Friday 22nd May 2026 – Wednesday 27th May 2026
Gnoll Park (Neath Port Talbot)
We started our long weekend with a visit to Gnoll Park. Abi enjoyed the playground and the ‘Tree of Many Faces’. We saw the water cascade and had a little walk around the woods.
Trago (Merthyr Tydfil)
On Saturday morning we had breakfast at Trago Mills and bought some dinosaur bits in the shop.
Parc Bryn Bach (Blaenau Gwent)
Our next stop was just up the road at Parc Bryn Bach. This was a great find, ample free level parking with no height barriers, free toilets and very reasonable priced ice creams. Here we did some cycling, enjoyed an ice cream and fed the many ducks and geese.
When the water temperature is high enough you are allowed to swim in the lake, see their website for rules.
Parc Cwm Darran
Sultan the Pit Pony (Caerphilly)
Our next stop of Parc Penallta to see Sultan the Pit Pony. It is a huge man made mound in the shape of a galloping horse. The only way to truly see it is from the air so we sent up the drone.
Give yourself a bonus point if you can find us in the drone shot (hint: look for our shadows).
Caerphilly
We left our van in the Leisure Centre car park and cycled to Morgan Jones park to visit the splashpad. Our route took us past Caerphilly Castle but we didn’t go in.
Afterwards we enjoyed a swim and some showers at the Leisure Centre. Later that night we drove down to Cardiff and met up with Andy and his van.
Cardiff
We started the day with a natural spectacle, just around the corner from where we parked hundreds of Winter Moth caterpillars had emerged and were ‘ballooning’ down from the Siberian Elm tree. This is how the caterpillar spread to new trees.
We started cycling the Taff Trail, but Abi fell off her bike in Bute Park and grazed her knee. After a quick trip back to the van for first aid supplies we continued on until we reached Blackweir where we had a splash in the water. By then everyone was hungry so we cycled back to the centre and had a late breakfast in Wetherspoons. We spent most of the afternoon at the splashpad in Victoria Park.
The next day we found out that it had been the hottest day ever on record for Cardiff at 32.5 degrees.
Teresa & Johns
We spent our last night camping at Aunty Teresa’s house where we enjoyed a swim in their pond.
Kayaking at Llandysul Paddlers
It was members session on the lake so we called stopped on the way home so Abi could have a paddle with her friends.
