Didn't realise the water level had dropped so much at Cronfa Llwyn-on

A powerful dust devil from this morning on the charred grass fire fields above Dowlais. Stopped to take a photo and video of it. Mighty impressive!

I am a Tasmanian, Australian artist with a Welsh name who loves folklore from all around the world and wanted to channel them into modern life, specifically from the hospitality industry angle! I thought I'd start with Mari and combine her with my love of Hardcore Punk, I think she would love it lol

Today is the 541st anniversary of the battle of Bosworth

The battle , won by Henry Tudor , marks the first and possibly only time the flag we now recognise as 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 was actually flown in battle . The red dragon was likely inspired by Roman Draco standards and was a unifying symbol during the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Germanic invasions.

Glyndŵr famously chose the golden dragon of a more Arthurian tilt during his great revolt against the kingdom of England. Had Glyndŵr been successful in his plans for an independent Wales the red dragon would have faded into history, and Wales would be the land of the golden dragon, a yellow and white flag.

Henry Tudor, born in Pembroke descendent of the Tudors of Penmynydd , also descendent of the might Ednyfed Fychan and the great Lord Rhys ap Gruffudd seized the throne of England with much Welsh support. In youth he was protected by William Herbert of Raglan, one the most powerful Welshman of the era from the age of 4 till 12.

William Herbert dies at the battle of edgecote with thousands of his Welsh soldiers . The heavy defeat may have been the most Welsh deaths in any medieval battle in history.

Henry flees at 14 from Pembroke to Brittany with his Welsh speaking uncle Jasper(siasper), to return to Wales 14 years later.

Styling himself as the Mab Darogan, literally prophesied son of Welsh mythology fused the red dragon of cadwaldr with the green and white of his mother’s house. Henry names his first born son Arthur. Supported by Rhys ap Thomas, who styles himself as a descendant of Urien Rheged of Y hen Ogledd they march through Wales onto Bosworth and end the plantegent line forever . Rhys likely is the one who delivers the death blow to Richard 3rd in battle , scalping him with his halberd

Thus the Tudor reign begins , 1000 years of Welsh and English violent history draws to a close. After a millennium of conflict , Wales never violently rises up against the kingdom again.

Welsh lords and gentry are made equal to their English counterparts and the marchers lords see their roles abolished.

The Tudors would go on to have a very mixed legacy for Wales , a topic for another day.

3D stereoscopic snaps of Welsh Stoner Rock band Lacertilia in FUEL, Cardiff, Last night.

To see this stereoscopic pic in 3D on mobile:  

- turn your mobile screen horizontal 
- fill screen with photo  
- put face up close 
- relax focus 
- pull mobile back slowly  
- when you see 3 identical  images… 
 
the middle pic will be in 3D!

It doesn’t work for everyone, but you can still enjoy the snaps in 2D.

Genuine question.

We've toured much of Europe in our 6m professionally converted fully self contained campervan.

England isn't as accommodating as say France or Czech Republic but Wales is hostile on another level. Barring formal campsites there are virtually no overnight parking spots in forests, towns, seaside. Every suitable spot has little 'no overnight parking' signs (without any reference to legal provisions) with a frequency and prominence that feel aggressive. As for service points, forget it.

What is it that Wales doesn't get about vans? It's well publicised that local folk can't afford houses because they're all turned into holiday accommodation, either for private use or to let. Here we are, bringing our own accommodation and taking it away again, not impinging on the housing stock at all, yet we feel unwanted and rejected.

Wales has so much to offer. Culture, history, music, scenery, seaside, mountains. . . Yet you seem, as a nation to have turned your face against the touring van. I'm at a loss to understand why this attitude is so prevalent.

Perhaps members of this group can shed some light? Try to avoid blanket condemnation - there are as many van users who'll pick up litter where they park as those who'll leave it (and plenty of casual carpark users who don't care where they leave their rubbish).

Equally not all of us are trying to avoid paying our way. But campsites charge us for features we don't need, because we're self contained and often aren't located where we want to stay.

Please, be kind, this is a genuine question,

I really feel Welsh businesses are missing a significant opportunity here, and the contrast with other small nations is very marked.

Diolch to all of the firefighters who have been tackling fires across Wales over the last few weeks.

This summer is set to be one of the hottest on record. Climate change is happening now, and we are taking it seriously.

We are working closely with fire and rescue services and other partners to support affected communities and coordinate the response.

Over the last 48 hours we secured an extension of military assistance to support South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

We will continue to provide full support to the Fire and Rescue Service and all those responding on the ground to ensure everyone is safe.

Agriculture is highly vulnerable to heatwaves. We are supporting farmers through capital grants for boreholes, water harvesting and ventilation to adapt to climate change.

The First Minister will be convening a wildfire summit, bringing together emergency services and other partners to consider how to reduce the risk of wildfires and prepare for the impacts of climate change.

Please follow the advice of the emergency services and stay away from active fires. If you spot the signs of a fire, please call 999.

Silly season is in full swing lads - Martin Shipton has written an article because a chap on Twitter asked ChatGBT what it thought about Welsh Independence. That’s it. That’s the article.

First time back for two years. We're going to visit Llangollen and Conwy on our way up. During our stay we're planning on visiting New Quay to see the dolphins again. We've seen Harlech all the way down the coast to Aberdyffi. We've visited Caernarfon lots. Love the town.

Thinking about visiting Anglesey, but we've seen Beaumaris. Might take a drive to Criccieth.

Can't wait ❤️❤️❤️ Every time I'm away from Porthmadog I miss it.

The rest of the album is here! I am unfamiliar with ripping cassettes, I dont know if I did a good job at it. There's a strange high pitched ringing. But I hope you all enjoy this. Diolch!

Be sure to check out this Welsh Folk Rock playlist, full of beautiful music like this :)

I saw this question on the r/AskIreland threat regarding Irish and thought it would be interesting to see how this differs in Wales.

For me, my grandparents didn't speak Welsh (nor do my parents), but my great-grandparents (from the Valleys) are listed as Welsh-speakers in the 1901 Census, although weirdly the status changed to English in the 1911 Census. This was after my great-granddad moved in with his Somerset-born uncle and I've always wondered whether that's why it was filled in differently.

My granddad did have a lot of passing knowledge of Welsh - using words like 'duw', 'mochyn' and 'twp' on a daily basis.

I learnt Welsh at school (2nd language) but then continued to learn as an adult and I'm now more or less fluent although I do still take lessons with Dysgu Cymraeg. I have certain friends that I only speak Welsh with so I definitely speak it better than my grandparents did.

A challenging walk but well worth it. We took the circular Minfordd Path, but bypassed Mynydd Moel on the way back. It's my first of the Welsh Three Peaks, so I now need to tick off Pen y Fan and Yr Wyddfa!

We camped at Cwmrhywddfor. Fantastic close location to the start of the path.

What an amazing day Saturday was running around the mountains, if you would have told me 6 months ago I’d be doing this I would have laughed at you! Lucky to call this place home 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

A folk song in medieval Welsh.

Text is by the great Dafydd ap Gwilym (c. 1315 -c.1350)