monkey business in the brecon beacons
Jul. 10th, 2011 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaI still can't access my journal from my work computer - looks like a webserver related issue. This is getting rather annoying now. I've submitted a bunch of support requests, but the LJ bods don't seem to be in any rush to sort it out. Grr.
But I can still post from home, so to celebrate that fact, let's have another picspam.
A few weeks ago, I went with the family on a trip up to the Brecon Beacons to visit the Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary, which is rather tiny but seems to provide a good home for all the rescued monkey and apes that live there.
Since it was such a lovely day and we were in no rush, we also stopped off at our favourite spot in those parts, a little lay-by alongside one of the waterfalls that tumbles down the hillside beside the A470: a perfect spot to park up, take in the view and clamber around on the hillside...which means I have posted pictures of this view before, but here it comes again!
We took with us for the day Chelsea's current best friend, Jessica, who is also the most sensible and stable friend she's ever had, so we're hoping this friendship lasts! Jess has had a tough little life, poor kid. Her mum died when she was only 9 - she'd had a form of leukaemia and had survived her cancer treatment and went back to work as a teacher, only to drop dead of a heart attack in the middle of the playground at break time. Seriously. Then because the type of cancer she'd had has a genetic link, Jess was tested - and was found to not only have a positive gene, but already had cancer. She's been in and out of hospital for the last 5 years, the cancer has recurred several times. But she's healthy at the moment, although understandably obsessive about checking herself for lumps. She and Chelsea have proved to be good for each other, as they have both been quite sheltered, for their own individual reasons, so they've been gaining a bit of freedom together and it's been good for them both. That day in the Brecon Beacons, we left Mum and Dad down on the lower slopes while I climbed the two girls right up to the top of the hill!
And Chelsea actually stuck her head right under the waterfall at one point!
The view is rather stunning from right up on the hillside.
Oh, and when I say that this is a favourite spot for my family, I'm really not kidding - when I went through all those old photos and papers for my digitisation project last year, I found photos taken at this same spot, alongside the waterfall, dating back 40 years!
So for example, here are some old photos taken at the waterfall way back in 1970:
In 1977:
And 1984:
But I can still post from home, so to celebrate that fact, let's have another picspam.
A few weeks ago, I went with the family on a trip up to the Brecon Beacons to visit the Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary, which is rather tiny but seems to provide a good home for all the rescued monkey and apes that live there.
Since it was such a lovely day and we were in no rush, we also stopped off at our favourite spot in those parts, a little lay-by alongside one of the waterfalls that tumbles down the hillside beside the A470: a perfect spot to park up, take in the view and clamber around on the hillside...which means I have posted pictures of this view before, but here it comes again!
We took with us for the day Chelsea's current best friend, Jessica, who is also the most sensible and stable friend she's ever had, so we're hoping this friendship lasts! Jess has had a tough little life, poor kid. Her mum died when she was only 9 - she'd had a form of leukaemia and had survived her cancer treatment and went back to work as a teacher, only to drop dead of a heart attack in the middle of the playground at break time. Seriously. Then because the type of cancer she'd had has a genetic link, Jess was tested - and was found to not only have a positive gene, but already had cancer. She's been in and out of hospital for the last 5 years, the cancer has recurred several times. But she's healthy at the moment, although understandably obsessive about checking herself for lumps. She and Chelsea have proved to be good for each other, as they have both been quite sheltered, for their own individual reasons, so they've been gaining a bit of freedom together and it's been good for them both. That day in the Brecon Beacons, we left Mum and Dad down on the lower slopes while I climbed the two girls right up to the top of the hill!
And Chelsea actually stuck her head right under the waterfall at one point!
The view is rather stunning from right up on the hillside.
Oh, and when I say that this is a favourite spot for my family, I'm really not kidding - when I went through all those old photos and papers for my digitisation project last year, I found photos taken at this same spot, alongside the waterfall, dating back 40 years!
So for example, here are some old photos taken at the waterfall way back in 1970:
In 1977:
And 1984:
