The Cardiff wetlands

At the time of writing this we have just had torrential rain interspersed with persistant drizzle for nearly three days.  You could be forgiven for thinking that when I say wetlands I might mean my rather soggy garden.  No, not this time, though it is not far off seeming that way.
I recently had reason to be in Cardiff for a couple of days, staying right by the bay edge.  It is many years since I had last been there so I was looking forward to a return visit.  As ever I had some ideas of what I might want to fit into the visit whilst I was there.  If you look carefully at the left hand side you can see a blue building on the other side of the bay.   This is the Doctor Who Experience and this is as close as I got to it.  My tale of woe is that I could not go on the first day of the visit so I set aside some time on the second only to discover it was closed that day.  This of course just means I have to return.

Secondly, as is my usual habit, I wanted to find a good garden to visit on the way home.
The sky gives away the whole story, it rained all day on the Monday and all day on the Tuesday.  It just did not stop.  When I set off to drive home I considered briefly that I might stop off, but it would not have been much fun in the cold rain so I drove straight home.

As I was leaving the hotel and walking to my car I did pause briefly to go and have a look at the Bay.  There was a path by the car park so I wandered down it, brolly in hand, to find that this wonderful space opened up in front of me.  Even with the rain it looked very beautiful.

The Cardiff Bay wetlands were originally saltmarshes.  When the Bay area was created back at the turn of the century (crikey that seems an odd phrase to use and yet accurate), the water became freshwater and these wetlands were therefore developed.  I did pause for a moment to consider the loss of the salt marshes, as vital an environment in their own way and now lost.

The wetlands are a very important area for all sorts of wildlife and they cover around eight hectares.  This is not an insignificant amount of space.  On this day said wildlife were snugly staying in bed, sensible them.
You cannot walk into the wetlands themselves, but there is a barrage path you can follow.  It was too miserable a day for me to want to do this and the long drive home beckoned.  I was glad that my curiosity had made me follow the path to overlook this area.  It gave me my small planty fix I needed for the trip.

Comments

  1. I think Dr Who is closing, Alison. (and it wasn't really v good, we thought,- a bit like the early sets? You can see the seams..) But as you see, there are aspects of Cardiff that are great! XXX

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    1. thanks Anne - that's useful to know- I thought it was worth going as I was in the area but I am not sure when I can get back, it might close before I do. I loved Cardiff, we went to the Museum which has the most wonderful art gallery. I remembered liking the city when I visited before.

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  2. Although I live in Cardiff and I am even a long-time Doctor Who fan, I have never been to the Experience - nor to the Wetlands!
    But thanks for bringing the latter to my attention. If you were here in the week just gone, the weather here was really dark and dank and dismal, but it's not ALWAYS like that here, honest!
    All the best :)

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    1. The weather was horrendous! But I still thought it a beautiful city :)

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  3. Enjoyed my visit - nice to know that I am not the only one who gets lots of fog jajajaja - as here at the lake. Jack

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