Snow!

Great to see some snow, yesterday!

Day trip by train(s) to Ebbw Vale, as you do on a bank holiday Monday. lol

Taken from the top of a 505 metre high very steep hill that I clambered up - views simply breathtaking, with Pen-Y-Fan (here) in the north and even the sea shimmering in the far distance to the south. The highest hills in Wiltshire/Dorset are just over 200m, which seem high enough when you've walked up them!

Ebbw Vale has gone from the site of the (once) largest steelworks in Europe, through a National Garden Festival in 1992 (which I visited), reintroduction of a passenger trainline (Michael Portillo would even love this one as it snakes through the high-sided house-hugging valley sides) and whilst there are some remnants of its industrial past, these are now a  (largely) purposeful respectful reminder of the past, rather than an ugly blight on this rugged and beautiful landscape.

The area still struggles though of course and it doesn't always look as beautiful as it does on a bright sunny day. Having once lived in a different Valley myself for a number of years, I know this all too well.

I've seen a positive change in attitude of the locals towards visitors and tourism from 'who'd want to come here, we can't wait to escape!' (or words to that effect) to a much more positive realisation that their Valley is a beautiful place to visit. I had more than one "Lovely day for photos!" (in that wonderful lilting singsong Valleys accent) rather than any disconcerting look at a visitor with a rucksack and a large 120-400mm lens.

Temperature: around 0 degrees for most the day. You don't realise how cold it is until you see a puddle that is still frozen at 3pm! 

Left home at 6.45 a.m., got home at 9.45 p.m. Bed not long after!!