Photos by gballuk : on the map, in Google Earth (KML)

If you are refering to Parc Slip, I would agree with you that it is now a little better than 20 years ago. But experts will tell you that restoration can never be as successful as what was there before and species are fewer.The land used to be fertile and good for cattle. Now it has bad drainage and the grazing supports mainly sheep.

I agree that this opencast has been here for far too long---40 years in fact!! The miners may not be getting dust in their lungs( they work in air conditioned cabs). Instead it blows on all the surrounding communities, polluting them instead! As for the land recovering, no doubt it will in hundreds of years time, but in our life times the quality of the soil will be poor and plant growth slow. This does not replace what was there before. The way forward is to invest heavily in renewable energy, and I don't mean just wind turbines, but also tidal and solar. Fossil fuels will soon run out.

is a vast improvment on the old chapel i used to pass it regularly on the way to work

It is not a new lighthouse, it is a lifeguard station

....El lomo que ve en el centro de la imagen es el Lomo de la Abejerilla y como se ve ,por su ladera discurre la Pista de tierra que lleva desde Fataga a Ayagaures.

Awwww... So Cute

Warra Pretty Horse :P

In Wales( Kenfig Hill ) we have been fighting an opencast extension for 3 years. The councils have now refused the extension but the opencast company will probably appeal. The present opencast site Known as Margam/Parc Slip extension, Cefn Cribbwr, has already had a two year time extension and is strongly opposed by the combined communities living with its ongoing exploitation.( There was supposed to be no further opencast applications by the company!) The opencast has degraded the environment, destroyed the local amenity and heritage, cut off communities that have to live with the ongoing exploitation. The environment has been degraded, local amenity removed and heritage sites are lost forever. The communities, traditionally so closely linked, have been severed and are cut off from the countryside. Access roads have been blocked, footpath country walks and bridleways have been removed. The visual eyesore has been a massive depressing view for the population of Cefn Cribbwr for far too long already. The opencast detracts from potentially suitable inward investment, particularly leisure, tourism and countryside activity plans. The present site has impacted on the quality of life of residents. People cannot enjoy the outdoor features and countryside and the use of the locality for fresh air and recreation as part of a healthy life style is reduced. The areas green gym and breathing space is disappearing. The constant pollution into the atmosphere and environment of coal dust, soil dust, nuisance dust, industrial diesel fumes, noise ,vibration, and blasting are putting peoples health and well-being at risk. The countryside Green Wedge has had its character ruined and the agricultural features have become industrialised. The biodiversity and environment have been vandalised.

Melin Trefin

Nyd yw'r felin heno'n malu Yn Nhrefin ar min y mor, Trodd y merlyn olaf adre' Dan ei bwn o drothwy'r ddor, Ac mae'r rhod fu gynt yn rhagnu Ac yn chwyrnu drwy y fro, Er pan farw'r hen felinydd, Wedi rhoi ei olaf dro.

Crwys

The ruin of the old mill is near the shore of the beach. Melin Trefin was deserted in 1918 but made famous in the poem:- Cerys Matthews's (Former lead singer in 'Catatonia' who had a smash-hit duet with Tom Jones ) family home is in Trefin.The name Glenys Pearl y-Felin was chosen for her daughter.