Day Tripping

This week we have been on not one but two day trips. Usually we manage to get one day a week off together but we were lucky and got two so we thought we best make the most of them. David is a lover of all things railway and steam related and we are fortunate to have one of the Great Little Trains of Wales here in Aberystwyth, we can even see it chuffing up and down for a small part of its journey from our bedroom window. I always promise him we can go but one thing or another gets in the way and we don't go (not that we haven't been on it countless times already) but on Tuesday we embraced the blue skies and boarded the Vale of Rheidol. The journey takes you from Aberystwyth up through the beautiful countryside to Devil's Bridge, a little village eleven and three quarter miles inland. We have a running joke that whenever we go on the Rheidol we always end up with the green engine and Tuesday was no exception. It was quite busy as we are half way through the Easter holidays so lots of tourists and children about which isn't always a good combination on the train but it was such a nice day it would have been a shame not to do anything. Here are a few shots from up at Devil's Bridge, we didn't go far as the train only runs twice a day and would have missed the last one back if we had gone for a walk down to the waterfalls.

On Thursday I was supposed to be going on a course for work in Stoke but it got cancelled so I had the day off instead as we had plans to go to Wolverhampton to see David's parents as it was their wedding anniversary. Unfortunately they were both recovering from being poorly and the weather was very cold so we decided to go out somewhere just the two of us. We braved the cold and headed to The Black Country Living Museum in Dudley which is one of the largest open air museums in the country telling the story of life in the Midlands from the onset of the Industrial Revolution to the present day. I've been once before, back in 2009 and loved it as it reminded my of my favourite place, St Fagans which is the Welsh version if you're interested. Set in twenty six acres there is a little village with old shops including a sweet shop and a fried fish shop selling fish and chips cooked in beef dripping, seeing as the weather was so cold we had to have some to keep us going. You can also explore an old mine, something they have created, go on the canal boats, ride on an old tram and visit a 1930s fairground. One of my favourite things they have are Trolley buses, I don't know why but I absolutely love them. When we went this time they weren't running, I was a bit disappointed as I really wanted a ride. I am a bit of a sucker for all things nostalgic and a day out to The Black Country Museum is my idea of heaven, I only hope next time it's a bit warmer so I can take lots more photos! I did take a few and here are some of my favourites

We've only got five weeks until our next holiday, when we're going to stay with my family for the week and hopefully visit St Fagans to shoot some film with my various new cameras for my 52 Weeks of Film which I started this week. My new scanner has arrived and has been charging most of the day so I haven't been able to get scanning yet but I've got about twenty five films to scan already! So a busy week ahead I think. Will be back on Tuesday with the second film in my project.