Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:


Q1. Castle Coch


Q2. Roald Dahl

внимание друзья! for question 1, there are more castles than you can shake a stick at in this part of the world and the Marquis of Bute refurbished several of them but the one which most fits with the clues, as lying on the north western outskirts of Cardiff, seems to me to be Castle Coch.

The initial clues seem to place us at Castle Coch, which lies on the north western outskirts of the city of Cardiff, in Wales. This castle was reconstructed for the third Marquis of Bute (John Patrick Crichton Stuart),who was at that time said to be one of the richest men in Europe, by the architect William Burges (born c 1827). Burges produced a design for Lille cathedral, which according to some of his biographies, was never executed. Castle Coch is built in a style known as Burgesian Gothic, which combines outward mass, with intricate interior ornamentation from various countries and periods. The Marquis of Bute could easily have afforded such a lavish house, as he controlled the flow of coal through Cardiff docks, which he also owned. He basically got a fee for every wagon of coal that passed through there. Burges under the auspices of Crichton Stuart (who may have had the same syndrome as the completely hatstand schloss building King Ludwig II of Bavaria), also refurbished Cardiff castle.

The puzzle author then likely drives to Castle Morgraig, which lies north east of Castle Coch. It is a ruin now but it is described in some of the sources I checked, as having pentagonal curtain walls. He then probably visits the Millenium Stadium which was apparently constructed c 1999 to host the rugby world cup, before visiting the site of the National Assembly for Wales (aka the Welsh Parliament), which came into being c 2006, at Cardiff Bay.

There is a white Norwegian church nearby, and this was originally built on land donated by the Marquis of Bute, that Norwegian sailors and expatriates, could have their religious needs served. At that time Norway had one of the largest merchant fleets in the world and moved a lot of cargo to and from the locale. The church now appears to be an arts centre and the author Roald Dahl was according to some of his biographies, christened there c 1916. Dahl's parents were Norwegian and he was named after Roald Amundson, the explorer who beat Scott to the south pole. Dahl was a fighter pilot with the RAF and wrote about his sometimes terrifying experiences during the war, in a book called 'Over to You'. The aforementioned Scott, set off on his last expedition on the Terra Nova, from Cardiff, c 15th June 1910. The ship reached its destination of Ross Island, on the 22nd January 1911.

The half mile long feat of engineering is most likely the 'Cardiff Bay Barrage', which was built to turn Cardiff bay into a freshwater lake, that the area could be economically developed and revitalised.

N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.