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My personal interests have taken a slower pace as I have matured from riding vintage motorcycles around the country to pottering around the garden and I am only in my 30's.

Most of all as can be seen from the flag on the header page I am Welsh and proud of it, a feeling summed up by the Taff Vale Railway motto "Cymru a fu a Chymru a fydd" meaning "Wales hath been and Wales shall be".

There are many endearing images of Wales such as narrow gauge railways of the North and the magnificent castles and beaches. The Cynon Valley close to my house was in fact the site of the first passenger railway when on the 21st February 1804 a steam locomotive hauled a load of 10 tons of iron and 70 men on 5 wagons between Pen-y-darran to Abercynon. See TVR page for more details.

Kim & I met through the various motorcycle festivals that we attended and particularly the 6 monthly Isle of Wight occasions that were always good clean fun and involved a wonderful ride through the New Forest and a trip across the Solent. Kim spent most of her youth living on the IOW and her family still live there so we still get to visit the island occasionally although we have replaced the tented accommodation with the comfort of a good hotel.

My wife has similar interests to myself which can be of a distinct advantage when deciding on where to go but as far as work is concerned we are in completely different environments whereby I am surrounded by computers Kim spends her days dealing with sick, injured and abandoned animals, many of which end up coming back home to our place because nobody claims them. Fortunately we live in a very rural area surround by several hundred acres of sheep grazing pasture (You may also know of the alleged affinity that Welsh men have with sheep, well it isn't true, at least that is what the sheep tell me).

Kim has recently completed her final year of here Veterinary Nursing degree and can now put a VN after her name. Since we moved to the country we have started to acquire quite a strange collection of rejected creatures that everyone had given up on. We are currently looking after a hedgehog that was brought in with the flu but after a few weeks of wrapping him up in a warm blanket and a hot water bottle he eventually recovered but now he prefers to stay with us as he seems to like to eat with the cats but has a special treat now and then of a banana which he seems to love more than anything.

Bracken Surfing is not a term you will have heard mentioned very often. That may be because you do not live in a hilly or rural area or because you have not ventured onto the rather more "alternative" forms of summer recreation. The "sport" involves a very complicated construction of a remarkable piece of engineering that bears a startling resemblance to a bread basket with a strong length of baling twain (string). For a far greater factor of speed and danger, a sheet of Perspex (roadsign etc. etc.) bolted to the underside.

The best environment for this future Olympic sport (Who knows ?) is a damp valley with steep sides (45° at least) and lots of bracken. The valley that I live at the top of is covered in bracken with a very steep slope measuring around 1/3 of a mile terminating at a stream below and has so far rewarded myself and some friends with hours of amusement (and pain). Fortunately the stream below provides a very welcome antidote to the numerous cuts, abrasions and plant dye.

View from my bedroom window as dawn breaks in winter

View from my bedroom window at summer

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