Author Archives: Lyndsey

Mountain biking in the Brechfa

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As mentioned in the previous post we are holidaying at home and as a result we are doing a bit of exploring.

About twenty five minutes from our “house” is Abergorlech and some brilliant mountain bike trails. As it is a part of the Brechfa forest these trails are becoming very well known on a world wide scale.

We opted today to do the green and blue runs combined, this made about a 14 km long ride. You expect green runs to be a bit dull, but not this one. There are fun little berms and rollercoaster bumps.

Another lovely thing about this ride is that it takes you through oak woods and forestry commission land where they are gently thinning and allowing native trees to reestablish. This gives the woods a wonderfully mainland european feel.

The heather is also dominant here and is clearly having a good year, leaving the hillsides clad in purple.

Off this evening to test out the homemade pizzas at the Black Lion hotel in Llandysul…we really are making the most of our holiday.

Walking above Cilycwm, Carmarthenshire

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We have been taking a holiday at home. We spent last weekend at the green man festival and now we are doing a bit of walking.

Today we walked above the village of Cilycwm, it’s about 15 minutes from our place. The hills are covered in bilberries and heather, they also become quite wild as you approach the tops. Today we sat on a craggy outcrop, eating bilberries and watching two peregrine falcons fight with a couple of crows.

We did, what I would consider, a spectacular walk with: rivers, water meadows, high moor, crags, deep ravines, pretty villages and more wildlife than you can shake a stick at.

The area is well worth a visit if you are a walker or mountain biker (look up Cwm Rhayader for a fun red run).

It’s also the home to the fun Small Nations festival, which we missed for the first time in four years this year.

The materials in the build so far

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After all the trials and tribulations of the last couple of years I thought I’d better do a bit of an update on the house.

We are continuing to try and be as eco friendly as possible. Most of our materials are either reused our recycled. Although we have used blocks to rebuild the structure the blocks are made of ash collected from power stations. The blocks are great in that they have air bubbles in them providing excellent insulation. We had looked at a variety of options but even though the products were pretty kosher they required a lot of concrete.

All of the stone has come from the original barn and the rebuilt areas look amazing. We have used the bricks which came out of the barn as coins around the windows and doors. They are looking rather splendid.

We are now looking at roofing materials, all of them are pretty pricey. Cambrian slates are made from pulverised slate which is reconstituted, they use a horrid system at the end worth plastic, but they are more reasonable than reused Welsh slates. Such a quandary!

So decisions are our daily bread and butter.