transporter bridge over the river Usk in Gwent....


....one of only two operational transporter bridges remaining in Britain


This has got to be the best £1.00 you could ever spend


....although Mrs Muz wasn’t too keen when she saw Muzette & I go ahead on the previous crossing


There is a definite imprecise swaying motion....


....as a section of the road is winched across the estuary, dangling by some wires


Next stop Caerphilly castle, one of the great medieval castles of western Europe....


....in terms of size, it is second largest in Britain after Windsor....


....and with its double moat....


....is a masterpiece of military planning


Time for tea and some quality pysgod a sglodion ....


....well it should be for £6.75 just for fish & chips


....with some quality gwin coch


River Tâf estuary, Carmarthenshire


Llawhaden castle, Pembrokeshire


Llawhaden castle, Pembrokeshire


Llawhaden castle, Pembrokeshire


Haverfordwest castle, Pembrokeshire


Haverfordwest castle, Pembrokeshire


Haverfordwest castle, Pembrokeshire


Haverfordwest castle, Pembrokeshire


This little critter was following us around like Mary’s little lamb


Haverfordwest castle, Pembrokeshire


One careful owner....


....The Western Cleddau and fish-ladder, Haverfordwest


Fish in the Western Cleddau, Haverfordwest


Swan & cygnets, Western Cleddau, Haverfordwest


Cygnets, Western Cleddau, Haverfordwest


Haverfordwest Priory, Pembrokeshire


Haverfordwest Priory, Pembrokeshire


Haverfordwest Priory, Pembrokeshire


Roch castle, Pembrokeshire




St. Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire....


....smallest city in Britain in terms of size & population


Lady Chapel, St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire


St. Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire


St. Davids Bishop's Palace, Pembrokeshire


St. Davids Bishop's Palace, Pembrokeshire


River Alun, St. Davids, Pembrokeshire


St. Davids Bishop's Palace, Pembrokeshire


Newgale Sands, Pembrokshire


Newgale Sands, Pembrokshire


Fresh strawbs for tea


Pembroke castle, Pembrokeshire....


....had the tide been in, this would have been a good picture


Carew castle, Pembrokeshire


Carew castle, Pembrokeshire


Carew castle, Pembrokeshire


The Boathouse by the River Tâf where Dylan Thomas,....


....author of And death shall have no dominion and all that malarkey spent his last years....


Dylan Thomas’ Boathouse


Thomas also converted the garage....


....into his Writing Shed.


Dylan Thomas’ Boathouse with the Writing Shed to the left


Dylan Thomas’ grave, St Martin’s Church, Laugharne, Carmarthenshire


Laugharne castle, Carmarthenshire


Laugharne castle, Carmarthenshire


Laugharne castle, Carmarthenshire


Laugharne castle, Carmarthenshire




Lamphrey Bishop’s Palace, Pembrokeshire


Lamphrey Bishop’s Palace, Pembrokeshire


Lamphrey Bishop’s Palace, Pembrokeshire


The centre....


....of one of these


Manorbier castle, Pembrokeshire


Manorbier castle, Pembrokeshire


Manorbier castle, Pembrokeshire


Manorbier castle, Pembrokeshire


Manorbier castle, Pembrokeshire


North beach, Tenby, Pembrokeshire


North beach, Tenby, Pembrokeshire


St. Catherine’s Island, Pembrokeshire


Fort St. Catherine, St. Catherine’s Island, Pembrokeshire


Castle Hill, Tenby, Pembrokeshire


Tourist inflation? I’m sure everywhere else it’s PoundLand and 99p World


D. Fecci & Sons, purveyors of quality ice creams....


....Oh Yes!!


Llansteffan castle, Carmarthenshire


Llansteffan castle from the other side of the Tywi estuary














Kidwelly castle, Carmarthenshire


Kidwelly castle, Carmarthenshire


Kidwelly castle, Carmarthenshire


Muzette on the throne at Kidwelly castle


Kidwelly castle with the river Gwendraeth


Kidwelly castle, Carmarthenshire


Kidwelly castle, Carmarthenshire


St. Mary’s Church, Kidwelly, from Kidwelly castle




Dryslwyn castle, Carmarthenshire


Dryslwyn castle and the river Towy


Dryslwyn castle with the Towy meandering in the distance


Balwen, a variety of Welsh mountain sheep originally from the Towy valley


Carreg Cennen castle, Carmarthenshire


Carreg Cennen castle, Carmarthenshire


Carreg Cennen castle, Carmarthenshire


Carreg Cennen castle, Carmarthenshire


Down the mysterious passage....


....to the cave – where the Dragon lives (actually a fresh water spring)


English Longhorn cattle....


....originally from Craven in North Yorkshire


Newton House, Carmarthenshire


Newton House, Carmarthenshire


Newton House, Carmarthenshire


Dining Room, Newton House, Carmarthenshire


Muzette on the Steinway grand piano, Newton House, Carmarthenshire


Drawing Room, Newton House, Carmarthenshire


Scrabble – in Welsh. So how many L, Y, F and D do you get in this version


Dinefwr castle, Carmarthenshire


Dinefwr castle, Carmarthenshire


Dinefwr castle, Carmarthenshire


Dinefwr castle with the Towy in the distance


Dinefwr castle, Carmarthenshire


Dinefwr castle, Carmarthenshire


Paxton’s Tower, Carmarthenshire....


....a folly erected in honour of Lord Nelson


Fallow deer in Dinefwr Park....


....the only parkland National Nature Reserve in Wales


Bambi!!




Coity castle, Glamorgan


Coity castle, Glamorgan


Coity castle, Glamorgan


Horses sheltering from the traditional summer weather


Ogmore castle, Glamorgan


Ogmore castle, Glamorgan


Ogmore castle from across the river Ewenny


Horses fording the Ewenny. Having crossed those stepping stones for the previous photo, I can assure you it was dodgy in the rain


Just about all that is left of....


....Neath castle, Neath-Port Talbot




Neath Abbey, Neath-Port Talbot


Neath Abbey, Neath-Port Talbot


Neath Abbey, Neath-Port Talbot


Neath Abbey, Neath-Port Talbot


Neath Abbey, Neath-Port Talbot


Hitler House, 1 Port Tennant Road, Swansea


Next up, a quick 500-mile round trip to St. George’s Hall in Liverpool....


....to collect an award at the regional business awards shindig....


....meanwhile back at Tour HQ, the rest of the Team tuck into fish, chips & mushy peas ....and Muzette-brand drink


The only chocolate farm in Britain....


....now if only we knew someone who liked chocolate....





Ah, Muzette in her natural habitat


Too many mushy peas


Hmmm, now there’s an idea


Mushy peas & sprouts


Castell Coch, Cardiff (the red castle) with the river Taff in the foreground


Never too cold


Newport castle, Gwent....


....which had its own water gate into the Usk




Chepstow castle, Monmouthshire. Photographed from a safe distance across the Wye. From England




Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire


Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire


Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire


Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire


Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire


And finally – Only in Wales – Faggots, chips, peas & gravy and a pint of Brains

So there you have it, another successful mission and the Bongo faultless yet again.
Team Muz – Living la vida Bongo

what camera is that paul. is it the same one.
the exposure and contrast are very good, or is it just the sunshine (that you dont usually have to factor in).

congratulations on the business award mate.

Was having breakfast in the cafe opposite the transporter bridge last Thursday truly a feat of engineering and a superb piece of engineering. Did you climb to the top and walk over that's 2.50 and the views are awesome. Rob

Superb as usual

Brian

Northern Bongolow wrote:what camera is that paul. is it the same one.
the exposure and contrast are very good, or is it just the sunshine (that you dont usually have to factor in).

congratulations on the business award mate.

Hi Ady, yes they're mostly taken with the FujiFilm HS10 which has a good wide-angle and amazing zoom. In good light you can't fail to take good pics though

There are a few taken with the old FujiFilm S5600, mostly the food ones as for some reason it excels at that. The jacuzzi ones are from a BlackBerry 9900 and Muzette did the head-on one on the transporter bridge (the swaying motion one) on a BlackBerry 9780. The business awards ones are blagged from the internet, I'll hopefully get some better quality ones next week.

RobEvans wrote:Was having breakfast in the cafe opposite the transporter bridge last Thursday truly a feat of engineering and a superb piece of engineering. Did you climb to the top and walk over that's 2.50 and the views are awesome. Rob

We were running short on time otherwise we would have done that, also for the £2.50 you can have unlimited crossings which would have opened up more photographic opportunities.

I can't remember how much the Middlesbrough one was to cross (we took Bongy over there in 2008) but for £1.00 you can't pass up the chance to go over the Newport one.

There's also a disused transporter bridge in Warrington over the Mersey - as I drive past Warrington twice a day, guess what I'll be doing on the first sunny evening....

Hi
Smashing pictures...and congratulations on the award!....
That transporter bridge....kind of reminds me of Auf Wiedersein Pet......
Cheers
Helen

Ah yes, that's the Middlesbrough one. Here's an archive shot of Bongy on that one

Hi Muz...
I must say, they're smashing toys...never been on one!...just right for Tarzan if he drove a car in the jungle!!!...
Cheers
Helen

Great pics,love to try the bridge out one day.

And now – To relax with a tipple from Fathers’ Day – Thanks kids

are you bringing that to the bash paul. debs and i may help you out.

Hmmm, can do. And some more traditional single malt too

Yet more transporter bridges for you to photo Muz. Pity the Widnes to Runcorn transporter bridge is not around any more. Probably my fault as they let me drive it across when I was a kid. Don't think that it ever worked properly again after that.

Tony