I have just returned to Bahrain having been away for four weeks.
In the 26 years I have lived here this is the single longest time I have been away.
I decided to roll three different tasks and activities into one trip and so have been to Abu Dhabi, Italy, England, Scotland and Wales.
In Abu Dhabi we visited the Louvre gallery and it was terrific, you must go.
There is a wonderful collection of artworks which include Da Vinci, Picasso, Van Gogh and Whistlers Mother, but to my mind the most stunning thing on display is the roof, it is an engineering wonder which gives the impression of hovering over you unsupported.
In Italy we had a cool week skiing with glorious sunshine all week, and just the correct amount of apres!
In England and Scotland it was a matter of visiting family mainly my wife’s mother who is 93 and our granddaughter who is nine months. A bit of both duty and pleasure. It was my visit to Wales that was the biggest delight.
There are a series of valleys to the north of Cardiff and Newport, which in the past have been famous for coal mining, singing and rugby.
Dirty little towns, each with its own coal mine, with associated slag heap, coke and gas plants and coal-fired power stations.
The valleys were not a particularly nice place to live, but like all challenging places they produced many wonderful people.
The demise of underground coal mining in the UK had a devastating effect on the valleys with mass unemployment and the almost total collapse of their local economies.
This was my understanding of the area as I visited it for business purposes during the last two weeks, but that was not what I found.
I found a bunch of beautiful towns and villages set in wonderful scenery with fabulous views every way you turned your head.
The mines and dirty coke plants are long gone, the slag heaps have been landscaped and the economic activity has returned with a whole host of clean modern businesses setting up in purpose-built business parks.
The valleys have always had good rail links into Cardiff and Newport and this is fuelling a return by people who work in the cities, but prefer to live out in the country.
The day I arrived the temperature was 21º C in West Wales which was a record for February (it was only 17º C in Bahrain that day).
I spent some time in villages such as Mountain Ash, Ferndale and Abertillery and they were lovely places with friendly people.
Many years ago I did work in Cardiff and if I were to do so again I would seriously consider living in the valleys. All the modern necessities are there such as health and sports clubs, all levels of dining from McDonalds to Michelin star and the superstores are there including Aldi and Lidl.
The hills provide plenty of opportunity for walking, climbing camping and mountain biking.
The towns have shops that can provide all the gear and in Aberdare there is a distillery that produces a surprisingly good product.
I may have to visit frequently.
Jackie@JBeedie.com