What a wonderful way to start my flexi day off watching one of the Rugby World Cup matches. With this lovely relaxing start the day was looking good. Soon it was off to Swansea to meet my friend Taggers for a spot of lunch at the first stop of our tour.
Oystermouth Castle has been newly reopened with accessible walk ways and interpretation panel. They have done a fine job of making this castle agreeable to the public for a miniscule entrance fee which is well worth the price. You can even walk around some of the battlements taking in the spectacular views of the Swansea coastline. There was some scaffolding in place in certain areas of the castle when we visited which looks like they are doing further works either to just make it safe or to increase the amount which is accessible to the public. Either way, it’s a lovely castle, in a great location near fab coffee shops and the best place to get fresh cockles.
From here we went to Swansea Castle in time for our scheduled tour. We listened to some medieval re-enactors outside the front of the castle while we waited for the tour guides. The tour guides seemed a little deflated and complained they had been giving tours all morning, this I was not impressed by as it’s not really our concern and we should still get a quality tour despite how many times they may have given it already, which was the point of the day.
We started the tour in the debtor’s prison which still had its original doors hanging. Our guide said there would be about 10 in each cell. Having recently visited Nottingham’s Gallery of Justice Museum and seen the size of the cells in their debtors prison the people in the one in Swansea should be thankful at least for not being as cramped as the poor debtors in Nottingham. Apparently you were able to keep working once in the debtors prison as you had to pay off your debt, so one gentleman even had his two apprentices coming to work in the prison with him. We went on to see the rest of the castle which was quite impressive and the numbers of under crofts which were made accessible. Hopefully this will be something Swansea Council can work on further in the future maybe in partnership with CADW to make it accessible to the public all the time and do a lovely job like they have done at Oystermouth.
There was just enough time to stop for a coffee before heading to the Walk 10 event at Margam Park to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care. On arriving at Margam Park, I met up with my delightful friend Ez and her dog Bertie and we were all raring to get going. We eventually found where to register which could have been clearer really and we headed out to participate in the Zumba warm up. This was more energetic than I had anticipated, and a bit disappointed at the people who didn’t join in (they would have been aching the next day).
Off we set, we were a bit annoyed at the beginning as people were slower in front of us and then people were bottle necking but we quickly made our way near the front of the groups of people. We were laughing at the people in their fancy dress costumes or not so sensible shoes, and then the people we thought had gone over the top bringing walking sticks, as far as we were concerned it would be a nice walk around Margam Park and back for a picnic and fireworks. We were doing well, over taken by a few keen walkers and one person who were running it. Then we were the ones wishing we had brought walking sticks.
We turned a corner and noticed a fairly steep hill, this was literally nothing for what was to come, a really steep embankment which was really quite muddy, it was a good thing we didn’t stay with the main crowd and were one of the firsts up the steep slope as it would have gotten worse and very slippy. We took a couple of breather stops on the way up and admired the view across the park until it was spoilt by the sight of Port Talbot, but hey it was still a lovely evening and we were really lucky that the rain held off.
The last stretch of the walk was all down hill and we were very grateful for this, also really felt like we had a good workout. We completed the walk in good time coming in just 1hr 15mins after we set off, not bad for 8 miles over that terrain!!! We slumped onto a bench, I decided I would brave it and go and get our picnics we left in the car. I was glad to get back to the bench and sit down. As it was only half 8 we had ages to wait until the fireworks at 10, so as we were both shattered from long days and a rough walk we decided to head home, also I had my Young Archaeologists Club session the next morning at Aberdulais falls that I had to be up for, so we called it a night. I will definitely be participating in more events like this one, so keep an eye out to donate.
Oystermouth Castle has been newly reopened with accessible walk ways and interpretation panel. They have done a fine job of making this castle agreeable to the public for a miniscule entrance fee which is well worth the price. You can even walk around some of the battlements taking in the spectacular views of the Swansea coastline. There was some scaffolding in place in certain areas of the castle when we visited which looks like they are doing further works either to just make it safe or to increase the amount which is accessible to the public. Either way, it’s a lovely castle, in a great location near fab coffee shops and the best place to get fresh cockles.
From here we went to Swansea Castle in time for our scheduled tour. We listened to some medieval re-enactors outside the front of the castle while we waited for the tour guides. The tour guides seemed a little deflated and complained they had been giving tours all morning, this I was not impressed by as it’s not really our concern and we should still get a quality tour despite how many times they may have given it already, which was the point of the day.
We started the tour in the debtor’s prison which still had its original doors hanging. Our guide said there would be about 10 in each cell. Having recently visited Nottingham’s Gallery of Justice Museum and seen the size of the cells in their debtors prison the people in the one in Swansea should be thankful at least for not being as cramped as the poor debtors in Nottingham. Apparently you were able to keep working once in the debtors prison as you had to pay off your debt, so one gentleman even had his two apprentices coming to work in the prison with him. We went on to see the rest of the castle which was quite impressive and the numbers of under crofts which were made accessible. Hopefully this will be something Swansea Council can work on further in the future maybe in partnership with CADW to make it accessible to the public all the time and do a lovely job like they have done at Oystermouth.
There was just enough time to stop for a coffee before heading to the Walk 10 event at Margam Park to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care. On arriving at Margam Park, I met up with my delightful friend Ez and her dog Bertie and we were all raring to get going. We eventually found where to register which could have been clearer really and we headed out to participate in the Zumba warm up. This was more energetic than I had anticipated, and a bit disappointed at the people who didn’t join in (they would have been aching the next day).
Off we set, we were a bit annoyed at the beginning as people were slower in front of us and then people were bottle necking but we quickly made our way near the front of the groups of people. We were laughing at the people in their fancy dress costumes or not so sensible shoes, and then the people we thought had gone over the top bringing walking sticks, as far as we were concerned it would be a nice walk around Margam Park and back for a picnic and fireworks. We were doing well, over taken by a few keen walkers and one person who were running it. Then we were the ones wishing we had brought walking sticks.
We turned a corner and noticed a fairly steep hill, this was literally nothing for what was to come, a really steep embankment which was really quite muddy, it was a good thing we didn’t stay with the main crowd and were one of the firsts up the steep slope as it would have gotten worse and very slippy. We took a couple of breather stops on the way up and admired the view across the park until it was spoilt by the sight of Port Talbot, but hey it was still a lovely evening and we were really lucky that the rain held off.
The last stretch of the walk was all down hill and we were very grateful for this, also really felt like we had a good workout. We completed the walk in good time coming in just 1hr 15mins after we set off, not bad for 8 miles over that terrain!!! We slumped onto a bench, I decided I would brave it and go and get our picnics we left in the car. I was glad to get back to the bench and sit down. As it was only half 8 we had ages to wait until the fireworks at 10, so as we were both shattered from long days and a rough walk we decided to head home, also I had my Young Archaeologists Club session the next morning at Aberdulais falls that I had to be up for, so we called it a night. I will definitely be participating in more events like this one, so keep an eye out to donate.
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