When you visit the website for Llandaff Cathedral (and you should do!) you will first encounter a very well produced and choreographed drone video, which is at the same time absolutely bonkers. It starts outside and having done several close passes at roof and tower height you are left wondering where it is going next. At which point it goes inside, flying between two robed people, before flying through the choir and threatening to extinguish a candle lighter with its propellor wash as it whizzes past. Congratulations to everybody who did not flinch as the drone passed by. I have seen a few interior shots of Llandaff Cathedral before…

I bought a little silver disc necklace here. On one side it has a bee – a symbol of St David – and on the other is a dove, the symbol of Ireland’s St Aidan. It was produced to commemorate the forging of a new pilgrim route intended to reinvigorate connections between the people of Wales and Ireland. This year St Davids Cathedral is marking the 900th anniversary of Pope Callixtus II decreeing that one pilgrimage to St Davids was equivalent to two pilgrimages to Rome. I have just missed out on a big weekend here. On Friday the Prince and Princess of Wales were here for a private service…

After St Asaph we had a couple of nights on Anglesey, with an afternoon exploring a derelict brickworks by the coast with a nice little swim in clear blue water. Then back to the mission… Local culture is a powerful ingrained thing. To change behaviour usually requires overcoming culture. When I say culture I mean those little things that all add up to the way people respond in a given situation, where somebody from outside might say “why are they doing that?” By way of example, one of the parishes that I serve is famous for being the longest village in England, and it’s a long thin streak of nothing.…

  After leaving Brecon we had a very wet drive of nearly 3 hours northwards on the way to a short break in Denbighshire. The rain didn’t quite wash the mud off those green wheels yet though but this gently sloping campsite was still slippery from the rain which had only just stopped. The grass here was refusing to provide any grip but fortunately it didn’t churn up – a chalk hillside with very thin topsoil. Eventually we developed a technique which didn’t involve reversing uphill and got Clara onto the hardstanding pitch where we didn’t move her for a couple of days. The site owner told us of her…

Day 2 of the holiday and a second cathedral beckons. After Alun cooks breakfast he tows Clara backwards out of the field. He’s put some gravel down in the gateway to maximise traction, and in only a couple of minutes her tyres are back on solid tarmac and we’re off, 40 minutes back in the direction we came. Perhaps we should have stayed with them tonight rather than last night? As we came past our destination yesterday I already know exactly where we are going, and we arrive bang on time, having arranged to meet Tash’s friend Amanda from Cambridge days. After a coffee in the cathedrals ‘Hours’ cafe we…

Part of the Chartists Trail Entry to Newport Cathedral Etched glass Etched glass Slate art Norman arch on Roman columns View towards the East East Window and Christ Chancel Layers of history revealed in window reveals North Aisle Portable pulpit – pity about the base Nave furniture Nave Altar Wire sculpture of Christ He’s looking at me East End East Window Sanctuary Leper’s Window Detail of East wall Looking West Carpenter’s signature St Gwynllyw South Aisle Font South side of Newport Cathedral – exterior East end of Newport Cathedral – exterior When I did my advance research on this first stop – a quick check on Google Maps – I…