The Cotswalds and Wales

Caught train in from Bradford-on-Avon to Bath. Such a neat city, all Georgian architecture.

Dragged Gus to the Jane Austen Centre with promises of a visit to the Sally Lunn Centre to follow... I think he actually quite enjoyed himself, was a really good display of her life and the way of life for the gentry in Bath, THE place to be seen in those days. Sally Lunns are quite different to ours, we were squished into the corner of a tiny room at a table for two – the waiter couldn’t actually reach us – and given a pot of tea and a sally lunn bun each – really just a big bun but very fresh and served with lemon curd and clotted cream, yum! Drove up through the Cotswalds, stopped at Bourton-on-the-Water. Not far from Chipping Sodbury, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold and Clapton-on-the-Hill. Also Little and Upper Rissington are in this area. When we saw a sign saying ‘Mud on Road’ we weren’t sure if it was a warning or the name of a village!! Gus found a car museum, first one on the trip. It had the real Brum (for my younger readers), along with lots of old English cars, you would have loved it Rob. I left Gus to it and went for a walk around all the girly shops in the village. There were lots. We are now staying at Chipping Norton, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend here so we had booked ahead and are here for 2 nights, first time we’ve done that...

1st up went to visit the Rollright Stones – one of the many stone circles in England. It was a bit spooky because there is a very obvious walking track around the inside of the stones; and flowers, money and the remains of a fire in the centre. I wouldn’t like to visit after dark! Gus was all for taking the money – not me!! I was also a bit wary stepping into the circle, once again was easy for Gus – he hasn’t read any Diana Gabaldon books at all.

Next we decided to visit two villages well known in the area for their beauty – they go by the very un-beautiful names of Upper and Lower Slaughter. Once again parked The Enterprise (sorry Liam) on the side of the road and biked around the villages – they are very beautiful. Cute little stone bridges over the stream, thatched roofs, lovely gardens and even a water-wheel in one of them. I guess they knew a thing or two about town-planning back in the day!

Then went to a Falconry Centre, was really worthwhile – the guy who runs it is extremely passionate about the conservation of Birds of Prey. They have a huge array of different types of birds – falcons, vultures, eagles, owls, kestrels... well you get the picture. I know what you're all thinking - Poor Gus, but he really enjoyed it, see here he is making friends with a golden eagle.

They showed some of the birds giving demonstrations of the way they hunt, including this snowy owl (like Hedwig in Harry Potter). There you go Liam – a book you’ll know :-)

Today we decided to take the bit between the teeth (or move into Warp 5) and drive up into North Wales, Snowdonia National Park. On the way up we stopped at a village on a sandy beach, was very like I imagine Blackpool or one of those English beaches – complete with carousel and a pier. (oops forgot the camera though). Wales has got some incredibly beautiful scenery – rushing rivers and big mountains – but hasn’t stopped raining yet. Still has only been one day, maybe tomorrow...

The camping ground here is really lovely, set in amongst trees with a stream running around the edge of the camp and a little steam train track going past – there seem to be a lot of these light guage railways (with little steam trains) in Wales. The only problem with camping under trees when it’s raining is that the trees seem to think it’s hilarious to save up a bucket-full of rain at a time and then fling it all on the campervan at once, aiming particularly for the perspex skylights for maximum noise – sounded like gunfire. Gus slept well though so that’s ok :-)

On up through Snowdonia, glacial valleys and rugged mountains; rippling brooks and stone bridges.. Stopped raining, so went for a walk to Rhaeadr Cynfal Falls – no idea how to pronounce anything here! Lovely walk along the Afon Cynfal river – lots of mosses and gentle rapids.

All the signs and brochures in Wales are in English and Welsh, and we’ve heard quite a lot of Welsh spoken. I sort of thought it was like Cornish or, dear I say it, Maori, and only spoken by a small minority as a first language, shows what I know! We’re amazed at how many people recognise OUR accents, in England and Wales. Well.. often they think we’re Australian of course, and many people we’ve spoken to have been to NZ. We were talking to one couple while doing the dishes – it can be a bit of a social occasion in a campground, and they were saying they particularly liked one place in NZ but they had trouble remembering the name. It was in the North Island, the place they had the earthquake... We were happy to inform them that was our home town – Napier!

Saw a sign for LLechwedd Slat Caverns so decided to go and have a look. Was absolutely fascinating – took a tour 200 metres underground. You go down a 45 degree shaft in carriages then get out and walk through tunnels to ten caverns, each one is lit as you go through so you can see where you’re going, but dark enough so that you feel the darkness.. There’s also a voice telling you about life for a miner in the early 1900’s from the point of view of a 12 year old boy. It was really interesting but quite a relief to surface again, and enough to convince us not to take up mining!

Staying at Colwyn Bay tonight, most unusual view - Looking out to the left there's an abandoned castle (not allowed visitors), the Enterprise had to squeeze through the castle wall to get into the camping ground (on impulse engines only, after being at Warp 5 all along the A55). The other view looks out to sea and there are about 50 wind turbines out there! Also a few oil rigs in the distance..

We backtracked a few miles (not kms here) to see Conwy Castle. It's partly fallen down, some floors and stairwells missing, but has been made reasonably safe for tourists (still gave me cold sweats on the stairwell and around some of the tower walls).

It was built in the 13th century in just four years, an incredible feat, for a nasty English king, Richard I or II (we can't remember, but you welcome to google it). A walled town was then constructed for all the king's terrible English friends - or words to that effect.. We've been pretty lucky with weather considering, just as we got in the campervan to carry on it started raining. We're now near Bakewell in the Lake District, and it's still raining hard. We were going to bike into the local pub for a meal but maybe we'll stay high and dry and cook for ourselves instead.