Sunday's castle was a cave

[byslantedlight]

The Welsh National Showcaves were about an hour and half's drive from where I'm staying, so I thought it might be a good place to go when the weather was a bit clearer and the views were nice. Which it was, but I was high in the Brecon Beacons for much less time than I expected, so I don't actually have any nice views... So its more caves, I'm afraid!

I think the lads might have something to say about this next one... ...and does anyone else see a sleeping dragon here?

There were three separate caves to see, and they were all self-guided, which on the one hand was nice and free, but on the other hand made them seem much less special. You didn't get any of the stories about the different formations that guides might tell you, and there were very few labels with names. On the one hand you got to make them up yourself - but on the other hand you could only do this if you spotted them. It also made me think they'd done it to get more people through more cheaply, so the focus doesn't feel like its on how special the caves are, more "look what we've got here, we can make money from this..."

Not that it's badly done or anything - and they have their own bubbling spring (near the Iron Age farmers tableaux). There were more dinosaurs than I expected, mind, because it was also a dinosaur park. Again, nicely done but it felt like far more effort had been put into giant plastic dinosaurs than into amazing natural caves...

Here's Bone Cave, where they found 42 human skeletons. Now, call me silly, but I think this could have been an excellent focus for the story of the area...

The third cave was Cathedral Cave - and it was beautifully big, with two waterfalls, which you walked between to get to the end of it all, and lots of water everywhere.

After all that I decided to head for a Tudor house, and find out some later Welsh history - only to be told when I'd got there that it was so "rammed" inside that they were giving people the option to turn around and maybe come back later... So I did, and headed for the Welsh National Botanical Gardens instead, since I've barely used my Royal Horticultural Society membership that I was given last year. And I still haven't, because my free entry to this garden ended in March... *headdesk* So I went in feeling a bit grumpy in the end (it's not cheap!), but then I found the pilipala house, and cheered up a bit. *g*

Not much doing in the gardens themselves, in March, but in the biodome I found Australia, and that was some nice nostalgia too. *g*



There were at least some daffodils around. *g*And that was me - it was time to head back to the Castle for one last night...

Comments

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

That was an exceedingly lovely day! While I may have had some reservations about roaming around the caves on my own, they look fascinating. And, yes, I do see a sleeping dragon! You may be right about the inexpensiveness of the cave exhibit, but it could be that they couldn't find anyone willing to lead the tours. Perhaps something like the recorded tours that are used in so many castles would be an acceptable compromise. I'm not sure how taken I would have been with the plastic dinosaurs. Seems sort of tacky.

The flowers, of course, were lovely, even if there were less of them than desired.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It was a rather nice day, although it had its moments of frustration! The rest made up for it though. *g*

The caves did have recordings on speakers that started automatically as you went around, but the sound wasn't always good enough to hear them properly, although they were quite loud when you were standing there, and I ended up giving most of them a miss because of that. I'd be surprised if they couldn't find people willing to be hired as tour leaders - jobs are jobs, after all - so I really suspect its the profit thing, sadly...

I thought the dinosaurs were a bit tacky too, but they were reasonably well done in fact, and the kids all loved them, so actually it could have been much worse. I wish they'd been a separate attraction, but I suspect that was part of the profit-thing too...

It was nice visiting Australia on such a grey day! *g*

[loxleyprince.livejournal.com]

I suspect Doyle's response would be a filthy laugh and Bodie's would be a big grin. :-)

Caves, an iron age farmers tableau, and dinosaurs? That's probably the first time in history they've been juxtaposed.

Love your pics of the bottlebrushes and daffs.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you - it was lovely to see flowers from home, and the cheerful daffodils!

And yeah, I suspect you're right about the lads' responses! *g*

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Oh, caves! Mr. Siskiou was a cave guide at Oregon Caves many years ago. You do learn a lot about the history and stories that way. The scariest was, when they turn off the light deep inside, to demonstrate how dark it is and how hard it was for the original discoverer to find his way out again, just by the sound of the little stream, when his matches ran out.

Your caves look pretty amazing!

I love the Australian flowers and butterflies!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I remember about Mr Siskiou's cave guiding now! I think it'd be a brilliant job, I really do... *g* I love it when they do the lights-out thing in caves too - I think we forget what darkness really is, and even more so now that there are little green and red lights on everything at night, to tell us whether they're on or off!

The flowers and butterflies were a nice snatch of warmth on a grey day!

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

I saw the pics of caves and immediately thought "Dragons!" XD

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yes! *g* I thought Reign of Fire, even more specifically - I really liked that movie, and the caves conjured it beautifully - especially that one formation!

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

Fabulous caves! But brrrrr to going in without a torch, and a spare torch, and a spare spare torch just in case! *g*

.... oh, and a big ball of string. Um, make that nylon cord. Luminous, please. *bg*

(I do love your cave pics, though. And the only time I remember actually visiting a cave I loved it, it was brilliant!)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee for dark caves! *g* I do like caves alot, but if I was going down a non-showcave one then I'd definitely have many redundant (hopefully!) sources of light. And radio. And string. *vbg*

[cyanne]

Lovely pictures and I'm glad you found the butterflies. We went to see a butterfly exhibit for my birthday a few years ago and it was such fun to see them flitting around. And while I really like the pictures of the caves (good dragon) I'm never quite sure if I actually want to be in one.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I do love a good butterfly house - I fell in love with them at Melbourne Zoo, which has a brilliant one, where there are so many that they land happily upon you, and just flutter beautifully before flying off again. *g* The ones I've been to over here haven't quite been of the same callibre, but I'm ever hopeful.

And caves! I do love a good cave - though I've not been proper spelunking, or anything like that (I've a dodgy knee that it's awkward/uncomfortable to crawl on). I wish I could, though...