by Mike Griffiths | Mar 11, 2025 | Diary of An Apprentice Tourist Guide
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...
by Mike Griffiths | Jan 15, 2025 | Diary of An Apprentice Tourist Guide
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...
by Mike Griffiths | Nov 30, 2024 | Diary of An Apprentice Tourist Guide
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...
by Mike Griffiths | Nov 14, 2024 | Diary of An Apprentice Tourist Guide
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...
by Mike Griffiths | Nov 6, 2024 | Diary of An Apprentice Tourist Guide
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!)....
by Mike Griffiths | Oct 24, 2024 | Diary of An Apprentice Tourist Guide
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....
