Well, March was a bit of a sod. The weather was particularly vile here in Merry Olde Blighty and efforts to get the Fruit & Vegetables on the go proved futile. Temperatures just weren't up for germinating the seeds but I did get round to potting up the fruit trees and bushes and it's only now they're beginning to show signs of life. So it's been a late start this year and no doubt the weather will still throw us a googlie before the month is out. Easter beckons and snow is forecast, at least it's consistent. For the past two years as we've headed west for the Easter Break we've come across snow showers over the Brecon Beacons.

The Diary has been a bit blank this month and the only thing of note was the annual pilgrimage to go see our mates The Stranglers. So my old mate Rhid & myself met up in Cardiff to have a few beers before the gig. True to form we ended up having more than a few. We kicked off at The Central Bar for some reasonably priced Ale, then to The Buffalo Bar...which is a bit trendy for my usual spit & sawdust approach to things. From there we walked up to the concert venue and headed to The Pen & Wig to meet up with old muckers George Doster & Jumpy. We certainly got in the spirit of things and the ale fest continued once we got into The Student's Union to see the band.....so much so that I can barely remember the gig.......that'll teach me....probably not. Lord Gibbs provided transportation back to the ranch and we closed off the evening by sampling some of the recent brews fermented at Chez Gibbs. Getting up the next day proved to be difficult, but hey ho.

Mid March and Grant wanted " A bit of a blowout"...due to things being a bit quiet down at Cannington, Somerset, where he resides during the week. I'd developed a vicious cold after The Stranglers gig and so a blowout was just what I needed! As luck would have it, Wales were playing Ireland on the 14th and this game was going to be a good one. We kicked off the day by walking the two miles down The Smiths.....not the band ...but the chosen boozer to watch the match. Grant was meeting up with his mate Kirk who he'd met down in Cannington. It was a pretty good atmosphere in the boozer and the only downside for me was that there was no Real Ale on tap.......so Dublin's Black stuff was the chosen tipple at that particular venue. The Thugby proved to be highly entertaining and a tough old battle it was too. Wales won....for a change and so that was alright then. After the game we ploughed on down the road and visited a few more local hostelries........we finished circa 10.30pm..........and despite my cold I managed to go the course ....trooper that I am. The next day saw me like Sheridan Poorly......having the hot & cold sweats under a blanket on the sofa.......more to do with the cold, I hasten to add. It took three weeks to get rid of that cold. There's been some very good bugs doing the rounds.

Temperatures finally got above freezing for the last couple of weeks in March and so it was time to get stuff on the go in the greenhouse and finally things have started to come to life. My Electric propagators help with the seeding process and now the Tomato plants are beginning to grow. This year we've got a few varieties on the go. Shirley, Money Maker, Italian Scatalone, Marmande, Fire Starter & Totem. We've also got a fair few varieties of Chillies as well. The Chillies we tried to over-winter didn't do too well.....which was a bit of a shame. Other stuff include Broad Beans, Runners, Courgettes, Cucumber, Celery, Rat Tail Radish plants and also the usual battle trying to get Herbs on the go......so it's early days as yet and it's fingers crossed for a good summer, which still seems like an Ice Age away.

Easter

The Easter Break was looming and so it was decided that we would head across the Brecon Beacons to West Wales. We left on Thursday night and it wasn't too bad, quite dry as I recall. We got into Aberaeron around 8pm, dumped the gear off at the Van and then hit the town. We went all trendy and visited the local hotspot, The Harbour Master....it's the place to be seen...if you want to be seen, so you can guess I wanted to be seen somewhere else. The town wasn't very busy and so we headed to the hallowed ground of The Black Lion to visit Sir James Dalton esq. and it was good to see him and the locals again.

The following morning we awoke to a cold grey drizzle with howling winds. I said to Grant "What are we doing here?" - The weather was that bad it was decided that to get into the spirit of misery we would head the 20 miles up the coast to Aberwristslit. There's nothing better than a seaside town in the pouring rain - it's like a Giles cartoon...miserable families trudging round the shops in the rain whilst umbrellas fly past. For us though, we had some gambling in mind and so hit the pier Amusement Arcade to try our luck on the slotties. Grant knows how these things work and so we made a few quid and then decided to hotfoot it to Yr Hen Orsaf - which roughly translates as The Top Station - http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pub s/yr-hen-orsaf A Weatherspoon pub that has been built in the old railway station - we like these places, they have a good selection of fine ales and more Pokies....we stalked one guy who was spending a fortune on one machine, but he looked as addicted to them as we are and wasnt budging .....so we tried another machine and made some more cash. The weather did brighten up somewhat and we decided to head back down the coast and get a walk in. Despite it brightening up the wind was still growling and when we walked across the beach to Newquay, we got soaked with the spray coming off the sea. The first port of call was a pub called The Dolau - which translates as The Meadows, for some strange reason as it's pretty much on the seafront and on a good day you can get lucky and watch the dolphins swimming in the bay - today wasnt one of them. We then had a wander around Ceinewydd (which is it's proper name, which translates as Place to take the children when it's Raining), the other pubs here have become Gastro Pubs so you have the joy of standing by the bar drinking your beer while the majority of people dribble gravy down their chins. That said we did visit one place that was a bit different, it's called The Queens and I have been meaning to visit it for ages. It doesnt open during the day but opens it's doors at 7.00pm. This place is different. It's like a small Library and just does Real Ales, Ciders & food. The locals there were fiercely loyal to the place, I was told it doesnt open in the day as they dont want to cater to bored families sheltering from the rain. I can go with that. I approached the small bar and enquired "What beers do you have?" - I was gruffly told "We've only got one!" - "Only one I want" I said. I was beginning to like this place. The beer was good and Grant said the Cider from the barrel was top notch as well. Our visit was a brief one but I told the people who ran it that we liked their pub very much and will certainly make an effort to visit again. http://travelblogs.mapquest.com/wallaby _gypsy/a-british-experience/the-queens- cei-newydd

It was decided that we'd head back home the next day as our usual partners in Crime, Clive, Gail & Owen couldnt meet up with us, which was a shame but couldnt be helped. After another night back in Aberaeron, we headed back with our good mate Alun who drove us to Penlanymor Farm.
Thanks Al.....hope you enjoyed the Home Brewed Ales.

Funnily enough the weather was glorious on Saturday morning, but the decision was made to head back. There was some work to be done in the Garden and Mrs. Gibbs would be happy that it was dealt with. Our little adventure wasnt over as yet though and we decided to head back home via the Abergwesyn Mountain Range. We went from Pennant to Tregaron and the views were something else, we got to see the panoramic sights of the mountain ranges that cross mid-Wales, I dont think photos will do it justice but all I can say is that for a small country, Wales looked very big that day.If anyone is thinking of visiting this neck of the woods, let me know as I'd gladly show this remote part of the Treachorous Principality. Abergwesyn Mountain range is still an awesome place to drive through and is one of those places that is impassable in the Winter. One section is called the Devil's Staircase and deserves the name. I cycled this road a few years back from Brecon to Tregaron and I wont be doing it again. It took me 10 hours and for every mountain I rode down, there were two to go up. It was July when I did it on the bike and I got stuck in a hailstorm for an hour. This place is mad. http://www.dangerousroads.org/europe/wa les/3989-abergwesyn-road.html

Another story I'll recommend comes from the reporter Gareth Jones (who, himself is worth a mention, he was reporter for The Times in the 1930's, he travelled the world and amongst other things exposed the famine of Central Asia under the communists. He was later killed in China by "Bandits".) Here's his story of crossing the Abergwesyn Mountain Range in 1933 - http://www.garethjones.org/in_search_of _news/06-BY_CAR/by_car.htm


From Abergwesyn we then headed to the Epynt Mountain Range, this is a different kind of madness as the range is owned and used by The British Army, so that let's you know what sort of terrain it is. Red Flags are flown when you enter and big warning signs tell you not to go off the road as there could be live bullets flying past. The Army were out as we passed but we didnt hear any guns going off. From there we made the descent into Brecon Town and then back to the ranch.

http://www.discoveringbritain.org/walks /region/wales/mynydd-epynt.html

All in all it hadnt been a bad little trip.

There's more photos to add on and I will update over the next couple of days.

April Next.


Lloyd.