CARDIFF. A capital Day Out.

CARDIFF. The castle keep with the Welsh flag, this dates from the earliest phases of the castle when the Normans came and made their presence felt.

Travel is still on the problematical side so I’m going to take a journey in my time travelling blog back to July of 2019 and a day trip I made down to Cardiff. Now it might seem a long way to go just for a day out but for me the journey is as much a part of the experience as the destination.

I had arranged to meet up with my friend and fellow coffee addict Gareth who is from the area. So after an early start and a couple of hours on the train down from Manchester I stepped out of Cardiff station into the sunshine to meet The G-Man Gareth.

CARDIFF. Welsh flags fluttering from the castle walls.

Gareth had put some thought into what to take in while we were in the city. It wasn’t my first visit but I’ve only been down there a couple of times previously. I had planned a longer stay for this year but events, as always, got in the way.

We walked over to the castle and took a look around the fantastical architecture of the place, created to please The then owner the Marquis of Bute. Who despite his Scots title was a large landowner in the area and was one of the moving forces behind the creation of the city’s docks. Which went on to act as the main outlet for the South Wales coalfields.

CARDIFF. Part of the decoration of the castle is a sequence of carved animals looking out over Castle Street, the seal looks unimpressed with the traffic.

CARDIFF. The Great Hal of the castlel.Remodelled in the Gothic revival style for the 3rd Marquess by the architect William Burges. This is the fireplace in the form of a decorative castle.

CARDIFF. Gareth indicating the size of the espresso he will be having shortly. We did coffee at Uncommon Ground in the Royal Arcade. It’s well worth a visit but if you go leave a bit of space for me. I have to say Cardiff does like it’s Arcades.

From there we walked through the peace and quiet of Bute Park, and oasis in the middle of the busy city. Well okay we also had lunch there too. Moving on we took a boat ride down the River Taff which flows by the park and out onto Cardiff Bay. Now enclosed by a tidal barrage, industry on the Bay is largely a thing of the past as in similar style to Salford Quays the area is now an area of upmarket homes as well as the site of the Sened, the Welsh representative assembly.

We landed at Mermaid Quay, the shopping and entertainment area that has been built to capitalise on the location by the Bay. The weather was good so it was a little bit hectic but we headed around the Barrage towards Penarth on the Severn Estuary.

CARDIFF. Bute Park flowers in the herbacious border.

CARDIFF. The Market. elegant little clocktower in the centre of the traditional and popular market hall.

CARDIFF. The Market. Welshcakes, wel I couldn’t go all the way to Cardiff and not have a Welshcake. Problam was that there were so many flavours………..

CARDIFF.The Royal Arcade. We had just emerged from Uncommon Ground and were both feeling well coffeed up.

Time became the enemy at this point, and we had to start heading back towards the City and the railway station. It was a pity as the day was morphing into a beautiful evening. Nevertheless is had been a well worthwhile day and thanks to Gareth I saw parts of the city I didn’t know about. Notes have been made in the black book for future visits as soon as things become a bit more normal.