Blessed with a bright clear day we decided to drive out of town, to go for a walk taking a picnic lunch with us. We didn't go far, just to the top of Caerphilly mountain, and took the muddy path east from the busy mountain top snack bar, following the ridge. On the first stretch of the path there are small oak trees, and then a line of beeches, followed by a conifer grove. We stopped by the beeches to eat our picnic in the sunshine, and listened to the call of the huntsman's horn and the hooves of horses clattering unseen in the wooded valley below. At that moment, it was if time had stood still, it felt as if we could have been there at any time in the last couple of centuries.
We descended the ridge to the track that leads to the nearby hamlet of Wern Ddu, but went in the opposite direction, finding the entrance to the Coed y Werin nature reserve, a large hollow area in the mountain top folds occupied by clay pits and coal extraction since ancient times. It's now managed as a site of ecological interest, by Caerphilly Woodland Trust. Apart from its variety of trees, there are wetland features, and a coal seam out-cropping from old sandstone rock so typical of the South Wales Coalfield basin. A lovely discovery, which I look forward to re-visiting later in Spring when the bird population picks up again.
After our walk, we drove into Caerphilly to have tea and home baked fruit pie in the delightfully traditional Glanmor Tea Room opposite the main castle entrance. Then, home for an idle evening, in front of the telly, with no Sunday sermon to prepare. While this lack of routine task tends to leave me feeling uneasy, it is good to take a break from ministry, to step back for a while and be on the receiving end.
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