Stuart's Photography

At the top-end of the High Street, where the pedestrianisation work has been completed recently.

Copyright (c) Stuart Herbert. blog | twitter: (photography) (all) | facebook: (Merthyr Road project) (all).

Bute Park is a great place to escape to during your lunch hour, although even the most determined of walkers will struggle to walk the whole length of the park and make it back in time for the afternoon stint behind a desk. Much nicer to find one of the benches dotted around the park to simply sit, break out the sandwiches, and recharge for a few minutes before heading back to the rat race.

Copyright (c) Stuart Herbert. blog | twitter: (photography) (all) | facebook: (Merthyr Road project) (all).

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If you’re reading this in the RSS feed, my original blog post also includes a Google map showing where this photo was taken. Unfortunately I haven’t managed to get the map to appear yet in the RSS feed, so for now you’ll have to click through to my blog if you want to see the map. Sorry.

Sale due to a basement fire, apparently, and not due to the disruption to the High Street by pedestrianisation work.

Copyright (c) Stuart Herbert. blog | twitter: (photography) (all) | facebook: (Merthyr Road project) (all).

Modern use of an old building on St Mary’s Street, Cardiff.

Copyright (c) Stuart Herbert. blog | twitter: (photography) (all) | facebook: (Merthyr Road project) (all).

The Point was, for several years, a very popular live music venue at the southern end of Butetown in Cardiff. A converted church in Mount Stuart Square, the external structure still contains many of its original features dating back to 1900. Today, it stands empty, its future use to be decided.

I only went to one gig there myself, to see americana band Iron and Wine. The volume of the music inside was tremendous; impossible to say anything to anyone, and I found it very difficult indeed to enjoy the music as it was turning to mush at that level to my ears. I can’t say I’m surprised that it closed at least in part because of noise complaints, but I am sorry that it did so. There seems to be so few live music venues in Cardiff any more for budding musicians to learn the trade. No wonder the X-Factor auditions are so popular each year 🙁

Copyright (c) Stuart Herbert. blog | twitter: (photography) (all) | facebook: (Merthyr Road project) (all).

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If you’re reading this in the RSS feed, my original blog post also includes a Google map showing where this photo was taken. Unfortunately I haven’t managed to get the map to appear yet in the RSS feed, so for now you’ll have to click through to my blog if you want to see the map. Sorry.

A pub rear entrance just off Westgate Street.

Copyright (c) Stuart Herbert. blog | twitter: (photography) (all) | facebook: (Merthyr Road project) (all).

I enjoyed greatly the juxtaposition of the distant construction crane and the much nearer Torchwood Towers during a visit to the Cardiff Food Festival.

Copyright (c) Stuart Herbert. blog | twitter: (photography) (all) | facebook: (Merthyr Road project) (all).

If you regularly drive into and out of Cardiff along the A470, you’ve probably noticed that, hidden just behind the houses to the east, is a sizeable open area. Bounded to the north by the Coryton line (the surviving stretch of the old Cardiff Railway line), and to the south / east by Rhydwaedlyd Brook stands Caedelyn Park.

The brook itself is largely fenced off (presumably because of the amount of children who play in the park), and at one point along the fence is a little slipway down into the brook. This slipway is secured by the gate shown in this photo, and its rather eye-catching green-sheathed security cable.

References:

http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/content.asp?parent_directory_id=2865&id=408&pagetype=&keyword=

Copyright (c) 2010 Stuart Herbert. blog | twitter: (photography) (all).

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If you’re reading this in the RSS feed, my original blog post also includes a Google map showing where this photo was taken. Unfortunately I haven’t managed to get the map to appear yet in the RSS feed, so for now you’ll have to click through to my blog if you want to see the map. Sorry.

They *really* don’t want anyone to go through this gate. I guess the pedestrians became a nuisance once the initial gate stopped cyclists from going anywhere 🙂

(Look closely at the gate and you’ll see that a metal bar has been placed over the top of the two poles, just in case someone incredibly thin had been squeezing through the very narrow gap).

Copyright (c) 2010 Stuart Herbert. blog | twitter: (photography) (all).
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If you’re reading this in the RSS feed, my original blog post also includes a Google map showing where this photo was taken. Unfortunately I haven’t managed to get the map to appear yet in the RSS feed, so for now you’ll have to click through to my blog if you want to see the map. Sorry.

This is the recently-completed road bridge into Bute Park from North Road. This photograph is taken at the western end of the bridge, looking east towards North Road.

The bridge is part of controversial changes to Bute Park to provide a new access route for lorries to enter and leave the park. Before this bridge over the Bute Dock Feeder was built, lorries had to enter and leave by one of the main pedestrian routes behind Cardiff Castle.

Despite sustained opposition from the public, and a motion of opposition, Cardiff Council (controlled by the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru at the time) pushed ahead with the construction of this new bridge, which opened in 2010.

For myself, I can understand why making a new entry route into the park for lorries and service vehicles would be beneficial. What I don’t understand is why they didn’t align the eastern end of the bridge with the existing road junction, allowing vehicles to enter and leave the park from all directions. All exiting vehicles are forced to turn north, and their only opportunities to then change route after that are either at Maindy or Gabalfa Roundabout.

References:

http://no2lorriesinbutepark.blogspot.com/
http://yourcardiff.walesonline.co.uk/2010/04/16/green-activists-protest-bute-park-bridge-cycle-lanes/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/7294834.stm
http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=243752
http://yourcardiff.walesonline.co.uk/2010/03/30/bute-park-a-tear-is-shed/
http://www.buteparksalliance.org/Council_250609.html

Copyright (c) Stuart Herbert. blog | twitter: (photography) (all) | facebook: (Merthyr Road project) (all).

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If you’re reading this in the RSS feed, my original blog post also includes a Google map showing where this photo was taken. Unfortunately I haven’t managed to get the map to appear yet in the RSS feed, so for now you’ll have to click through to my blog if you want to see the map. Sorry.