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Informational articles about our tours, and a few thoughts and musings from Mike, your tour guide!
Discover South East Wales
A South Wales Heritage -The Rhymney Valley Railway
Following the requisite Act of Parliament, the Rhymney Railway (RR) company was incorporated on 14th July 1854 with the intention of transporting iron and coal from the Rhymney Valley to the docks at Cardiff and Newport. It was supported by the Trustees of the Bute...
Winemaking in Wales and Brittany – Castell Coch and Clos Garot.
While staying in my second home at St Suliac, my daily walk often takes me over the Mont Garot, at 73m the highest peak in the area. My walk takes me past a small local vineyard, the Clos Garot, situated on the south side of the hill, protected by the trees above and...
Diary of an Apprentice Tourist Guide 9 – St Suliac.
One of the reasons my apprenticeship is taking so long is that, just before starting my course as a Green Badge Guide for SE Wales, I bought a second home in France. My wife is from St Malo in Brittany and her parents, both now in their 80s, live in St Servan, one of...
Diary of an Apprentice Tourist Guide 8 – La Baie de Mont St Michel.
Back in mid August, with the temperature forecast for 25C, it was time to put the shorts on for a guided tour of the shore of Mont St Michel Bay. This time, it’s not me doing the guiding, but I am noting the actions of our local guide to explore the bay and hoping to...
Diary of an Apprentice tourist Guide 7 – The Lannion Visit (part 2).
I wrote yesterday about the Caerphilly-Lannion Twinning Association and Jean-Jacques Monnier's whistlestop tour of South Wales history. Today we were in a large tourist coach and I was on the microphone describing the route to Big Pit Mining Museum (in French!). The...
Diary of an Apprentice tourist Guide 6 – The Lannion Visit (part 1).
Caerphilly has been twinned with Lannion, a town in the Cote d'Armor area of Brittany, since 1991. The major event in the Twinning calendar is a biennial visit by our Breton friends, with a party of Caerphilly residents visiting Lannion on the alternate year. July...
Diary of an Apprentice Tourist Guide 5 – Castell Coch Revisited.
I play squash twice a week with Colin. This July was his 66th birthday and his wife Linda's birthday followed in August. She had treated him to a guided visit to Bristol Waterfront led by a guide dressed as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, which he enjoyed immensely. He had...
Diary of an Apprentice Tourist Guide 4 – Cadw Training Blaenafon & Caerphilly Castle.
Blaenafon Alongside my training to be a tourist guide, I also volunteer with Cadw - the arm of Welsh Government that looks after historic monuments. One of the benefits of this is that we have regular training days where we are shown around the various Cadw owned...
Diary of an Apprentice Tourist Guide 3 – Castell Coch
Sunday 23rd June Huge anxiety today. Sean, one of the more experienced guides from our Green Badge course, passed a job over, guiding a group of English speaking tourists around Castell Coch. As I have been volunteering there for 3 months, I felt I had more than...
Diary of an Apprentice Tourist Guide 2 – Walnut Tree & Castell Coch (The Red Castle)
Pub walks can be a good way of both getting new information for guiding and for practising guiding skills. On this occasion a group of 10 "Wacky Wanderers" left the White Cross pub in Groeswen at 11am in the direction of Castell Coch where I planned to...
Diary of An Apprentice Tourist Guide 1 – Starting Up
Well, that's it. After one of the more interesting courses I have followed, I finally have confirmation that I am a qualified Green Badge Guide for South East Wales. The only problem now is finding work. During the last month of the course I overlapped with a...