Dai's walk around Wales blog

NAPPY DAYS - MUMBLES WHEELBARROW RACE

Today is the 31st anniversary of our last victory at the Mumbles Rugby Club new year's day charity wheelbarrow race, we won this two or three times. This particular year, we turned up this year with our sleek new racing outfits and it was a nappy for the three of us (Jeff Rees, front, me in the middle and Jeff JRG in the rear as we broke our own course record. We covered the 2.5 mile course in just over 12 minutes making the pace a touch under 6 minutes a mile. The rules were that one person had to sit in the barrow at all times when it was moving but unfortunately for JRG his racing pace was a little slower than that so we made him sit in the barrow the whole way so that Jeff Rees and I could take it in turns to push. With the temperature being around 1 or 2 degrees by the end poor Jeff was almost blue.

It was a nice day so I headed off once more to Sgwd Einion Gam on the Pyrddin. As the crow flies this waterfall is only about 2 miles away from my house but of the Brecon Beacons, Waterfall Country waterfalls it is by far the hardest to get to. Apologies for the quality of the, its a screenshot from a video which I hope to publish to youtube soon.

Continuing on the theme of the Afon Pyrddin and Sgwd Einion Gam, today is the 12th anniversary of a walk we did in the middle of a cold snap and the waterfalls in the area had almost frozen over completely. Dale Thomas, Martin Naughton & myself took time out to enjoy the spectacular frozen falls of the Afon Pyrddin. Both Sgwd Gwladys and Sgwd Einion Gam were looking amazing, the photos don't do the walk justice, there were icicles everywhere and with the river surface completely frozen from Sgwd Gwladys upwards reaching Sgwd Einion Gam with dry feet was a luxury we'd never experienced before.

WINTER SWIMMING - NEOPRENE GLOVES, SOCKS & HOOD / HAT REVIEW

Covid lockdown had got to me because I hadn't swum since I had a quick dip on Swansea beach in November and my last decent swim was in September. I'd managed a swim every month last winter and January was probably the coldest month so I knew that to get a decent swim in, to enjoy it and to be relatively warm after it I needed some additional kit. With this in mind I ordered 3 neoprene swim accessories from ebay, gloves, socks and a hood/hat. Off to the beach I went on my trusty Roberts, the rest of the story is on youtube. Please click the link below.

https://youtu.be/_ShvYNHRaIE

There's another storm on the way and a magical window of a sunny spell appeared on the weather forecast so it was off to Moel Penderyn to register the first sunrise of the year for my sunrise and sunset photo collection. Initially I was walking the ridge but I could hear this tree calling me "photograph me" it was saying "look how much prettier I am than that stupid trig point, think foreground, think foreground". Of course I was sucked in and came down off the ridge just in time to catch the sun coming up behind the tree.

CLICK HERE FOR MY SUNRISE AND SUNSETS IN WALES PHOTO COLLECTION

WALKING BEHIND SGWD YR EIRA, BRECON BEACONS, WALES IN FLOOD

48 hours of almost constant rain can only mean one thing, the waterfalls are in flood. A 90 minute walk from my front door takes me to what I consider to Wales' best waterfall, Sgwd yr Eira. This video shows this amazing waterfall in heavy flood including walking behind the falls.

https://youtu.be/5_bqvMfZ8QM

Since publishing my book on the Origin & Evolution of Sport in 2016 I've been on a journey of understanding. I've been trying to understand myself and why I am who I am. I've looked at my historical environments, circumstances and some of the events that have governed my current position in life. During this journey, it is my opinion that I have identified the meaning of life but then again I may be wrong. I've invented an academic character Professor David Glyndwr Penderyn Bevan Richards to explain everything and commissioned a video and published it to youtube to tell the world about this. The video is published in two formats, with music and without, If you have the opportunity please watch both versions and let me know which you'd prefer. The purpose of the video is to generate a discussion about the topic so please feel free to challenge my opinions or provide constructive criticism either on this FB post or the youtube comments.

THE MEANING OF LIFE & WHY WE WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND IT

VERSION 1. The purpose of this video is to generate a discussion relating to THE MEANING OF LIFE. It is not a definitive explanation of the THE MEANING OF LIFE it is the beginning of an evolutionary process that is possibly working towards a generally accepted definition of the phrase. The timing of some of the illustrations is a little bit off as is the grammar. I would welcome any constructive criticism.

https://youtu.be/sRBdoyF536Y - with music background

https://youtu.be/Khi3L-_oZKE - without music background