Wales

I have finally got time to report on our travels in England and Wales. We are currently on the Eurostar from London to Avignon, a trip which takes almost 6 hours. This was giving me motion sickness so continuing on Saturday from Pascale’s house in Bayzan in the Ardeche region.
 
Monday, June 5 – Our flight from Belfast to London was on time and we rented a Vauxhall Mokka. It had a sat nav but as it was set to avoid traffic and take the shortest route, we ended up lost on small back roads out of Heathrow. Using the sat nav on my phone plus Google maps got us back on track to Belper in Derbyshire. We stayed for 3 nights at Bridge Hill House B&B where we had stayed 2 years ago and is still the best B&B we have stayed in anywhere – great room and excellent breakfast. The town is also a good location for exploring the centre of England.
 
Tuesday, June 6 – Had a quiet day doing some washing. It rained so not much else to do.
 
Wednesday, June 7 – This was the day of the inaugural RHS flower show at Chatsworth House in the Peak District in Derbyshire. All of the guests and the owners of the B&B were going so after an early breakfast, we left in good time to arrive before the 10 AM opening – or so we thought. The traffic down the narrow roads into Chatsworth was backed up several kilometres so it took about 90 minutes extra to get in. Later people had waits of 2-3 hours! The show itself was very good although Chelsea was still better. Many of the exhibits and stands were the same. The location at Chatsworth was visually great but they will need to sort out the access problem in future. We did have a very nice 3 course lunch and tasted and bought some local gin.
 
Thursday, June 8 – We only had a short drive to Stoke-on-Trent that day but detoured into Wales to visit a woodworking shop to buy self-adhesive velvet Boris uses for jewellery boxes. It was less than 1/3 the price in Australia so 4 rolls are in the luggage – saved $280! Back to Stoke-on-Trent, we visited the brand new Wedgewood World which is a combination of factory tour, museum and shops for all things Wedgewood. The factory tour was extremely good as they have set up walkways all through the place and many of the staff were happy to talk to us. It was very informative and interesting. Some of the artists hand-painting items were extremely talented as was the guy making the white mouldings to apply to the traditional Jasperware.
 
Friday, June 9 – The weather was very good so on the way to our next stop we visited Powis Castle which is a red brick place set in extensive gardens and forest just inside Wales. We had a short visit 15 years ago but this time, spent a long time both in the house and all over the gardens. The yew hedges are a real highlight. On the way to our B&B we stopped in Aberystwyth to buy tickets for the Rheidol Railway the next day. We had 3 nights at a very good B&B near Aberaeron on Cardigan Bay on the Welsh central coast.
 
Saturday, June 10 – Despite a bit of rain, the steam train trip from Aberystwyth to Devils Bridge was very interesting with great scenery. The trip is an hour each way plus an hour at Devils Bridge for lunch and a walk. The train line is very narrow gauge at 1’11½“ to cope with the winding way up the mountain. It was originally to transport freight and ore for the lead mines and was the last steam operated line still running under British Rail. The engines, line and stations have all been renovated and are in excellent condition. The highlight of the destination is a bridge over a very narrow gorge and waterfall. Over the years, 3 bridges were built, each one higher than the last and they are all intact. They date from 11th century, 1798 and 1901. On the way back we had a look at an old national trust home called Llanerchaeron. It was notable for being redesigned by John Nash, a famous architect.
 
Sunday, June 11 – As we had joined the National Trust, we sought out a few properties in Southwest Wales. We started with a locality called Mwnt which was a beach surrounded by rugged cliffs. We then went down to St David’s where we were surprised by the size and good condition of the cathedral and the ruins of the bishop’s palace. It was founded by St David, the patron saint of Wales around 600 and the current cathedral was started in 1131 and partially destroyed and rebuilt over the years. Previously mentioned John Nash built one section in 1793. The inside was notable for many wood carvings including the entire ceiling. Nearby, we went down more very narrow roads to Abereiddy where there is a feature called the blue lagoon. It was formed by the sea breaking in to an abandoned slate mine and has some interesting colours. The coast around it is again very rugged being near the end of Cardigan Bay and looking at the Atlantic Ocean. People were surfing at the small beach and also engaging in “coasteering”, a new activity which seems to involve jumping, climbing and swimming around rocky coasts.
 
Monday, June 12 – On the way from Aberaeron to Swansea and our last 3 nights in Wales, we stopped at 2 more ruined castles and the coastal town of Tenby. The south coast of Wales and England have some of the world’s largest tides so while we were there we saw the boats go from floating to resting on the sand with the water 100 metres away. For those who have seen Grand Designs on TV, the Tenby lifeboat station featured several years ago. A farmer left 3 million pounds which was used to buy a state of the art lifeboat and new building to go with it. The word lifeboat is a bit misleading as it is a large vessel capable of rescuing over 100 people. It is kept high and dry in the “shed” and launched in seconds down a ramp. It is worth searching on YouTube for videos of it. The old shed was converted to a home and shown on TV. Tenby has a lot of other history and is a very interesting and picturesque town. After fighting the traffic through Swansea we found our B&B in Mumbles in a very steep area near the sea and reputedly the best surf beach in Britain. It was run by a couple with 2 kids and they do a great job. The room was very good and the breakfasts great.