2018 August Great Britain Day 4 - Church, Castel Coch, St. Fagan's & Tenby.

Day 4 on our trip began at 2 AM again...at least for me.  Denise was not talking to me this time in her sleep, so it was a bit more peaceful if you don't want to sleep at that time.  I read the newspaper online and pondered living in England if we cannot get flights home.  :-)  I think I fell back asleep at about 3:30 AM.  We slept until about 8 AM and then got up and started getting ready to go to church, which started at 10 AM.

Driving continues to be an adventure.  Finding the church in the Newport city introduced us to roundabouts and locations when the GPS says you are there, you can see the church, but how do you get to the parking lot?  We found it though in the nick of time.  It is the first Sunday of the month, so we were fasting.  The ward there was small, but very nice.  The chapel was interesting as it only had chairs, not pews.  Looking at it, you would have thought it would have had pews.  Nice testimonies were borne.  But we slipped out about 10 minutes early to get back to our hotel and get checked out since check out time was at 11 AM.

After changing our clothes and loading the car, we headed to our first stop... Castle Coch.  This was a medieval castle owned by Gilbert d'Clare...the red headed noble man of Norman descent.  That's about as much history as you'll every get out of me...sorry Brent!  It was a pretty cool castle...not big...but interesting.  We had to pay to get in but they did give us head sets that allowed us to take an audio tour.  That lasted about an hour or so.  A lot of the locals just come up to the grounds to picnic with their families.  And in the shade, it was nice and cool even though these regions are having some of the hottest temperatures they have had in a long time.

Our next stop was St. Fagan's, the National Outdoor Welsh museum.  Upon arriving there, we knew we were in trouble after being routed into a large field designated to be overflow parking.   It was sunny and hot.  Although the walk was about a 5 minute walk to the entrance, it seemed forever.  That was just the beginning.  St. Fagan's is a large park like setting with ponds, a castle and lots of buildings that demonstrate what life was like in early welsh times.  We thought we might see docents in period costume...but instead we saw vendor tents, ice cream trailers and so on that housed live people doing things.  The grounds was beautiful...don't get me wrong.  But Denise's Apple Watch step counter got so hot it blistered her arm due to the millions of steps she took.  And with it being hot, humid and lots of steps, her personality grew even more and more loving.  We have to go back!  This place would again be nice for a picnic with your family.  They did have a really cool adventure course for kids who would strap into climbing stuff and then navigate a nice ropes course.  It was pretty high and pretty long.  

We left St. Fagan's and headed to Swansea about 50 minutes up the road.  This is a seaport town that Denise's Aunt loved when serving a mission here.  We ended up in a fast food seafood joint.  It was pretty good.  It was right across the street from their big rugby and futbol stadium.  I had a large piece of cod with a mountain of 'chips' (French fries).  No wonder the welsh seem like a tread mill in each home might be a good thing!

Our next stop was our inn for the night.  But getting there was an amazing adventure.  It started at the fish house.  The GPS wanted me to turn left.  But there was a barrier in the road that would not allow that.  So turned right.  The GPS then re-routed us back to the same place...only this time, in my frustration I turned into the wrong lane and almost went nose to nose with another car.  They guy just stared at me a bit, waited for me to wave and then waved back. We then went on our way.  This time I did not listen to the GPS and tried to go to an intersection where I could do a U-turn.  I got there.  But in my excitement, I killed the car as I began to make the turn.  And starting the car with these wireless key fobs with foot on the brake...well...I had to come to a complete stop to get the darn thing to start.  The people behind me must have thought I was nuts.  The next phase of the driving adventure took us to the 'town' where  the inn is supposed to be...Tenby.  But no, we get into Tenby and the address where the inn is supposed to be was not right.  Well, we did not understand it.  Turns out it was a few miles down some road in a village called Penally.  However, we must have missed the main road to get to Penally because you should have seen our drive over hill and Dale, small streams and valleys.  It was amazing and at one point, my mirrors were hitting brush on both sides...so narrow was the road.  This could not be right.  So as we came off this hill into some homes, we saw a guy and we stopped him to ask if he had heard of the New Overlander Inn.  He laughed and said, it is right here!  Take a quick left, quick right and another quick right and it is right there.  And sure enough it was.

The inn host was wonderful getting us her 'best' room at the back of the house.  The only problem is that if I stick my arm out the back window, the train will snap it off....that's how close we are to train tracks.  Fortunately it comes once an hour or even less and stops around 10:30 PM.  So we should be fine.  Booking .com happened to forget that bit of trivia!  But it is beautiful here.  Denise and I took the 10 minute walk past a golf course and down to the ocean beach.  It was still warm but getting cooler as we got closer to the sea.  Now I'm getting to the part of the vacation I'll enjoy the most....ocean water!

Tomorrow's another day...our last in Wales!  Adios ancestors!  :-)

Pictures....

Happy church goers....nice little ward.  People just doing their best to live the teachings taught to them by their Savior....

The next set of pictures are inside Castel Coch...it was pretty ornate as some guy came in and really restored the place a few moons back...

I forget to mention that part of the million Apple Watch steps today were stair stepper exercises.  I can't tell you how many stairs we climbed but enough sweat was streaming down my back at one point.

Nic stained glass windows that once adorned a chapel in the castle...

The castle was circular and this is looking across the courtyard from the 2nd floor up...

Me in the dungeon trying to phone home for help....

The next set of pictures are at St. Fagan's.  They called the building behind Denise 'St. Fagan's' castle.  But actually, the castle is long gone and this was a manor house where the noble families came for the summer.

 

An inside room in the manor.  Notice the 'horn' thing in the back.  That is a large phonograph.  This must have been the music room with a number of instruments there.

This is just a part of the beautiful grounds here....

This is the cider press exhibition.  One can only assume the guy who was supposed to be demonstrating how to press apples into cider got fired or he walked out...as no one was there demonstrating.  Maybe he made bad juice or something!

This is the 21st century exhibition of how to take your money with many little booths of things.  Did they do that in medieval times?  The probably did...actually they did some nice things for kids teaching them how to turn wood, to do pottery and stuff.

The highlight of the day...trust me.  It tasted so good.  Great way to break a fast...

The town square...nice little shops.

Some of the paths along the way...

This is one of the wide roads we found trying to locate our BNB!  It was an actual miracle we stumbled on to this place and I truly mean that.

My happy place...the sea!  Cool breezes, cool sand and cool ocean water.  Nothing better...especially when doing this with my wife!  

There she is...

There he is...

Our friend for a night I guess.  No one said our room was literally 20 feet from a train track!

Our inn for the night...the New Overlander Inn.  It is quite nice so far.  Just a bit hot.

2018 August Great Britain Day 3 - Pub Breakfast, Big Pit Coal Mine and Caerphillly castle.

As you can tell by my previous blog of day one and two, I was up writing my blog pretty early (around 3 AM).  I did fall back to sleep after a few discourses from Denise (talking in her sleep about who knows what!  :-) ). It was around 4:30 AM.  But, we both woke up and it was already 8:30 AM.  We were shocked.  We never sleep that long.

After getting ready, we headed to the pub here by the hotel (Hungry Horse).  But on our way there, we ran into Steve...a Welsh buy who now lives in England because of his wife's health.  Steve was headed out to take his 'yorky' for a walk and ran into us.  Steve became my shadow as we crossed from the hotel to the pub.  He was a swell guy but it was obvious the man did not get much chatter in his room and I was his outlet for letting go of everything he knew about Wales and Donald Trump.  Denise finally came over and said, hey, we need to eat.  So I sat down and Steve took off.  But like a nice boomerang, before we had our welsh breakfast in front of us, Steve was back wanting a bit more chatter.  Our food came and as we ate, Steve talked.  We ate.  Steve talked.  And when it was time to pay our bill, Steve kept talking.  Finally, when all words had been expressed, Steve and his yorky were off...and so were we.

Our first stop of the day was in Blaenafon where the Ironworks and Big Pit coal mine landmarks were.  After driving these crazy narrow roads through small villages for 50 minutes, we came upon the Ironworks area.  We parked the car and walked over to the relic area that had a variety of old buildings that were once used either in the process of mining ore or housing those who did.  But apparently, it was a weekend of docents who were dressed up as World War II folks who lived in this area.  They looked pretty authentic.  They even had some breads made that showed what they would have eaten during these times.  They even dawned makeup to have open wounds and stuff as a result of bombings that occurred in this area.  As we departed, there were two ladies singing up a storm.  Really good voices they had.  Denise also found a friend who shared a lot of good info about Welsh people and places in the area.

After touring the Ironworks area, we got in the car and drove to the Big Pit National Coal museum.  This place was pretty cool.  In addition to a small exhibition of the life of a coal miner and his family, they offered some really cool tours.  One tour took us down 90 meters into the actual mining areas.  Our guide was tremendous.  He was funny and he was extremely knowledgable because he was a coal miner.  I did not realize that they kept herds of horses in the mine for pulling the 'trams' of coal out of the mine.  Whole families worked in the mine...down to the age of 6.  The 6 years old boys manned the doors and helped direct airflow.  It was quite cool inside.  However, if you go deeper which all other mines are since this was the shallowest mine in Wales, it becomes hot and most men mined bareback due to the heat.  The other fascinating thing was people were valued less than the horses.  Horses cost money but people were a dime a dozen.  It was no big deal to replace a dead worker.  Anyway, it was a fun couple of hours touring this facility.

After the mine, we drove to Caerphilly to see the largest castle in Wales.  The motes around this castle were impressive...let alone the castle itself.  It was big.  You could go up high.  And the little town around it was quaint and nice too.   We parked our car at a lot nearby.  We wanted to pay 1.80 pounds for 2 hours but instead we dropped 3 pounds in and it gave us no change.  So we got 3 hours of parking.  Well, because we stayed to each dinner at (Casa Mia)...an Italian place, we used every minute of that time.  So it worked out.  Lots of history with this castle.  Really nice walking tour.  And the dinner at the conclusion at Casa Mia across the street from our car could not have been better.  It turned out very well.

Driving...I'm back in Ireland, I swear.  The smallest little road ways with cars going bi-directional.  And then they park in your lane and you have to SQUEEEEZZZZEEEE by cars coming at you.  It is the darndest thing you'd ever see.  But we're still alive with no scratches on the car...yet.  Anyway, it is a bit crazy shifting the 6 speed car with my left hand, driving on the different side of the car and road.  I just have to keep my guard up.  I had to apologize to Denise as she is always reading info on the sites we are seeking but I'm so focused on driving that I'm not hearing much.

Great #3 day...first full day in Wales.

 

Welsh breakfast...

Ironworks site...

Some of the lady docents getting ready for some type of demonstration of a bomb going off. 

Some of the men getting ready....

These ladies had wonderful voices as they sang 'Sera, Sera'...

They have the craziest ways of slowing you down.  In this case, they just shut one lane down by putting stuff like this in the road way...

Happy coal miner's daughter with tickets to go into the hole...

The coal miners...

The little village by the mines...Braenforn.

Kicking back while waiting for the souvenir shopper...

The cars just park in the road...and then you get to dodge the cars coming at you as you pass the parked cars...

Caersphilly Castle....pretty neat.

 A Lake that joins the motes that surround the castle...

The slings that throw large rocks over the wall...

We hiked numerous towers in this castle...

Imprisonment....

The castle....

Dinner at Mia Casa.  They did not open until 6 PM.  We did not know that.  It was 5:40.  They had one table open...the whole restaurant was reserved.  They said no problem and sat us and allowed us to get something cold to drink.  So kind.  We had a yummy dinner here of pasta (Lasagna and Carbonara).

Our garlic chees bread staring at the castle knowing it as going down my hatch in just a few moments....!

Our motel...

A crazy guest....

Our horse and buggy....

2018 August Great Britain Day 1 & 2 - Travel Day, Welcome Wales, Tintern Abbey

Another trip has begun with the usual stand by travel stress.  But in the end, we have found our way across the big pond landing in the London Heathrow airport at about 11:30 AM, August 3rd.  The trip here was another stressful, wondering where we'll end up, stand by flying adventure.  It started in the SLC airport....no actually at home the night before.  With 4 airports to consider for arriving into (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester and London (Heathrows), the number of permutations to consider of flights from Slc was crazy.  But the challenge was...do we get up really early to get on wide open flights to SFO, which was kind of going backwards, to just get out of SLC.  The night before, our best option to get across the pond were Newark (lots of London flights), Chicago (last flight had 50 seats open) and then Houston (seemed to have enough seats open).  Well, getting to Newark and Chicago seemed rough.  But the 1:10 PM flight from SLC to IAH (Houston) looked great.  11 seats open the night before.  And about 18 seats from IAH to LHR (Heathrow).  The other 3 airports in the UK had few seats open.  Anyway, we chose the 1:10 PM flight.  Bottom line...it came down to 1 seat open and we let it go as this trip we will stay together.  So we rolled to the next IAH flight.  It looked oversold.  But low and behold, we got seats on it.  So off to Houston we went.  Now arriving in Houston, we watched the available seats drop from the 18 down to 2 to get us to Heathrow and we were 8 and 9 on the list. We thought we were getting a hotel in Houston.  But again, the seas part and dry seats appear.  There were 10 standbys and they all got seats.  Now the seating process was funny to watch as the folks ahead of us in the stand by list were a party of 3 and then a party of 4.  But these people were scouring the seat options (which were few) to the point that the gate agent said choose or we shut the plane doors.  Denise was saying, we don't care, just give us a seat.  Anyway, we ended up with me getting a seat at the rear of the plane, but it was an aisle seat.  Denise got a middle row seat but in Economy Plus.  So she, wanting the aisle seat, swapped our seats.  And then funny things began to happen.  I get to my seat and a lady is sitting in it.  She asks me if she can sit there and gave me her aisle seat.  I said heck yes!   Denise was in the economy section and just kept walking back.  It was the last time I saw her until we got off the plane in Heathrow.  But while sitting in my seat waiting for the plane to take off, my phone rings and it is Denise.  She is furious.  She gets back to her seat and a Senior Citizen (lady) is parked in her seat.  They lady apparently did not speak English and would not look at Denise as she expressed her desire to have her seat.  The flight attendant came over and sided with the old woman saying her family wants her by her and could Denise just sit in her WINDOW seat.  This was like telling Denise that she was being put in prison.  An aisle seat is desired due to bathroom access.  Especially with a red eye flight as you don't want to wake up people to go use the toilet.  Anyway, being standby you just don't feel like you can press any issues.  So Denise apparently bit her tongue and settled into a Window seat.  On the phone, I got an earful!  I offered to swap with her.  She would not hear it.  So I wondered how she was doing the whole flight.  But I did not go back as I'm afraid she might throw something at me.

The flight was the usual red eye flight...quick dinner, try to sleep after watching a movie, a lousy breakfast and then you arrive.  It was a 9 hour flight from IAH to LHR.  Upon arriving, getting through border patrol took about 45 minutes.  But all good.  We then got some money from an ATM and then went outside to get on the Hertz rental car bus.  It was about 12:30 PM and that is the time I gave to get our rental car.  Upon arriving to the lot, they have a 'ticket' system.  So instead of standing in line, you get a ticket and then your number was called.  I think we were about #13 in queue.  It took about a half hour to get to a clerk.  The process went pretty well there.  We actually got a bigger car that has a GPS and everything...which kind of haunted us a bit as we began our journey from Heathrow to Wales.

Getting out of the airport and on to the M4 went well.  Driving on the wrong side of the car and road is always a new adventure at first.  But I did ok.  Our first order of business was to drive to Tintern Abbey.  One of the oldest Abbey's in Wales...first built in the 1100's.  We thought the drive would only take 1.5 hours.  But being a Friday with construction on the M4, it took us 3.5 hours to find the Abbey.  And oh the driving once we left the M4 highway...well it was like being in Ireland again.  Maybe worse.  Such narrow roads.  And we were racing time as the last entrance to the Abbey as at 5:30 PM.  So I did my best Mario Andretti, even thought the two GPS's (car and phone) we had turned on confused us a few times, we arrived at 5:25 PM and was able to pay a few pounds to go in and walk around this old relic of a building.  It was pretty amazing though to see and imagine what it was like all those years ago.  

Anyway, we did our 30 minutes there as it closed at 6 PM and then headed back into Tintern to a pub that we had seen when passing through the very small Tintern town.  Upon entering the pub, we asked if we should seat ourselves.  The bar maid said, well, we only have one table available as the rest were all reserved.  We said...OK...we'll take it.  Now the service in these places over here is so different.  You drive the process.  They will do nothing unless you request it.  But the bar maid took care of us making sure we had menus and such.  Denise ordered some Haddock fish and chips.  I had the Fisherman's Pie.  Both were tasty...but a TON of food.  Mine was the catch of the day, chopped up and mixed with mash potatoes, corn and cheese.  The lady asked if I wanted anything else, as you get some sides for the price.  So not thinking, I ordered chips too.  Later I thought ...why did I do that?  I'm getting mashed potatoes already!  Another funny thing, the lady asked me if I wanted peas.  I said no...that's ok.  Now I was placing this order at the bar...not at the table.  When I got back to the table, Denise said, 'Get the peas!'.  Which was odd from a woman who does not eat peas.  So I went back to the bar and requested the peas.  I asked Denise why...she thought they did something special with the peas.  Guess what...they were peas out of a can.  Nothing special.  Made me smile.  But I love peas...so I ate every last one.

After dinner, we made our way to our hotel...the NewInn Motel.  The only room they had left was a twin room.  But being so tired, we took it.  It could have had rocks for beds and I would have taken it.  The room is very clean but a little warm.  They have no air conditioning in the room.  But they do have a fan and in the end it is quite comfortable.  The first order of business in the room is to get showered.  So I climb in the shower.  While in there, I cannot figure out how to get cold water.  Only scalding hot water can I get out of this shower.  So I beg Denise to come in and with me standing ther buck naked, we're both trying to figure this handles out.  We finally got it to be 'warm'...but never cold.  I still don't get it.  But it felt good.  

We turned the lights off at about 10 PM after watching a bit of TV.  I'm writing this now at 3:30 AM.  Welcome to screwed up sleep schedules for the first bit of our trip.  The country side that we drove through was stunning.  We are looking forward to the remaining parts of our journey tomorrow and the 8 days ahead of us.  But Day One is in the books.

Pictures:

Although Denise got a window seat, it did have its benefits.  Great shots of downtown London.  You can see Big Ben and the Parliment along with the 'Eye' wheel and so on in this pic.

In this pic, you can see the London Bridge and other downtown buildings.

The Hertz queue...we finally made it to #1!

Back driving on the wrong side of the car.....

The M4....a very nice highway when you are moving.  But we were stopped for quite a bit of the time.

Much of our drive today was on roads like this one through lush, very green, country sides to get to Tintern Abbey.

Some photos of Tintern Abbey.  First built in the 1100's....

Water duct that flowed throughout the site....

A monk and his beautiful lady...

The little pub where we ate at.  Across the road was the river 'Y'.....I think that was its name.

Fisherman's Pie.  Potatoes, and more potatoes....

Tiring day...but we're here.