Today's County in the spotlight

[NewcastleFalcon]

Another of the settlements in Merioneth is Bala. If you ever watched (all episodes currently available on all 4) Great British Motoring Journeys in Series 1 Episode 3, Christopher Timothy and Peter Davidson went from Cardiff to Snowdonia, and made a point of stopping off at Chris Timothy's home town of Bala.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/gre ... /66310-003

REgards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Near Bala there is Capel Ceyln

https://wikishire.co.uk/wiki/Capel_Celyn

The upper Tryweryn river was dammed, to create a reservoir by Liverpool Corporation. The river from the reservioir down towards Bala is the site of the National White Water Centre.

Lots of video's on youtube telling the story.




REgards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Time to move on Merionethshire has had a decent airing under the spotlight on we go!
____________Merionethshire Done!_____33 done 59 to go_____

and the next one please. There are 92 historic counties in England Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland, each is having a mere day-ish in the spotlight selected at random.

Our 33 numbers selected so far have been
3,5,7,8,9,11,12,13,15,16,22,24,28,34,44,48,51,52,54,59,61,65,66,68,69,70,72,78,79,81,84,86,89

So here is the next choice:

Random Number Selection is 18

New County is Cardiganshire

We are still in Wales

Have a little think, 100 points for the first person (without looking anything up) to either name a single town or village in Cardiganshire, or provide some fascinating fact, or TOH memory or association about Cardiganshire.

If you know nothing about it....well that's what "Today's County in the Spotlight" is about...be curious find out.

REgards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Unless my memory is playing tricks I believe Devil's Bridge is in Cardiganshire and it is near where my friend from Elstree and I found a terrific chap whose business was entitled "A Lad in his Cave" which gave you a clue as to the special stock he was selling.

He is a wood turner and lives on the road between Rhayader and Aberystwyth with his large workshop where he produces garden furniture from locally sourced timber. We stopped with his wife on their balcony as she gave the valley's red kites their afternoon tea and we enjoyed a cream tea too, We purchased a bird table which still stands in the back garden where you may have spotted it in some of my garden pictures. If not you can see it in this video where our jackdaws are fighting over the fat balls hanging from it:



So the bird table, made of Cardiganshire wood, has travelled all the way from the red kites feeding grounds to our jackdaw and pigeon table!!

[mickthemaverick]

An off topic question, In the video in my previous post you can see a green squarish object on the bottom of the large tree trunk. Do you know what it is?
A further more expicit picture is available as a second clue if it stays unidentified !!

[NewcastleFalcon]

My guess for Cardigan would have been Aberystwyth in the middle of Cardigan Bay. I see there are not a great number of larger settlements in Cardiganshire with Cardigan itself being right down at the bottom end on the north bank of the River Teifi, with Pembrokeshire on the other side.

Cardigan also has a Corgi named after it, the Welsh Corgi Cardigan.



Highly likely the world famous fashion accessory "The Cardigan" also has a Cardigan connection.

REgards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

If my memory serves me right I believe the fashion item was named after the Earl of Cardigan or maybe Lord Cardigan following something to do with his dress on the battlefield. That's all I have without research!!

[mickthemaverick]

Here is the new county's flag:

BFTW

Details here

The location map:

BFTW

The places within the county are there for you to discover!!

[mickthemaverick]

If my memory serves me right I believe the fashion item was named after the Earl of Cardigan or maybe Lord Cardigan following something to do with his dress on the battlefield. That's all I have without research!!

With research I see that my vague memory was on the right lines:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardigan_(sweater)

[NewcastleFalcon]

iconic FCF picture of Devil's Bridge

Robyn saw the AA box at Devil's Bridge the other day and sent me a picture of it... Would you like to see that one?

Of course, Its great when a little seed is sown in an FCF thread, and it produces some real world effects!
Crikey we had a holiday in Norfolk on the back of photographing the dog next to the Brancaster AA Box!

You may not have seen this Pic taken by Eifion (who made a trip to Devils Bridge) and came back with this prize



Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Something quirky needed, thinking caps on contributors

These things had a link with Cardiganshire, apparently the Welsh Dairy was a thing in the smoke, with many dairy farmers from Cardiganshire heading for the streets paved with gold in the mid/late 1800's.

http://web.archive.org/web/201603042037 ... cleid=1863

Former Lloyd & Son dairy, Amwell Street, Islington

© Copyright Jim Osley and
licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Former Welsh dairy, Conway Street

© Copyright Jim Osley and
licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

The Vale of Rheidol Railway, a little gem.

Starts from the superb Aberystwyth Railway Station, and ends up at Devil's Bridge with the AA Box and the bridges and gorge.

Aberystwyth station, main exterior

© Copyright Ben Brooksbank and
licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.



REgards Neil

PS Hubnut has even done a vid on it but his lasts 44.39 If you are a Hubnut fan it's in this link here
Quite watchable and by the time the 44 mins are up you would probably have learnt how to drive a steam train.

[NewcastleFalcon]

There is plenty to find about Cardiganshire....One of its attractions has been mentioned at least 12 times on the French Car Forum, in particular by Paul R who probably first brought it to our attention.

https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... mit=Search

Seeing and hearing that Deltic fire up started my love affair with big diesels and that love affair is as strong as ever

Have you been to the Internal Fire Museum of Power yet? If not you really should go, they have some humongous engines there. I think I've mentioned it elsewhere before but here's a link http://www.internalfire.com/

They're mostly closed now for the winter now so you'll have to wait until spring at the earliest. I took my brother there in June for his birthday and we both enjoyed it immensely. I intend to visit again some time next year.

At the rear is a separate building housing some old Post Office phone stuff and an amateur radio station which is occasionally activated for special events and the like. Sounds like perfect day eh?

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Don't just view join-in Cardiganshire's Day-ish in the spotlight continues until tea-time ish today.
Knowing nothing about it is no excuse, find out!

I've done a fair bit of content-providing and have enjoyed the search.

New contributors always welcome, so if you are a viewer turn yourself into a poster, the more we have the more interesting the thread!

If anyone watched all of the Hubnut video on the railway you may well have spotted the appearance of an Invacar one of Hubnut's projects a bit like our Zel. I presume from it that Hubnut may well have his HQ in Cardiganshire.

https://youtu.be/j4g9ZhBpPwk?t=2002

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

What was it that Lewis Carroll wrote "The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things"
but not anymore of Cardiganshire. Its time has run out. As ever appreciation to Mick for his contributions.

____________Cardiganshire Done!_____34 done 58 to go________

There are 92 historic counties in England Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland, each is having a mere day-ish in the spotlight selected at random.

Our 34 numbers selected so far have been
3,5,7,8,9,11,12,13,15,16,18,22,24,28,34,44,48,51,52,54,59,61,65,66,68,69,70,72,78,79,81,84,86,89

______________________________________________________________________

Here's the pool

Spoiler: show

updated with the 34 counties selected to 27/04 inc Cardiganshire

Here's the random tool https://www.random.org/

If anyone is ready to move the County on please do, it would be nice to complete the full task, but it does need active participation. Plenty views not enough content providers, but thanks to those who have joined in so far.

Regards Neil