Llandaff Fields in January

This knitted snowman was possibly part of a winter trail for the youngsters in Llandaff Fields, Cardiff

A couple of weeks ago I visited Llandaff Fields for a walk for the first time in several years – since the Covid-19 lockdown, I guess. Here are my photos…

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Cardiff’s Wood Street and the Betty Campbell monument

New building above the proposed bus station in Wood Street, Cardiff, and a corner of the BBC Wales HQ

Although I live just a couple of miles from Cardiff’s city centre, I have been there only a handful of times since the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.

I would usually visit the Queen Street shopping area but last week my bus dropped me in Wood Street, at the Central Railway Station end of town. The city has been without a main bus station since 2015 but a new one may open next year.

I knew the street was being redeveloped but I must have looked like a tourist as I turned around in amazement to point my phone camera in all directions…

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St David’s Day in Thompson’s Park

Daffodils in Thompson’s Park

Monday was St David’s Day – the national day of Wales – and it is not complete without daffodils so I went to Thompson’s Park to see what I could find. Here are my pictures from a half-hour afternoon walk in early spring sunshine…

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Snapshots of Victoria Park in February

Edwardian drinking fountain in Cardiff’s Victoria Park

As I visit my favourite Lombardy poplar in Victoria Park every month for a tree following blog post, I am taking snapshots of everything else in the park on these trips as well. In these Covid times I don’t get out much. Here are my February snaps…

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Meeting old friends in Thompson’s Park

Beech trees in Thompson’s Park, with Romilly Road beyond the park railings

Firstly, my apologies for being slightly inactive on the blog recently and not responding to comments in a timely manner.

I remain very busy working full-time from home and caring for my husband – still in agony and immobile as he waits for the urgent hip replacement operation cancelled in March thanks to the first Covid-19 lockdown.

And to top it all I have fallen out of love with WordPress and its new Block Editor, which I can’t get to work even if I use a different browser as recommended by one of the WordPress experts. I also couldn’t work out how to continue using Classic Editor until Mike Rogers (of Flighty’s Plot) kindly pointed out a little arrow in the admin panel that I hadn’t noticed. Thanks so much!

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Victoria Park in the pandemic summer

Billy the Seal, a Cardiff character who lived in the pond in Victoria Park’s zoo from 1914 until 1939, when he died and it was discovered he was a she…

Somehow I have been so very busy during my four months working from home that I have had trouble keeping up with my blogging. I have also totally abandoned my initial idea of visiting a different Cardiff park every week. Here I am eventually sharing my pictures from Victoria Park, although I took them in late June.

I managed to clock up 5,500 “steps” walking to the park and back, so hopefully that will give you an idea of how close to home it is. For all that, I have only ever visited it twice before, and then only passing through without a camera.

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A circuit of Llandaff Fields

Llandaff Fields – one of Cardiff’s great green spaces – pictured are two of my favourite trees – sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) on the left and lime (Tilia cordata) on the right

I’m not getting far in my attempts to visit all the local parks and fields for exercise during the Covid-19 lockdown. So far in nine weeks I have visited only two! I feel so fat and unfit, spending all day working at my desk. Anyway, this is the second excursion, to Llandaff Fields on May 6 – doesn’t time fly?

I started my circuit at the corner where Pen-hill meets Cardiff Road and heads on up to Llandaff. That way I first skirted the hedgerows along the edge of the rugby pitches, walking on grass with no proper path.

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Fairground mixed feelings

Close-up of a carousel horse in Cardiff Bay

This summer the “beach” and funfair has returned to Cardiff Bay’s Oval Basin – also known as Roald Dahl Plass. I looked in on it as I returned to the office from lunch one day last week. It seems to attract families and there is a small enclosed pool like a mini lido on the seaward side of the funfair. I’m not sure I saw a lot of sand, which would in any case have had to be shipped in for the event.

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Big wheel keep on turnin’

Big wheel in Cardiff Bay at the moment

One of the features of Cardiff’s Mermaid Quay in the summer is this big wheel, giving views over Cardiff Bay. It’s not really that big, but I decided one lunchtime that I would take my camera and have a mini adventure. It was three rotations for £4 so didn’t take long.

View from the top of the big wheel – the Wales Millennium Centre and the Pierhead Building. At this time a couple of weeks ago the Oval Basin (Roald Dahl Plass) was being prepared with stalls for the Cardiff Bay Food Festival

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Buildings of Bute Street in Cardiff Bay

In The Balance – a bronze by J A Stevenson on the front of the Old NatWest Building in Bute Street, Cardiff Bay

I try to post about subjects other than nature occasionally, but I am finding I have so little spare time these days! However, I have no excuse for ignoring the architecture when I pass so many interesting buildings most days as I walk over to Cardiff Bay for my lunchtime sandwich.

My walk usually takes me along the southern end of Bute Street, now rather run-down but with hopes of regeneration.

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