Sep 20, 2018 - Snowdonia

Then headed over to Wales. Conwy is an old town, with the obligatory castle. Stayed overnight in an overflow carpark by the yacht club, in suburbia. Then visited Llanberris and took the train up the mountain. Takes an hour to get up there as it is very steep and you need to wait at times in a couple of places where there are two tracks, for trains going the opposite way. A lot of people walking up and/or down. Freezing at the top and was all clouded over, but cleared a short distance from the top. Chirk was an interesting little town. We...

Jun 4, 2018 - Day 11

We left Pontardawe this morning around 9.30am and had a wonderful day trip as Maureen & Jules showed us the incredible South Wales countryside. The sun was out, a balmy 22 degrees and a lovely day for a drive in the country (especially when we’re being chauffeured). We ventured over Black Mountain, Llangadog, Llandovery, Ceredigion, Pontarfynach, The Elan Valley & lots of other lovely villages whose names are too hard to spell and harder to pronounce. Can I just recommend Isaksen/White Tours when anyone is in Pontardawe - very...

Jun 3, 2018 - Day 10 - Wales

We had a beautiful drive over to Wales today. Skipped the freeways and took the country route - beautiful. We arrived at Maureen & Jules’ at Pontardawe around 3.30 and our wonderful hosts bundled us into the car and took us for a little tour to Rhossili on the Gower Peninsula. Maureen had packed a picnic dinner (complete with Pinot Grigio) so we sat on the cliff top and watched the world go by. We then drove back through The Mumbles (where Catherine Zeta-Jones is from), stopped at The Pilot of Mumbles to try the local ale, then headed...

May 29, 2018 - Day 5 - Cardiff

This morning we caught the country train to Cardiff, Wales. A 2 1/2 hour journey with the scenery a mix of railway yards and pretty countryside. We have loved the very small piece of Cardiff we have seen so far. The city centre/shopping precinct consists of malls and tiny little windy alley ways - a mix of old and new. It felt very Harry Potter with amazing little treasure shops, antique book shops and great little cocktail/gin bars. At the end of the shopping precinct is Cardiff Castle.... right smack in the centre of town. So, we...

May 27, 2018 - Cardiff

Cardiff Well, our tour is coming to an end soon, heading to Cardiff today, feeling a little better, thank goodness I’m not really sick.. so far anyway !! Well Cardiff must be where all the young out of control kids live!! It’s a bank holiday tomorrow so they are out on the town!! And very messy.. you know you getting old when you are relocated from your room because of a rave party that vibrates the walls of the room.. Cardiff is the capital of wales and a bustling busy city.

May 1, 2018 - Conwy to Lake Windermere

Sunshine greeted us as we drove back to Conwy. We first explored the castle. One tower is under construction but the rest is open. This is the only castle in Wales that Edward I completed. It must have been quite opulent in its time. (1283 building was started, completed 4 years later). It has an intact bridge over the river and moat. Many towers and the wall around the town are intact. The roof has been removed to better see the interior. In those times the number of windows showed how wealthy you were. From here we walked through the...

Apr 30, 2018 - Wales

Up and out on a cloudy day with the sun fighting a valiant battle to be seen. First we went to Clepstow Castle on the banks of the Wye River. We went in and found it much more spectacular from outside. We did get a sense ov the towers from 1100 or so....and also of the size of the banquet halls. In the upper reaches we could see traces of times past in clerestory windows and paint. It was abandoned in the 1600's. Should mention the multicolored Georgian buildings with red brick sprinkled in that lined the streets. We leftp and programmed...

Jul 26, 2017 - Wales

The weather forecast looked bleak for the day but a steady rain in Chester became intermittent showers once we entered Wales. All during the trip we noticed that the weather changes in literally minutes from sunny, to rainy back to sunny then back to rain again. First stop in Wales was at Castle Conwy built by Edward I in 1283 during his conquest of Wales. The castle protected the walled city of Conwy and was surrendered to parliamentary forces during the civil war and was finally abandoned in 1665. After a walk through the walled city and...

Jul 4, 2017 - Cardiff Castle

Up at 6:00 and put the suitcase outside the door, then get dressed and head down for breakfast. Alice wasn’t feeling well but we ate a little then onto the bus. Quiet ride to Cardiff through drizzle and rain, but light stuff. We got to the castle and hurried inside to hide under a big tree. We were group two so we stood about for a bit and the rain ended. Then off for the castle tour. Cardiff Castle was an ancient structure but completely redone by John Stuart, a coal merchant, in the mid 19th century. A Victorian Gothic fantasy built on...

Jul 16, 2016 - Plymouth - Glastonbury - Bath - Newport, Wales

Stelly here - Giving Shelly a break from the journal update today although she is doing a wonderful job. We are having a wonderful time and have the best travel buddies you could hope for. Have had a great day today. After leaving the hotel the coach took us for about two hours through beautiful English countryside stopping at a very cute village called Glastonbury for morning tea and then on to Bath. We were supplied with an audio recording and learned all about the ancient Roman Baths and were able to go right to the edge of the baths,...

Jun 18, 2016 - live ammo and crazy horses!

I was out early this morning to catch some rugby at the local rugby clubhouse which is actually a pub in town centre. This is Wayne talking now just in case you thought maybe Donna was up EARLY to catch some rugby - NOT!!! Wales vs New Zealand was on a huge tv screen watched by me and a hundred of my new best buddies of all ages. It was fun to experience as an old gal behind me was yelling advice all game long and many others were "helping" the ref on every call. Of course the beer was flowing although a few of us wusses stuck to coffee as...

Jun 17, 2016 - south of Wales - what a gem!

Hiking boots day today. The Wales Coastal Path is a long-distance "footpath" that follows the coastline of Wales - an 870 mile route. Each section of the trail has a local name and in the Tenby area the path is called The Pembrokeshire Coast Path which runs along the coast for 186 miles. Initially we had hoped to hike this whole section when we left Prestatyn but realized we wouldn't even come close to finishing it so opted to hang out by the beach in Tenby instead. TODAY we are donning our boots once again and heading north out of Tenby to...