Marine Colliery, Cwm

“Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.”
Alan Watts
Not sure about bright and early but I was away by 9.15am for the Heads of the Valleys Astronomical Society Open Day in Ebbw Vale. My timing obviously a bit dodgy because I was within striking distance by 10am (it doesn't start until 10.30), so I stopped off at Cwm to get a photo of the winding wheels at the old Marine Colliery site. I thought I saw some sort of man-made object on the ridge above, but that may be for another visit. Even so I checked out possibilities for access to the ridge from the Ebbw Vale Festival Park site. All the shops closed up and road coned off, the site is just used for filming ‘Sex Education’ occasionally apparently (this from a conversation with a dog walker who told me about possible paths onto the top). 
On to Ebbw Vale, because of my chattering I was now about 10 minutes late for the start but the centre is right next to the (free) multi-storey car park. Bonus for the day was catching up with dear friends D and B, manning their respective stalls at the exhibition. I signed up to hear a few talks and explored the offerings. Lots of enthusiastic amateur (and not-so-amateur) astronomers with some pretty expensive looking kit. First talk was on the Apollo space missions, and in particular the last one, Apollo 17. Then I spent an enjoyable hour in the company of family groups in a planetarium doing a passable impersonation of a yurt in one of the upstairs rooms. For me it was very educational as well as entertaining and informative, so a morning well spent. 
I wandered into town to find some lunch, gave Wetherspoon’s a miss and found a small family run café nearby. Good food, great service and friendly staff mad me feel more than welcome. Came away with two slices of some tasty looking apple pie to share with K1 (I’m on a solo mission today). Thought this ‘boy’s toys’ expedition may be a bit beyond the call. 
First talk of the afternoon was about the James Webb telescope; brilliant talk which was absorbing, entertaining and informative – watch out ‘Sky At Night’ there’s competition here. This was followed by an equally enjoyable talk on Celtic Constellations – so enjoyable I shelled out for a copy of his book. 
Great day out, then joined D and B for a quick (non alcoholic) drink in ‘The Picture House’, the old cinema converted to a pub by Wetherspoons. So noisy and boisterous, but we managed to find a table for a drink and a chat to close our day out. Must be getting old, we’d left about 5.30pm and headed home for a quiet night in after a busy day.