NSW - North 'n South Wales

Eastbourne is a lovely coastal city & we had a couple of great days with Kathy & Terry who had been kind enough to accumulated a bit of mail for us. We enjoyed a lovely home cooked meal the first evening, such a treat after restaurants & takeaways & a good long chat. The following day after taking care of a few mundane tasks like washing, we walked the foreshore & did a bit of window shopping then went out for dinner at the Yew Tree, a great little pub not far from Kathy & Terry's place. Boy, what a great meal! A big thank you to Kathy & Terry for making us feel so welcome in your home, we thoroughly enjoyed the short time we were able to share with you in Eastbourne.

A section of the lovel floral displays along the esplanade, that is a food
festival going on along the right hand side too.



Looking westward towards Beachy Head

We had promised to make it to the Seend Acoustic Festival that afternoon so left Kathy & Terry about 9:30 & drove across country to Seend, near Bath, we arrived about 1 pm which was pretty good going. The festival had started but we didn't miss too many performances so that was great. The fantastic local artists performed almost non-stop until near midnight so it was a great day, the caterers had lovely food so that gave us the sustinence to keep us going. The festival was organised by our couchsurfing friends Malc & Jen who we had stayed with in the very early days of our journey & it was great to catch up with them again, Malc had found us a bed for the night (thanks Frank & Tessa) which was lovely so after a fantastic day & helping a bit with the cleanup, we fell into bed at 12:30am. Next morning it was back to the venue to help with the last few things then an absolutely delicious lunch at a local pub with Malc & Jen then off to Wales.

Aberystwyth was the destination & fortunately we managed to make it there before dark as the road was winding with magnificent scenery we would have been sorry to miss.

The storm surge may have even crashed over these cars at full tide, they
were covered in sand & salt & sat in puddles of sea water, glad our car
wasn't parked on the seaside

Well, Wales has turned on a really traditional welcome for us, there are gale force winds blowing, the ocean waves are crashing up onto the Promenade at high tide & the temperature has dropped to the mid-teens. We don't care, Aberystwyth is beautiful anyway! It is a University town as well as a summer holiday destination so there are plenty of young people, restaurants, touristy facilities etc we really like it here.



Battling to stay upright on the 'castle ruins' headland park



The view from the cliff top back over Aberystwyth

We took the furnicular railway to the top of the cliff & then walked through the countryside, passed the golf course & back into town. Must say it was hard to stand up at the top of the sea cliffs. There were plenty of ripe blackberries so we were able to eat as we walked which was great.



The section of the walk that followed the golf course

Next day we took a local train journey along the Cambrian Coast from Machynlleth to Pwllheli (try saying those names after a few drinks), anyway it was a wonderful trip that hung off cliff edges, ran along beaches, passed through summer holiday townships with their icecream shops & beachside carnivals, travelled across rickety bridges over estuaries, saw historic castles & WW11 military structures, even went through a couple of tunnels & under an avalanche shelter. When we got to the end of the journey there was just enough time to pick up a bit of lunch to eat as we travelled back. Four hours of very scenic train travel on a Day Tourer discounted ticket for only nine pounds each, bargain! 

View from the train window, we came even closer at times but the photo
 was just ocean so not very interesting

Off the train & on the road again, now heading towards Llangollen (pronounced Langothlan would you believe) where we were booked into a B & B near the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct & the Dee River canal. Llangollen is a delightful town, touristy but so cute, very historic with the canal, horse-drawn barges, restored steam train, more walking paths than you can count & the most delicious welsh cakes for morning tea, an all important thing to have.

 

The Thomas Telford's Aquaduct, part of the canal system



Photo of the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct shadow, it is 116 feet high

Art work inside a 1000 year old church, weird!

We used our National Trust membership to visit Chirk Castle, just fantastic. We toured the castle which was wonderful but when we went to the fortress area there was a man in period dress giving demonstrations & talks with traditional weapons, flails, broadswords, pikes, bow & arrows etc. He had a real passion for the topic & obviously knew a lot of background information so it was fascinating to stand there for well over an hour just listening & handling the items.



Some of the original weaponry on show inside Chirk Castle



Definitely not understated! These ceilings
were amazingly beautiful & intricate

Off on a drive today to Mount Snowdon, it is fine & this may be our only opportunity to see the top which we are told is almost permanently shrouded in cloud. When we got here it was like Pitt Street - literally there were hundreds of people with the same idea as us, the train which runs to the top was fully booked out for the day and there was standing room only at the foot of the mountain.

Snowdonia, while the sun was shining, it didn't last long though

We didn't walk to the top, the big black clouds were developing by this time so we did a bit of a village & lakeside stroll, enjoyed a 'pot of tea for two' & a piece of Bara Brith (type of fruit bread) then moved on the northern coastline & the Conwy Bay (no, that is not a typing error, there is no A in its name). It was a lovely drive, very scenic but the weather had turned blustery & damp by the time we got there.

Conwy Bay

On the way home I dropped Grant off on the canal the other side of town & he walked back to our B & B. It was about 6 miles I guess but he managed it in under an hour (mind you it is a flat walk on the towpath). Canal boat occupants were heard to comment "He is walking faster than we are travelling", they should have tossed him a rope, he could have towed them!!



A section of the towpath walk from Llangollen to our B & B

Off on the road again today stopping off at Hay-on-Wye for a little look around. Toni worked here for several months in the summer of 2010 & we just had to have a squiz. Such a lovely little town, full of book shops for which it is famous, we enjoyed a bit of afternoon tea at The Granary which Toni had recommended, delicious.  

A section of a street in Hay on Wye, every second shop was either
antiques or books

Next stop was back in Seend to visit the wonderful Jen & Malc for a couple of days. Wine & pizza for dinner & a late night of chatting, we're up early but not out of the house until nearly noon for a wander round the cute little village of Bradford-on-Avon where the Kennet Canal meets & passes over the Avon River & the railway line. Lots of lovely shops here including some upmarket charity op shops & plenty of what must be very expensive homes. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at a cafe then it was home for a casual dinner & friends round for a late night of wine & talking.

A tithe barn in Bradford on Avon,
absolutely huge structure with magnificent
timber roof trusses

Malc & Jen planned for us all to go on a nice walk, through the countryside, along the towpath of the canal, then back along the road through a gorgeous village full of thatched homes to the car. The weather was a bit dicey but after some 'umming & ahhing' we decided what the heck, don't let the weather win, we set off anyway. It turned out to be mostly fine & sunny, the forest was full of ripe blackberries which Grant had trouble walking past (nearly made himself sick stuffing them down with a double handed picking style) & we had an absolutely wonderful time. The canal was busy as the summer season is almost over & everyone seems to be trying to squash in just one more trip so we had the opportunity to watch the locks being operated. A bit further along the canal we came to a pumping station & a cute little volunteer run cafe where we had a delicious lunch. Then back on the track for the walk to the village then along the road to the car.



The historic windmill at the start of our walk



The Fab Four - Malc, Jen & us - with narrow canal boats in the background

We nearly made it, before the heavens opened! Thank goodness the fellas had carried a couple of umbrellas for the entire walk, we needed them. We made it back to the car, quite exhilarated really, it had been just lovely, we had enjoyed a really tasty lunch, meet some interesting people along the canals & seen just a small section of the beautiful Wiltshire countryside.

While we were in Seend, we had the opportunity to see a couple of old telephone boxes that had been restored & found new lives as something completely different - one was a free community book exchange & the other had been turned into a community defibrilator, there was a security key pad to access it so I guess you had to be trained before you could actually use it. I doubt things like this would last more than five minutes in Australia without being vandalised but village life here is just so different.

Jen checks out the titles!
Nothing appealled particularly though

Malc & Jen helped us get some of our travel plans organised for October (they found some cheap flights to Croatia & really good value accommodation in London too). We were sad to leave but it had to be done, we had booked a cottage in the hills at the back of Neath in Wales for two weeks. This will give us a chance to rest up a bit as this holidaying gig is tiring but also to travel round the Gower Peninsular which has been recommended to us by several Brits.



Our home away from home

Pushing on we drove to Cilybeybll just north of Neath to our gorgeous converted barn where we had booked two weeks accommodation. Our first day was a lazy one with sleeping late, washing, shopping & a bit more sleeping on the lounge while watching a movie. Heaven! 

Day two we headed off to visit a fire station as well as a couple of waterfalls. It had been raining/drizzling for a couple of days so there was plenty of water over the falls. Aberdulais Falls is a National Trust property which had been a tinplating works which Grant found really interesting. After that we drove to Henrhyd Falls which were supposed to be a veil type fall that you can walk behind.....NO WAY JOSE! The water was rushing over & when Grant made it to the bottom to take photos he was over 100m from the actual falls but was drenched from the spray which formed a mist in the entire valley. The incredible power of water was very visible.

Aberdulais Falls, from the top



Henrhyd Falls, photo taken from the path down to the base of the falls

The peaks of Brecon Beacons called & Grant was keen to walk to the tallest summit in Southern Wales - Pen y Fan. The walk was about 11 kilometres long & included the ridge to two other peaks. I dropped him off at the starting point then went back to Merthyll Tydd to catch a scenic steam train which had lovely views to the peaks Grant was on. I could see that the weather had closed in considerably since I had left him & it wasn't a surprise to find him sitting in the rest area at the end of the walk, wet & shivering. We then went to the township of Brecon for a bite of lunch & a quick visit to the Cathedral then as the weather deteriorated we took the scenic route home.



The final push to get up the path to the top was a killer !

A bit of local knowledge can be very helpful and several people had told us that we should see the Gower Penisnsular so we followed their advice. The Gower was not a long drive so first port of call was Mumbles, birthplace & childhood home of Catherine Zeta-Jones (unfortunately she wasn't walking round the shops while we were there) but it is a great little spot with eleven pubs in the one mile along the beach. Pretty popular for pubcrawls I would think! It was quite touristy as you might expect with icecreameries, beach wear, cafes & souvenier shops galore facing directly onto the beach which was on the opposite side of the road, pretty really if you ignored all the kitsch. We drove round the peninsular on all the narrow roads, definitely a challenge at times but good fun nevertheless. 

The islands at the end of Gower Peninsular, you can walk to these
at low tide

We introduced ourselves to our neighbours in the cottages, Conrad (who had been born & grew up in this area & spoke beautiful Welsh) & Doreen. They kindly invited us to join them on a drive round the countryside & to visit the magnificent Castle Cennen with its sheer cliffs on three sides. We had a lovely day taking roads that only a local knows with the best views. We also detoured to a church with its magnificent fortified tower, to check on work being done on a family gravesite. What a great day we had, it was such a delight to hear Conrad chatting away in Welsh to locals at the pub & waiters at the tea rooms.

 

The castle on top of its rocky outcrop

An early start, especially for a Saturday, up at 6am, out of the house by 7am, drove to Cardiff, found a really good parking spot opposite the central police station. We had hoped to have time for a bit of a look round the centre of the city & to find the fire station before we were due to meet Malc & Jen at 10.30am. We only made it round the shopping mall but nevertheless it seems like a nice city especially with the magnificent castle & gardens at its heart. The Great British Cheese Festival was fabulous, luckily for us we got off to an early start by mid-afternoon there was standing room only in the tents but we were able to wander round trying everthing within reach. OMG there were some absolutely delicious cheeses & more varieties than I have ever seen or even heard of to be honest. Washing that down with a half pint of cider we then headed for the Tastes of Wales tent where they had icecream, wild venison sausages, pates, cheescakes (yum), smoothies, alcohol, chutney & relishes etc etc. We were literally bursting at the seams by the time we finished up. 

After the festival we had arranged to meet Eleanor, the daughter of our friends Terry & Cathy. She lives & works in Cardiff & it was great to talk about the city & our combined travels as Ele has seen plenty of Europe too. We had a drink at a pub then went on for some dinner, which amazingly we fitted in without any trouble at all. Bit of a late night, by the time we got home it was pushing towards midnight, it rained all the way home making it a slowish journey.

The Castle Keep at Cardiff

Inside the cheese tasting tent & it's only 11am

Next day, big sleep in, can you believe it was 9am before we woke up. That was the perfect excuse to have a day round the house, lazing, reading, catching up on a bit on internet surfing & generally doing very little. Grant did however feel a bit energetic mid-afternoon & headed off on a walk round the farm, there is a marked walk & a map was supplied, so with laminated map in hand he headed off on a very pleasant stroll.

Big Day Out, that describes our day to the Pembrokeshire Coast. It is a long drive anyway but the hire car broke down & we spent a couple of hours waiting for AA to come then locating parts & a dealer able to fix it straight away. We did have just enough time to get to St David's & Grant managed to squash in a very quick walk along a section of the Coastal Path. It was a challenging six & a half miles with lots of uphill & down dale involved but it was very beautiful with steep cliffs, seals & dolphins near the rocks at the bottom of the cliffs & lots of caves even a natural bridge. When he got to the car where I was waiting, relaxing in the beautiful warm sunshine (I had actually gone for a stroll around the cliff edge & down to the sandy beach below the car park while I waited), he was a lather of sweat & exhausted. Funny, I thought walking was supposed to be pleasurable! Long drive home & a late dinner before we fell into bed, exhausted again.



Just a small section of this magnificent coastline

The weather was glorious so after doing a few household chores & enjoying our morning tea of Welsh Cakes in the sunshine, we drove into Pontardawe to walk the towpath of the canal which had been used to transport coal from the mines in the valleys down to the port at Swansea. The canal & paths were refurbished in the 80's & it was a leisurely eight kilometre stroll up & back. Managed to get Grant a haircut too which was way overdue I can tell you! 

Up early again today as we decided to give the Pembrokeshire Coast another go, this time hoping not to have car trouble. We drove straight to the coast south of Pembroke, a tiny village called Angle which may not appear on any map you have. There was a section of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path that sounded just perfect for him, 16 km with views of stacks (like the Twelve Apostles but red) & caves & cliffs & the list goes on.

This section of coast was more beach
& less cliffs

I went for a bite of lunch - Fish Chowder with warm crusty bread to be exact - at an historic pub overlooking the old port. After picking him up at Freshwaster Beach West, a lovely broad sandy beach we headed in to Tenby to have a bit of a look round. All these places are just delightful & Tenby was no exception, it still has its sections of its old city walls & if you entered through gateways there were shops & markets inside, so cute. We walked down a few roads & found ourselves at the ocean edge overlooking what seemed like miles of sand. The tides here are really large & the boats were all up, high & dry on the sand waiting for the tide to come in again. Sorry but we don't have any photos of Tenby, we forgot the camera & it was way too far to walk back to get it from the car.

That concluded our stay in our gorgeous stone cottage, so we packed all our gear, which I must say is pretty easy as we are travelling very light these days & headed to Bridgend not far west of Cardiff to go to the Alternative Food Feastival. Stuffed ourselves silly with more wild venison, a bit of cheese, a delicious pancake, tea for two, I had a piece of beetroot chocolate slice (don't screw up your nose it was delicious) & Grant had a rasberry & almond cake. We also bought a homemade raspberry & apple pie to take with us. Lovely way to spend the morning then we drove along the coastal strip stopping at a few places for a look-see. The weather has been just glorious & just about everyone who is not at work is out enjoying it, the carparks are full & there are people on deck chairs on the beaches or in the parks making the most of the unseasonally warm temperatures, even swimming/paddling if you can believe it!

We met Eleanor at her empty Cardiff flat, which she had kindly offered us for a couple of nights & settled in for a quiet evening before another very full day.

Cardiff & the bay taken from the barrage wall

We managed to get off to a reasonably early start today which was good as they predicted a quite warm day. We decided to do a walk round Cardiff Bay first off. We could not have selected a better day to attempt such a long walk, round the western side of the bay, across the barrage (which was built to hold back the falling tide & to prevent the bay from being a mudflat at low tide), back into the city centre to find our car. Amazing how I fitted that all into one sentence because it was a massive walk with lots of great scenery. The days of thinking of Cardiff as an industrial city are well & truely gone, it is such a beautiful place.

Replica Celtic Village, stone or wattle & daub with reciprocal thatched roof

After our walk & with tired legs & aching feet we drove to one of the UK's most popular tourist attractions, The Museum of Welsh Life, commonly referred to as St Fagan's. As has happened a couple of times already, I missed an exit on a huge roundabout with the M4 & had to travel an extra 10 kms, go out the next exit, round that massive roundabout & then go back to the exit I should have taken first time round but not to worry we got there in the end.

Entry is free into all museums in the UK so needless to say there was a huge crowd of families picnicking & making the most of the glorious weather so we had to find a park in the overflow area but it was worth it! The museum is basically a collection of old homes, schools, shops, businesses, farmhouses etc that have been moved from around Wales, fitted out with appropriate furniture, equipment etc & opened for the public to enjoy & learn about life in the past in Wales.

That finishes our time in Wales so now we are off to the Cotswolds for a couple of days, should be very pretty there!!