"England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, inside, outside, puppy dogs tails" - that was how the song used to go when I played elastics in primary school (you know the game when you jump in, out and around a very long piece of elastic?) and that was the tune I had in my head all the way to Wales. I've been meaning to go to Wales the whole time I've been here but I'd just been waiting for someone who was willing to drive me somewhere cool because a) I wanted to see the country side and that was only possible with a car, b) I was not prepared to hire a car seeing as I hadn't driven since December, and c) I have trouble driving a stick and finding an auto car over here is impossible (and expensive). As you can see I had many barriers to getting to Wales and that's where the lovely Amanda comes into the picture. Amanda is a work mate of mine who started in April. She lived in Australia for a few years so she knows a little bit about our side of the world which I think is cool. Last week she said she was going to visit her aunt in Wales and I piped up, "Oh cool, I really want to get to Wales", and she invited me and that was that. I had my cool person to drive to me to Wales.
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| Did you know you pay to go into Wales but not when you come out? |
We set off quite early on Saturday morning and were at her aunty's house in Pembrokeshire by lunch time. Amanda had told me her aunt was crazy so I wasn't too sure what to expect but I'll tell you this, as soon as I walked into the house and met Maggie and Bobbie I felt so welcome and very much at home. It was a huge house and Maggie kept asking me what I was looking at because I couldn't stop gawking at everything. Perhaps the best part was the view from the lounge room that overlooked Pembroke Dock. We sat and ate our lunch (made by Maggie) overlooking the boats coming in and out, it was great. Oh and they had a sweet drawer, an actual drawer full of chocolate bars!
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| My kind of drawer! |
Maggie and Bobbie have only moved down to Wales quite recently and this was the first time Amanda had been to see their new place. The two of them had lived in London their whole lives and have done many jobs but most recently have been gardeners for very well off people in London. Maggie was never short of a story the whole time I was there, she gave me insights into a world and people I can only dream of. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much. When I'm home ask me to tell you about the Prada boots story ;) On the tour of Maggie's house she showed me a few photos and I happened to see this on the wall, this will help you get a picture in your head of Maggie and Bobbie.
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| That's them, the VIP guests |
After our lunch we headed along some pretty tiny roads (thank goodness I wasn't driving) to Little Haven Beach to check out the coast line. Amanda did very well to take a picture of me jumping (only took about 7 times) and we found a very comical sign next to a pay and display machine that actually said you didn't have to pay but could if you wanted! You all know how mad I am about seeing the sea so, as you can imagine, I was very happy at this point.
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| Little Haven |
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| 'You do not need to buy or display a ticket'... Ok |
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| Missed the jump |
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| Waiting casually for a car to go by |
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| She got it! |
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| Happy Amanda! |
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| Cool! |
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| Look at the clouds |
Then we headed to the next bay called Broad Haven and there we could walk along the sand. Walking along here really reminded me of the coast line up Kapiti ways.
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| No one around |
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| The sea! |
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| Girls having fun! |
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| The sun on the sea, love it! |
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| Nice shot |
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| Another nice one |
Maggie had told us about a pub by the sea so we wandered over there and our timing could not have been more perfect because the All Blacks game was on in there. We got there about 50 minutes through the games and at that point South Africa had the lead by one point so poor Amanda had to put up with me dashing in and out of the pub watching snippets of the game while enjoying the sea view. We went inside to watch the last bit and some lovely old, and very drunk, Welsh men gave up their seats for us. The Welsh accent is brilliant, I could've stayed in the pub listening to them for ages.
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| Corona - the taste of summer |
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| There's a great story behind this photo and I think it's a lovely shot :) |
Maggie had a lovely pasta dish waiting for us when we got back. She also opened a bottle of champagne on our arrival back at her place. What a host!
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| The good stuff |
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| I got some of the kitchen in this shot |
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| Oh hello TEN seater table |
Dinner was finished off with a delicious dessert, watching X-Factor and relaxing on the sofa. It was a great night and I slept like a baby.
I woke up the next day to Maggie cooking breakfast (talk about the good life). After breakfast we headed out to visit Amanda's step-mother's mum who lived about half an hour away. The journey was lovely and we passed so many castles it was unreal.
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| One of the MANY castles on the way |
Amanda got us there using her Sat nav but once we got to the area where her gran lived we got a bit lost because you see these houses were not numbered and instead had names. I've decided that looking for and finding a named house instead of a numbered one is pretty much impossible, especially if you haven't been there before!!!
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| Mmm where is Tanglost House?!? |
We only found it because her step-mother's sister walked out and found us. Funny thing is where I got there I looked for the name and had trouble finding it. Check this out;
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| Good luck seeing that when you drive by |
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| Tanglost House |
Amanda's family were lovely here too and on the tour of her house her gran showed me part of her postcard collection which I really liked. She had them going back many, many years and she said she just doesn't have the heart to throw them away. I mentioned about all the castles earlier, well there was a castle ruin at the end of the road so we headed for a walk down there in our visit too. Amanda's step-aunt told us about how her three children play games there and have a castle club, sounded very cool and very British (oh to have a castle down the road from grandma's). When we got back her gran showed us some stepping stones in her garden, one for each grandchild and one for visitors. It was Amanda's first time visiting here so I got a picture of her on her stone and one of me on the visitors stone. I felt very loved :)
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| Just so I don't forget the name |
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| 1362!!! |
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| Entry |
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| Fun place to hang out |
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| Through the window |
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| Gran's house with a castle in the background (top right) |
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| Amanda's stone |
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| Visitor's stone! |
Maggie had a pork roast waiting for us when we got back. I didn't want to eat too much because we had arranged to go to a friend's for dinner back in Reading but I couldn't help myself, it was too good and I figured the car ride back would give me time to build up my appetite again. We said goodbye to Maggie and Bobbie at about 4.30pm and jumped in the car to try and make it to another work mate's house for dinner. We got there just after 8pm so it wasn't bad timing at all.
This is our workmate Angad, a.k.a Sachin Tendulkar;
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| See the resemblance? |
Angad and his lovely wife, Jenina, recently bought their first home and kindly invited me around for dinner. All of our weekends are pretty booked up so this was the only day we all do before I come back hence the mad dash back from Wales (Angad can't do weeknights because school tires him out too much :p). I'd been asking him to cook egg plant curry which he did and he'd even asked his mum for the recipe. He also prepared a chick pea curry and Jenina made an amazing apple crumble. I'll admit that I was still full up from the roast lunch but the curries were so delicious I squeezed a fair amount in. Angad and Jenina are just tops and even packed Amanda and I up a tupperware of leftovers that I had for dinner last night, thanks guys! It was the perfect way to end our mini road trip to Wales.
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| Fabulous hosts! |
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| What a feast! |
I guess that brings my travel blog to an end for a while. This time in 5 weeks I will be on a plane home, the countdown is well and truly on. I am finishing work on Friday 25th October and that means I only have 13 teaching days left (BIG sigh of relief)! I will use the half term to pack up all my things (gosh I have accumulated a lot!) and then on November 4th I will go on my last European adventure... To Athens! I thought it'd be criminal not to see the Acropolis and other ancient sites around the city, especially since it's so close. Hehe what a fantastic way to end this amazing adventure!
Time for bed but I'll see you all again VERY soon xxxx
