day 8

Day 08

The area I am in looks a little like a guetto. It is a bit dirty, there’s a lot of immigrants, broken glasses, people standing on the streets. A bit scary, but nothing really happens.
I just have to ignore it. Apart of this is very central and it seems to be the only place in town where there are hostels and B&B.
In Wales they love rugby, and they really feel distinct from the England. “The difference between the Welsh and the English? They have girlfriends we got the sheep”. Their beer is called Brains which says something, uh?
The morning was beautiful so I decided go for some close areas to start my exploration on Welsh ancient monuments. I had some names of places in the map, so I took the bus to a place which had some interesting spots in my map.

Y BARRI

I went to Barry (or Y Barri, in Welsh), where close there were should be some Roman ruins and an Iron age fort. I could not say for sure if I saw any of those. Its was a very weird trip. People around didn’t look very aware of them. The place is a kind of seaside boulevard. There is a fun park from the 20’s near by, much like the Coney Island in New York.

Barry Island Fun Fair

Yet it’s surrounded by parks and very green. Most of this area was a leisure park of a family, which sold it to the government, so they keep it as a park. There is a significant part of a railroad inside it, but it doesn't seems to be operating now, as it would serve to transport coal from a mine nearby.

Romilly Park

There is a port which looks like the Roman ruins, but in the map it is other place, where there’s nothing but cliffs. The port had staircases and some architectonic elements that could be from Roman times, like archs.

all the area were inhabited since before the Romans arrive

is this the roman remains?
is this the fortress?

The same happens with the fort, there were no sign of it, but there is a seaside hill much like the other fortress I saw, but again, no indication of it. Around the park I could find a medieval castle in ruins, close to the houses and a stone circle in a square.
The Barry Castle belonged to the family which gave name to that area, and is the first settlement after the Romans in the area. The Castle been used until the 14th century. The history says that the lineage of the Barry failed to leave descendents. Around the 16th century the castle was said to be in ruins. Today is surrounded by houses.

Barry Castle's ruins, from the 11th century

Everything seems so close, so united, the almost disappear. The city seems to involve everything with no distinction.

the strange and not mentioned stone circle

The stone circle was difficult even to know if is new or old. The cut of the stones is a bit distinct from those in England, although in some aspects they are similar. It was a round circle with 16 stones and a horseshoe around, with some other 5 stones. There were an “altar stone” in the middle, and two other a bit close, but outside the circle. There were a message written in one of the stones that I might try to get it translated.

It says:
Cwir un Erbun u bud
Eisteddfod Genedlaethol
Cumri 1920
Oulch Gorsedd Beirdd
Unus prudain
Agorwud
Mehefin 18 1919
Dun a proe Daigni

It did not get clear to me if it is an ancient stone circle or it is just a new one.
True is that Celtic tribes been in the region before the Romans, and flints were found there.
Meanwhile I had a good time taking photos on my own version of the Ley lines, looking in the landscape, in the constructions, and even in the sky inspiration for my research.

Going back to Cardiff, I’ve been around the city with no much direction, as I was tired and it was a bit late to enter in the main attractions of the city. There is a Roman age castle in the very center of the city that may be interesting, and there’s a museum of the city that claims to have a collection on pre historical ages. Probably tomorrow with some more time I will do it.