27/1 Caernarfon

27/1/2010 On to Caernarfon

If there's one thing Randy needs to see when he goes overseas, it's a good castle. With this in mind, I made plans for us to stop in Caernarfon on the way to the big music festival. Caernarfon Castle is possibly Wales' most famous castle built in 1283. It looked pretty awesome when I googled it.

So...on the 27th, we had our big breakfast, and were called "wussies" by our B&B host when we could not eat all the sausages. If you are unfamiliar, a standard UK B&B breakfast consists of two eggs, 4 pieces of toast, bacon, two big fat sausage links, baked beans, a large mushroom, and half a fried tomato, plus tea or coffee and juice with cereal and fruit and yogurt being optional.

Example:

We just couldn't do it that day but we came close. Anyway, after that, despite the urge to take a nap, we hit the road for Caernarfon.

It was a pretty drive, and the scenery was much more photogenic than I was on that day!

We arrived at Totter's Hostel late in the afternoon--a cold and rainy afternoon. The hostel is right in the shadow of the castle, and very near the water (right through the arch behind me).

Not only was Totter's friendly, but parts of it were super old and cool looking...here is Randy by the kitchen storage area where you can see newer walls put over the ones that are from the 1600's.

This is the dining room, where the stuffed moose with one antler up and one antler down made us miss our beloved Diego just a bit.

And the town itself was a good-looking town...

Even non-castle parts of the town looked kind of castle-y.

Alas, the weather and the time prevented us from getting to the castle on Day 1 here, so we opted for the local tavern and were kind of pleasantly surprised to find that the locals spoke Welsh much more often than English.

Although I had been using a phone app called "uTalk Welsh," I didn't really get the opportunity to speak Welsh to anyone, but I was quite pleased with myself when standing in line at the post office and again at the pub, I was able to tell Randy, "Six! That guy just said six! I understood it!" - Woo hoo. Small victories.

The pub's English name "Black Boy" might not go over too well in the States, but it worked here and when I told Randy he needed to try Brains beer because it was Welsh, he was a bit apprehensive, but ultimately delighted.

For most of the afternoon before hitting the pub, we wandered around the town, got some groceries and watched some movies in our room. We had the attic room so while most of the guests at Totters stay in a bunk room, we had the whole top floor to ourselves. Here' s a pic:

After the pub, we rested up for a big visit to the castle the next day. And so, for now, I will end this entry and bid you Hwyl fawr.

26/1 Into Wales...

On Tuesday, we didn't make any real plans other than to drive north into Wales. Before we left the south of England, though, I decided that it would be pretty cool to find the house that I first lived in...

We texted my mom who remembered that it was called Torlands and was in a village called Yelverton. She didn't remember street names, but thanks to our trust GPS, we found Yelverton and asked at a small real estate office if anyone knew of the house. At first, we got very puzzled looks, but at last, one of the realtors said they thought it was on "that street over there past the petrol station."

Within a few minutes of driving around in circles, we arrived. So...when I was brought "home" from the hospital, this was "home."

This house was very large, and I still need to ask my mom if it was multiple units or if they were living like royalty on the USMC's dime. The yard was huge, the trees were covered in moss, and the neighborhood looked way out of my price range. It was kind of a special feeling to see this place, and I am grateful that Randy encouraged me to follow up on this whim.

After the pilgrimage to Plymouth (that sounds sort of backwards, doesn't it?) we drove north through more narrow narrow streets with tall hedgerows on either side. Here is an example of the superhighways of the English countryside:

(Note the Cadbury's on the dash)

Entering Wales over the bridge to Chepstow

(€7.00 toll. Get your wallets out!)

Our first stop in Wales was Tintern Abbey. It was as gorgeous as we had heard and we got there as the sun was beginning to set. We took about a million pictures, but here are just a few:

While we were walking around, we met this Welsh couple, who had recently bought a membership to Cadw (say it Cad-oo), an organization that helps to keep all these historic national sites maintained, and thought they'd come check out their investment. Cadw literally means "to keep." Anyway, they were chatty and friendly and it was our first interaction with actual Welsh people with Welsh accents in Wales (who weren't taking our toll money).

Also, they knew who the Alarm was! Everyone in Wales does. That is so cool. Anyway, we got them to snap a picture of us:

Lastly, here's another nice shot of the Abbey ruins.

The tourist information center was closed by the time the sun had set on Tintern so we weren't sure if there was a good place to stay in Chepstow and we figured we may as well keep driving. We drove on and on and on toward the north of Wales, and finally decided to stop in a little village whose name I cannot remember. We were hungry and tired, and had waited too long to make any kind of plan.

We wandered into a pub that had a sign advertising rooms for rent upstairs. When we asked if they had a double, they said they only had a twin room, but referred us to a B&B nearby. I called to see if they had rooms, and they informed us there was no room at the inn.

At this point, I was ready to take the twin, but just as I walked back up to the bar to say we wanted it, they sold it to a couple backpacker looking guys. Still, I cannot complain. The folks at the pub (including the customers) began trying to find us a room. The lady who told me she couldn't put us up at the B&B received a call on her personal cell phone from a guy at the bar, and he made one more call for us after that. Alas, the town was full!

Onward we drove on narrow roads with tall hedges, round the roundabouts, and finally to Bronwye B&B in Builth Wells. Randy negotiated a good price on a room that had a picture window looking onto a field of rugby players.

Around the corner, we had dinner (finally!) in the pub at the Greyhound Inn where Randy vowed to send a Denver glass if they would only let him keep the pint glass with the Welsh red dragon on it. The deal was made (but the postage on the trade glass he sent was over $10 so we're not sure how good a deal he made).

We slept very well that night at Bronwye and we covered a decent amount of ground.

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The very next day...

MONDAY 25/01/10

So...where was I? Oh yes, couchsurfing. Well, we did it a second night--this time in Gunnislake, a small village in Cornwall, not too far from Plymouth, the place of my birth.

Plymouth, while not a very time-consuming part of our plan, was an important part as this trip was in honor of my 40th birthday, and having never seen my birthplace, we decided back in the early planning stages that it should be a stop. Freedom Fields Hospital where I was born has since been demolished and turned into a housing estate, but we were able to see the site where the Mayflower took off for the US and some other interesting things around the harbor area.

Does anyone know what "tomb-stoning" is? I looked it up because I did not!

(British) The practice of jumping into the sea or similar body of water from a cliff or other high point such that the jumper enters the water vertically straight, like a tombstone.

This view was a bit surreal...

And it is unfortunate that you can't see the sign below "Luncheons" in this photo of the Strand Tea Rooms right on the harbor. It reads "Hippies use SIDE DOOR!"

After our afternoon in Plymouth, we headed to Gunnislake to meet Jo, Jem, & Bridie (pictured here the next morning are Randy, Jem, and Jo. Jo is an artist who has done commissioned work for royalty, and has two great kids, Jem (19) and Bridie (15?).

They live in the middle of nowhere and down some of the steepest "roads" that wouldn't be fit to be called alleys here in the US of A - at least outside of Arkansas. We and the mini car made it, but something about that drive, and the wrong turns which necessitated backing up steep "roads" produced a smell in our car that resembled rotten fish and 3 day old farts. It was really embarrassing when Jem got in the car to direct us to the Cornish pub where we dined amidst some Burns Night festivities.

After dinner, we hung out at home and watched the Disney movie Hercules. Is it me or are the gospel singers in that movie really annoying? Anyway, we had a good chilled out night and were fed some kind of waffle-y chocolate-y caramel-y cookie that hooked me instantly. Of course, I was unable to find it elsewhere in the UK afterwards...or I would have brought you some.

We slept on a futon in the middle of the living room, which was crowded with art supplies and laundry and laptops, etc. Every square inch of that house was being used, and while it would have put OCDs and type As in a frenzy, I have to say that the futon was good for a very comfortable nights' sleep, and the company was really good. It was great to be welcomed into a family so warm and easygoing. They made us feel instantly at home for our overnight stay, and we headed out the next morning for the drive north to Wales...