5 MOREPLACES TO VISITNEAR US 1 Caerphilly Castle Distance from Cardiff Met: 7 miles (19mins) Built in the 13th century, Caerphilly Castle is the largest in Wales and the second biggest in the UK - and it’s been a regular filming location for Doctor Who.
2 Dan yr Ogof Caves Distance from Cardiff Met: 45 miles (60mins) This 17km long cave system is one of the biggest in Western Europe, and new passages are still being discovered - plus there’s a dinosaur park…
3 Rest Bay Distance from Cardiff Met: 28miles (39mins) Porthcawl’s Rest Bay is one of Wales’ top surfing and watersports destinations. This Blue Flag awarded beach is only 10 minutes off the M4.
4 St Fagans Distance from Cardiff Met: 5 miles (16mins) Take a walk through centuries of Wales’ history and culture at the open air museum of Welsh life - voted one of Trip Advisor’s top 10 free attractions in the UK.
5 Waterfall Country Distance from Cardiff Met: 39 miles (54mins) There are hundreds of waterfalls at the edge of the Brecon Beacons, including Sgwd Henrhyd, which doubled as the entrance to the Batcave in The Dark Knight Rises.
Five guys, a free Saturday, what do we do? Go to the Brecon Beacons of course. And that’s exactly what we did one weekend - got in a car and about an hour later there we were. The Brecon Beacons is one of the places you’ve just got to go to when living in Wales. With the range of mountains to climb and beautiful waterfalls to see, there are a lot of options for a fun day or even weekend out. We decided to go for the Pen-y-Fan climb; 886 metres of Welsh rock. It is the highest mountain in the Brecon Beacons National Park, and in the Southern UK. It wasn’t the easiest of walks but it was very exciting climbing up!
Getting to the top was even more exhilarating. It roughly took about 45 minutes to an hour to get up there, but it is really worth it to see the views. Walking back down was even shorter. The view up at the top is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. You can see a vast amount of Wales and even England (if you’re lucky). The journey back home in the car was the quietest we have ever been. We were all so tired we just chilled out as we blared Kanye West through the speakers. It was an exhausting walk but a very enjoyable day out with the lads - it’s a place I will definitely be going back to soon.
#CardiffMet Magazine 2017
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