Neath: absolutely fabulous

I've never been to Neath before but, in my mind, associated it with its near neighbour, Port Talbot and the grime of the huge steel works.  In truth, Neath is a pleasant, clean town with some lovely shops, a great market... and a very friendly ukulele group.

Neath Ukuleles came along to our Ukulele Festival in the Forest of Dean on 28th May and put on a great performance. Last Saturday was our chance to return the compliment.  Only a few of us could make it, but we all had a great time.

Here is the lunchtime Mass Busk in Neath Town Centre. I'm the one in the bright yellow shirt; other members of the Ukes of Azzard are hiding somewhere around that tree. For me, this photo sums up the joy of ukulele playing — singing and having fun with lovely people who instantly become friends. Why did I wait so long before learning to play? Too busy working, I guess.

Earlier in the day, our little group had their own 40 minute slot.  Few in number we may have been, but several people said that we harmonised beautifully. Here we are, enthusiastically knocking out the 12-bar blues classic Johnny B Goode. The photo is a bit blurred as I 'acquired' it (thanks, guys) from a video on Neath Ukulele's website. I rather like it as it features our very own Gerry (orange shirt) in full swing!

Half way through the afternoon I slipped away and found S--, laden with goodies from the market. We wanted to sample some of the delights of rural Neath, so scanned the 1:25000 Ordinance Survey map on my phone for a good spot.  My eyes settled on Melincourt Waterfall, so we headed up the Vale of Neath to take a look. We were not disappointed.

The World of Waterfalls website describes it as "one of the unsung waterfalls in an area of South Wales known as Waterfall Country."  Again, the photo isn't great but in my enthusiasm to pack ukulele and song book, I forgot the camera, so this one was snapped on my smartphone.

I definitely plan to return to this area – with my camera! – as there is much to explore. Indeed, it may well warrant a couple of night in a B&B. Then there's the whole of the Western Brecon Beacons to explore too... so perhaps I'll make it a week.

For this all-too-short visit, we contented ourselves with a short walk from the Waterfall car park, across the River Neath to a disused canal that I'd spotted on the map. Only after returning home did I discover it to be the Neath Canal and that both upstream and downstream of our chosen spot a preservation society is hard at work, restoring it to working order.  Indeed, if we'd had the time to walk a little further, we would have seen the new Ynysbwllog Aqueduct. Next time!

Having enjoyed several enjoyable holidays on English canals, I wish the Neath and Tennant Canals Trust well. It would be lovely, one day, to hire a narrow boat in Neath and potter up the navigation to Glynneath. I hope though, that the wildlife survives the transformation as I spent much of my time there watching dozens of vivid blue butterflies dart in and out of the reeds.  Back home, I tried to identify them, from memory, on Google Image and quickly found a likely candidate. Hoping for a name, I clicked the image... A dark blue butterfly, it informed me. Yep, that's the one!