Wednesday 10 January 2018

Stranded!

Living where we do we need a car.  We are three miles from the nearest bus stop.  Our lovely Doblo has now reached the age where things start to go wrong.  After a few recent replacement bits, we now have problems with what we think is the earth cable to the starter motor which means it won't start.  It is currently with a busy garage in town, waiting to be worked on, but that is unlikely to happen before next Monday . . . 


When it was still working, we had a walk across the fields and through Castell Woods to Dinefwr Castle.  The view above is looking along the Towy Valley towards Carmarthen.  The lump in the middle is the site of Dryslwyn Castle which we climbed the week before.


When the railway ran past this (before Beeching did for it), this was called the Whistle Pool as it was where the trains always sounded their whistles on approaching  Ffairfach (Llandeilo) station.


Another watery view along the Towy valley.


A view across the castle.


The bit on the top of the tower which was added as a sort of summer house in late Victorian times (if my memory serves me correctly).  Some lovely views from up there.

Back tomorrow with a few more photos.

6 comments:

  1. Sorry about your car.
    I love the castle photos so much, I am such a tourist !

    cheers, parsnip and mandibles

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    1. Glad you like the castle photos parsnip. I'll put some more up in a moment.

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  2. I'm currently finishing the 3rd book in Sharon Kay Penman's series that follows the affairs of the Plantagenet, Tudor and Welsh royal houses, so struggling to sort the names of Welsh castles and towns--to say nothing of surnames. I appreciate books which have a map and a family tree page in front.
    Re'stranded'--mostly we've had two serviceable vehicles around, one of them being a work truck. As surely as I don't have something to drive that's when I think of some errand--usually not really necessary, but I like to know there's a car/truck available if needed.
    I look back at the Wyoming years when I would clamber into any truck parked in the dooryard and go roaring off. Such daring!

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    1. Gosh, it is many many years since I read Sharon Penman's epic novels. My Welsh is such that I can usually pronounce place names, or have a stab at them, but that's as far as it goes.

      Motoring has gotten so expensive here we can't afford to run two cars these days. A second would have been really useful right now though! Ah well, it puts our noses to the grindstone for those jobs that need doing around the house!

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  3. What a beautiful place to walk. I wonder about the old castles. Are they privately owned? Who cares for them? Hopefully, your car will be out of the shop and on the road again SOON.

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    1. It is a lovely area - parkland and woodland. This and many stately homes is in the care of the National Trust. The abandoned sort of castle ruins round here are in the care of CADW, whilst in England some are under English Heritage. So, all cared for.

      We won't be taking the car for granted again!

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