Easter In Wales
Mike and Dee invited us to head drive around Wales at Easter. Who could knock back being chauffeured around Wales? We left late Thursday night to avoid traffic…we got a little sidetracked eating pizza and talking so left a little later than intended but everything was going fine and we made good time until we crossed the Welsh border. As soon as that happened we were stuck in traffic. So you might be thinking that the traffic was just Easter traffic…to a degree you are correct however the main reason is the damn Welsh have roundabouts on the motorway!!!! Duh….genius I tell you!!! Nothing better than going at a snails pace to discover the only reason for the delay is that an overpass wasn’t built and you had to contend with a roundabout and the local traffic.
The one thing all of us failed to print were directions to each place. In small towns it may not be a problem however the first night we stayed at Swansea and we thought the hotel was near the main road and easy to find….well we were wrong. Luckily for us we found a petrol station open around 11:30 that could point us in the right direction to the hotel. The location was in an area that was like an industrial estate so we found it strange but the accommodation was good.
Drove around the coast for a while towards the west and the ‘White Sands’ at St David. Big deal you ask? Well for me it was a big deal as this was the first time I had been on a beach that wasn’t full of pebbles/stone aka Brighton Beach. The White Sands seems to be like the Rye Beach in Melb i.e. attracting families for the weekends and holidays.
I love the caravan ‘parks’ here as many are literally a paddock!!! I get that it’s good to merely get away from the city however it’s definitely an eye opener to be introduced to a caravan park when it’s a farmers field
Gellifawr
From St David we headed north to our next destination. I did actually call them the night we left London for directions and that proved essential e.g. left and second road, through next farm, hard right at burnt tree, etc.
Whilst we found all of our accommodation on the internet, this one had the most appeal for me as it was a farm location and the buildings were made from bluestone. This was by far the best place we stayed and was ‘just what the doctor ordered’. We didn’t rent one of the cottages but we had 2 separate rooms in the main building. After arriving around 4pm, Chris and I sat outside sharing a bottle of wine and watching the World go by…well maybe it was just staring at the paddock opposite and seeing cars/tractors occasionally drive by. Mike and Dee made their way down for dinner. The menu was limited but very good and lamb was ‘home made’ 🙂 This brought back memories of when Uncle Jack got me to help him prepare our NYE meat many years ago, but that’s another story. After dinner we retired for the evening and were able to watch TV in bed, a novelty (we don’t have a TV in our bedroom over here) and a good end to the day.
The following day we checked out the Standing Stones in the area. One of them was about over 7ft tall but another we found was around 1ft (yep put that in your list of ‘must see’ things in Wales…not!). We headed back west. Nearby is a beech and some walks that take you out to a point. We spent about 2-3 hours here walking around and spotting seals in the water.
It was very strange coming from Oz and having a preconception of National Park and finding all the ones we visited thus far looked more like farmland than National Park. Hey even the headquarters was located on farmland with no visible forest or mountains!
Whilst on one of our walks we met a guy who was setting up ropes for an abseiling group. The backdrop was great. Basically you would be abseiling down the rocks with the sea right behind you. If you rappelled then you would look out across the ocean then to the rocks below with the waves crashing in. He recommended that we should check out the Three Bridges National Park.
The next B&B was interesting. The Dyffryn Castell is one where the photos on the web site don’t lie but they didn’t reveal the truth either. We knew there weren’t many towns near where we planned to stay however we thought we picked one that looked good enough. The photos didn’t show that the only thing in this ‘town’ was the pub and it was actually on the main road, literally. Notice how they have the lines through the main pic? Inside, the shower had a trickle of water and virtually useless but I managed. Refreshments were cheap enough and dinner acceptable…wasn’t the worst place I have stayed but won’t be going back 🙂 The day after we headed to the Three Bridges National Park for a ‘hike’ aka leisurely walk. This was however the first time in Wales that we felt the National Park was actually a National Park.
Our list night we stayed in the 4 star Brecon Coach House. Whilst it was clean it lacked any charm. Breakfast was an artery hardening experience but was done very professionally i.e. a proper chef (at least that’s what we’re lead to believe). Whilst we were walking around town I saw someone I used to train with walking towards me. He was my nemesis whilst doing Karate….although BJJ is the great equaliser!!! Sorry unless you train BJJ that last sentence will mean nothing but hey…it’s my web page! 😀 It was great to see someone I knew from the ‘old training days’ who had aged more than me and fatter!! hehehehe. Maybe I should look up all the people I used to train with….
Our final day say us leave Brecon and head back to London. On the way we stopped at Caerphilly Castle. After that Mike zipped us all the way back to London.