Our Wales tour started out in a claustrophobic mining elevator descending 300meters into a coal mine shaft, what a way to get to know your tour group. The tour of Big Pitt coal mine in Blaenavon was a bit scary but also very funny (with everyone banging their heads on the ceiling) and educational, I could never work in a mine, I would go insane in the dark under the earth. Our next stop was a picnic lunch at a Norman Castle in Cheapstow, yes we were very cheap, but Chepstow means marketplace not cheap as in price. After our lovely picnic it was off to Tintern Abbey in the Wye Valley, an old ruin of an abbey that was made famous from a Wordsworth poem, the best part of that stop was the Welsh cakes our guide Greta bought for us to try. Last stop on day one was Abergavenny at the Black Sheep Backpackers and some karaoke! Since they didn’t have Journey “Don’t Stop Believing” I opted for the second best Johnny Cash “Ring of Fire.” We had many Tom Jones signers as our team competition for the Wales trip was to have one member karaoke a Tom Jones song; it was a classic first night with a new group and definitely helped with the bonding.
Day two started off with some middle school boy humor by stopping to take photos of the town sign for Three Cocks and Three Cocks Coaching Station, we just never grow up, do we? Then it was off to be academic in Hay-on-Wye, the largest book town in the UK, since I have gotten addicted to the Outlander (or Cross Stitch) series by Diana Gabaldon, I was in no need of a book but enjoyed walking around town. Next stop was Builth Wells to take a photo of the Llewellyn the Last mural, the best part of this was he shoed his horses backwards to confuse the British, unfortunately his horse-shoer was a drunkard and gave his secret away and he lost the battle and his life. The next part of the day was my favorite on the whole trip, we hiked up to Llangollen to see the Dinas Bran Castle ruins and valley below. On the hike up I specifically stated I would fall coming down this hill, since it was rather muddy, and sure enough the rain came out on our decent and I took the short cut fully knowing it was wrong and went down on my butt half way down the hill, it was a more graceful fall according to the viewers, and quite fun in my opinion, felt just like being on a slide. It was so inspirational that one of the tour members wrote her competition Limerick about it:
Ode to Katie, by Robyn
We climbed up the hill to castle ruins – so steep
Saw the town of Llangollen, aqueduct, cows, and sheep
To beat misty rains going down we did run
Katie slipped on smooth grass and slid on her bum
But fortunately for her did not fall in a heap!
Ahh, thanks Robyn, I’ve never had a poem written about me. Our last stop was the middle of nowhere in Cefn Brith at Tyddyn Bychan (little farm in the middle of nowhere) for a BBQ dinner and sleeping. We had a phenomenal BBQ in the most amazing BBQ hut I have ever seen, I think it could even double as a sauna and steam room because it sure felt like one, but kept the rain out so that’s all that mattered.
Day three it was off to Betws-y-Coed falls then the Ugly House, which was rather cute in many opinions, just a bit odd because it was built with such large and mismatched stones. Next was Snowdonia National Park to hike a bit of Mt. Snowden on the Llybwr Mines Track from Pen y Pass. We were blessed with a beautiful sunny afternoon on our hour long hike to a lake and back, under the shadow of eerie mist covered Mt. Snowden in the distance. For lunch we stopped in Conwy a great river port town built inside the Conwy Castle walls. Here we walked the Castle wall around town, had some fish and chips, ice cream and saw the smallest house, which was pretty damn small, I again would get claustrophobic in there. After Conwy it was off to the Isle of Anglesey to visit Llanfairpwllbwyngyllgogerychwyrnbrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, or The church of Mary in the hollow of the while hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave, or the town with the third longest name in the world, whew. Not much there, except to take photos of the train station sign. After Llan…., you get the picture, it was off to view the Menai Suspension Bridge and Ynys Gored Goch Island, beautiful and then finally to our night destination of the Royal City of Caernarfon, where we got to sleep in a hostel that is inside the castle walls, not inside like a city but that the wall of the castle was one wall of the hostel, exciting, I know. Castle Caerfarfon is the Castle for the Prince of Wales, which is now Prince Charles, but it’s not livable. Now this is the part where some get offended but the British or the Welsh don’t understand American PC rules and think we are crazy but the best pub in town, according to locals was the Black Boy Inn, and they actually had a painting of a Black Boy on the sign, highly offensive to Americans but not so at all to the Brits. And it was the most popular place in town, it’s where most of us got our photos with elderly people and Cecil phone numbers (more tour contest stuff) and it was where some people tried Faggots or Welsh pork meat balls (offensive again, I know, I’m sorry, but just relaying some culture). It was also the place where the group got a nice Welsh boy to write a Welsh saying to me (I guess I was very inspirational to writers on this trip), anyways, I have no idea what it meant in Welch, he translated, but didn’t write it down, so here’s the Welsh version and if you are keen you can translate it yourself, or not, as it might just mean something like I look like a dog! Here goes:
Katie,
Rhy’n hiraethv amdanat am gweddill ry oes, mae ry nghalon yn wag heb y ti yn fy mywyd!
Carind Mawr,
Oddiwrth Guyn
It was the second highlight to the night with laughter, second to the Welsh boy calling our French tour companion Tiger Woods, after that the night was downhill with Tiger jokes and explanations for our French friend (his English was good but not that good, so the explanations, like charades, helped add to the hilarity).
Day four it was up and off to another castle, maybe I should have titled this blog castles? First stop was llyn Padarn Castle and slate quarry, then off to an overlook of Mt. Snowdon because there was a beautiful unobstructed view of the beast on Thursday, followed by a walk in Beddgelert to view Llewellyn’s dog Gelert’s grave, not a Hollywood ending story, so I’m leaving it out. We played a bit of rounders at Harlech Beach, where we saw another castle (overlooking the golf course and beach) and off to Dolgellay for lunch and a birthday cake for a tour member. After lunch we walked off the calories at The Devil’s Bridge and waterfalls near Aberystwyth and finally to the capitol of Wales, Cardiff, for the night.
Friday was a long driving day, we got up to tour Cardiff Castle then it was off to Caerleon to view a Roman amphitheatre and barracks and finally back into England to see a Cotswolds town of Castle Combe and back to London town. I won’t leave you hanging on our competition, my group did not win, our Cecil number didn’t go through, but all was good, everyone still had a great time participating. Ah and if you are wondering about my title, Wales is known for Dragons, and the spoons, well I have a funny story about a fellow trip mate, but the Welsh are known to express their love to another through beautifully carved loves spoons, so romantic.
Very good.
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