Boom, boom, boom let me hear you say Wales...

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Our three day trip to Wales started off nice and early from Central London, we were a little worried as we have never been on a bus tour before and I get motion sickness if I do anything other than stare out the front window! It didn't take long to get out of London and on our way. The driver was hilarious and kept us entertained with stories and even a little history of Wales. After crossing the Severn River, which separates Wales from England, we drove along the Wye valley to the ruins of Tintern Abbey, before having lunch in Caerphilly, which has Europe's largest ruined castle (and is also Europe's capital of teenage mothers). After a small drive we had a walk in the Brecon Beacons, where our tour guide did a fantastic impression of Gollum, from Lord of the Rings. We then drove to Abergavenny for a well-earned pint of Brains (Welsh beer) and a classic pub quiz! Which was a laugh as the locals were taking it very seriously. Before long it was bed time and we headed to our 12 bed dorm for a rather uncomfortable sleep.

Day two:
Heading north through rural farmland where locals still speak Welsh, we learnt about how folk struggled to defend themselves against English invaders. It was just a basic rundown on Welsh history but more than we expected and was good to learn about their history. Afterwards we went to the ruined Welsh Castel-y-Bere, the last stronghold of the independent Welsh princes and to a little village Hay on Wye, a small town on the border of England with a rich history dating back to Pre-Roman times. The town is very well known for it's bookshops - the tiny town has 32 bookshops, one of which has hundreds of new books, all for 1 pound. 'Course Sarah went a little mad and bought 7... Then on to Snowdonia National Park, Wales' highest mountain range. We stayed the night in the walled town of Caernarfon, in the shadow of one of Britain’s most spectacular castles!

Day 3
Before heading back across the border to England we went over to the Isle of Anglesey, home of the famous 'Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch’, the longest place name in Europe, which to be honest doesn’t have much more to offer than its long name. So after having a go at pronouncing it and taking a quick photo it, we were back onto the bus and off to Llangollen on the mainland. Continuing along north Wales, we crossed over into England and had our last stop at Stratford-upon-Avon.