Twmbarlwm Mountain Sunburst

After meeting former colleagues last night, I got home later than expected. It was a good evening exchanging stories and finding out who was doing what, where and who was no longer with us.

No sooner had I watched football focus than I was called out. My team kicked off at 3pm and I wanted to listen to it on the radio. With a spare hour I popped up to the top of Machen Mountain. I managed to get a few presentable photographs but liked this one taken of Twmbarlwm Mountain, a good couple of miles away. I've managed to capture the people on it and their dog.

Twmbarlwm is locally known as "The twmp" (translation: hump)or the nipple because of the mound that lies at its summit, is a mountain situated 1.2 miles to the northeast of Risca in South Wales. It is 1,375 ft high and is a well known landmark throughout the region. It commands extensive views across what is now the M4 corridor, over Newport and Cwmbran and out over the Bristol Channel.

At the top of the mountain, near its summit, are the remains of what is presumed to be an Iron Age hill fort, believed to have been built by the Silures, the Celtic tribe that inhabited the area before and during Roman times. There was also thereafter possibly a Roman signal point and a substantial Norman motte and bailey castle which is incorporated into the eastern end of the fort, probably of early Norman construction.

I had a couple more calls out later in the afternoon, and managed to tune the car radio in to listen to Cardiff lose against Wolves in the last minute. We didn't play well, either. Not a good day.

The wife has found out that her older brothers testicular cancer has returned and he needs a daily dose of chemotherapy for a month. They live in South Africa and he (Keith) is due to retire as a chief quantity surveyor at the end of November. My wife is naturally worried and wants to visit him for a week before the year is out.

There's always something around the corner, waiting.