Woke up this morning and looked out the window over our garden towards the snow clad Carmarthenshire Fans and saw and heard the … wind, rain, sleet and noisy hail. After a phone call from a walking pal we were undecided whether to attempt our Walking Well walk around Dinefwr Park as everywhere looked bleak. My pal lives a few miles up the hill from us where it’s colder and in her garden there was lying snow and potentially more to come. With black clouds overhead and dressed in full waterproofs I decided to have a go and see what it was like at Dinefwr Park and whether Philip’s remarkable run of ‘good’ walking weather would hold true today!
Honestly, how does he do it? Cold and damp it may have been but the sun came out, the blue sky appeared and off we went!
We all set off from the carpark at a steady pace getting warmer by the second. It was noticeable as we went though the woodland area how may trees had recently been uprooted.
After climbing up a number of steps it was lovely to see a mat of snowdrops ( not enough to call it a carpet) flowering amongst the curled autumn leaves. Even some daffodils were peeping through too. Taking a photo of anything interesting is always handy and a great excuse to catch one’s breath!
As we emerged from the woodland we saw Newton House in the distance. We followed the pathway over the fields towards the castle and kept up our steady walking speed. I think we were all loving the walk, the views and the company but were mindful of the fact that all that horrid weather wasn’t far away!
We overtook a group of nordic walkers…to be fair…they were standing still and doing their pre-walk warm ups. We decided that although it is good to have a warm up before any exercise to get joints and muscles moving, doing warm ups as well as a walk might just be too much exercise for us!
Hope these tree roots are strong and hold these wonderful trees in place for many more years
Stopping to take photos of Newton House, Paxton’s Tower on the hill and the deer meant that I fell behind the group so I had a bit of a jog to add to my exercise to catch up with the others!
Carefully avoiding a tractor carrying a load of turnips I caught up with everyone just in time to see the White Cattle being fed in their winter quarters.
You could hear them nomnomming away and see them enjoying their treat with their head and horns buried in their hay.
The kites and buzzards were also enjoying the sunny spell and were heard calling in the blue sky above. The black spot is a kite not a fly on my lens!
Following the potholed muddy track …well it wouldn’t be a proper walk without some mud… we made our way back to ours cars. A 3 mile walk …well nearly…in dry conditions…don’t know how you do it Philip but thank you again. The Vintage Cafe, next to the garden centre in Llandeilo was todays choice for our after walk refreshments. The coffee and cake were all delicious and the icing on the cake was enjoying seeing all the beautiful plants that are for sale in The Works Garden Centre.
Now this is what my photo of a kite should have looked like! This print is by artist Kathryn Harvey for sale in The Vintage Cafe.