Paphos FC v CFR Cluj

The Alphamega Stadium near Limassol was the venue for EUFA Conference League, Pafos FC v CFR CLUJ (Romania) football game.

One note of interest was that that the Romanian Club's head coach was the old Chelsea player, Dan Petrescu.

Before the game started there was a wonderfully observed minute's silence for the well known coach, Sven Goran Eriksson.

Paphos went into the game with a 0-1 deficit from the first leg. In an entertaining game the home team came out victorious with a 3-0 win (3-1agg.) 

Pafos FC now progress to the European conference league phase.

Paphos Beer festival 2024

 

A coach load of locals from  Pissouri made their way down to Paphos harbour for the Paphos beer festival. 

The were numerous stands selling craft beers and cider's.

The first band of the evening on stage were "The Funky Grannies" and as their name suggests, they did cover versions of well known songs in a Funk style. 

We then had a fire show performed by two enthusiastic performers. 

The final band were "Ontour" who were a heavy rock band.

At midnight were boarded the coach for the return journey home after a lengthy but enjoyable visit to the annual beer festival. 

Drama in European football

 Rob and Pete drove over to the Alphamega stadium in Limassol for the UEFA Conference league - 3rd Qualifying round game between Pafos FC and CSKA 1948 from Bulgaria.

Trailing 1-2 from the first round, pafos struggled to break down the opposition until the 97th minute of the game when they came up with a dramatic equaliser. 

This took the game into extra time where Pafos ran out comfortable winners by 4 goals to nil.

Sylvia's 85th Birthday

 Our friend and neighbour, Sylvia, kindly invited us to a celebration dinner for her 85th birthday. 

The dinner took place at "The Two Friends" restaurant in Pissouri. Around 30 guests sat down to enjoy a local Cypriot Meze dinner that consisted of

• Salad,dips and toasted bread 
• Haloumi and Lunza
• Courgette and scrambled egg 
• Pork Afelia 
• Beef stifardo 
• Chips
• Chicken
• Lamb chops
• Profita rolls

A Funeral and Penarth pier

 Rob jumped on a train from Cardiff's Fairwater district to the Seaside town of Penarth to attend his Father's Brother's funeral. 

Terry lived to grand old age of 96.

After the wake that took place in The Pilot pub, Rob was picked up by Lee, Cari and Jude. They headed off to the beach to play with the rocks.

On a lovely late afternoon they walked in the sunshine along Penarth pier and stopped off for slushies and ice cream.

 

The Breacon Beacons national park park

 Rob, Lisa and Pat left Cardiff and headed North to the Brecon Beacons national park. 

Sadly, as they entered the park the weather closed in with mist  and drizzle that limited the beautiful views that the park had to offer.

Still, they made the best of the situation, scrambled out of the car a few time to take a couple of murky photos .

They then headed over to the visitors centre for a warming cup of coffee and a slice of cake.

A walk in The Gower

 Lisa, Andrew and Rob headed from Cardiff down to  the area known as The Gower,  which is just West of the City of Sawnsea.. Their starting point for their walk was the tiny village of Southgate.

The track took them towards the coast ending up at the cliff edge with superb views of the stunning beach, coastline and Pobbles Bay.

They continued their walk until the reached "Three cliffs beach", with its panoramic views of the river estuary of Pennard Pill.

Next they turned inland scrambling up the sand dunes and through the gorse bushes.

The path headed towards the ruins of Penard castle. Once again the views back to the coastline are stunning. 

The final part of this circular walk cuts through a golf course before returning back to Southgate. 

A Day at Coney Beach , Porthcawl, South Wales

 

On a Summer's day, Rob joined Pat, Lisa, Lee and Jude & Cari for a day out in the Welsh seaside town of Porthcawl. 

After a lovely walk down the promenade taking in the sights and sounds of the beach we headed over to the fairground. 

The kids got really excited (as did Rob) on deciding which rides to pick.

Jude picked the giant slide and Cari and Lisa picked the flying chairs.

Cari then told Bob that he had to take her on the Dodgems, and chaos ensued as they bumped into several cars but had great fun.

Lee and Jude then went on the dartboard and won a couple of prizes.

Back on the fairground rides Cari picked the worm rollercoaster with Lisa and the flying planes with Rob.

To finish off a wonderful day out we went over to the beachfront cafe for some chips and a well earned beer.