Well, here I go again! After 4 months working in Bristol I’m finally off again for a 7 month stint around the edge of Europe, first heading for Egypt, then Jordan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia (hopefully), Finland, Norway, then back to the UK for England, Scotland, Ireland, North Wales and then finally head back home at the end of November this year.
Anyway, some more places I visited around England and Wales in the last month...
THE BRECON BEACONS, WALES
Decided to spend a weekend at the Brecon Beacons national park in Wales, as Wales is known for it's beautiful countryside and I felt that seeing I’m so close to Wales (Bristol is at the border between them), I should at least check it out..
So, a few hours of buses and trains and rugby heading welsh later, and I found myself at the edge of a road in the middle of the Brecon Beacons, near the foot of Pen y Fan mountain, the tallest mountain in South Wales. I was not alone however, having encountered a slightly crazy old welsh man who walked up the mountain every week! Anyway, we decided to go through the more difficult route because I thought it would be more fun. Silly me for thinking that though, because it was quite a struggle climbing the treeless rocky alien like terrain while playing the role of the old man's psychologist (he reckons the welsh discriminate against him because he's welsh. huh? exactly).
Anyway, finally made it to the top to witness amazing views of valleys, lakes and rippled mountainsides. I could also barely see the start of Brecon, the town I was planning to walk to from the mountain top.
So, farewelled my crazy friend, and headed down the trail in the direction of the town.
After a while the trail disappeared and I was lost alone in the mountain valley, surrounded by sheep (there are more sheep than people in Wales it is said). Still, a beautiful tranquil place to be lost, with the reds, yellows, greens and browns of the trees and grass plains that the sheep were also enjoying in the late afternoon sunshine. But I figured as long as I keep heading straight and keep sight of the farmhouses scattered about the place I would be ok. Eventually I made it back to the main road and entered the town of Brecon just after sunset. Phew!
After that I was absolutely knackered, but decided that I would go out for one beer then go to bed.
Several beers and hours later and I was amongst new friends in a nightclub dancing till 2am (when the club closed). My poor feet!
The next day I went to visit Hay on Wye, which is a small pretty town, but with not too much to do except explore it's world famous second hand book stores (seems to be more of these than cafes and restaurants). A great place to get cheap second hand books on almost every topic!
My weekend in Wales over, I was lucky to get a lift back home with Cheryl (the school librarian), who was on her way home from visiting her parents in Aberystwyth on the west coast of Wales. She invited me to spend a weekend with her up there to show me the beautiful coast and beaches but never happened due to bad timing and poor weather. So the West coast of Wales will have to wait till October/November when I will be back travelling in the UK...
THE TOURIST BECOMING THE TOUR GUIDE
During the Easter weekend, I had a mate Tim come to visit and do some sight seeing (an Aussie workmate from where I worked back at home, also doing the work and travel thing).
We went to visit Wells, with it's huge beautiful cathedral with unique scissor arches holding the place up. Then we visited Glastonbury, where the smell of incense and joints overpowered you in this hippy town famous for having King Arthur’s gravesite, the holy grail, and the Glastonbury festival. So naturally the place is filled with new age mystical stuff.
The next day, John offered us free tickets to see the FIFA qualifying soccer match between Austria and Wales in Cardiff with him. How could we refuse? The football stadium was quite impressive, but the game was a disappointment (score was 2-0, Austria won, only Tim was happy as he was supporting his Austrian girlfriend, but kept quiet in the crowd of disappointed welsh, especially after the first time Austria scored Tim yelled victoriously "yes" then realised everyone looking at him in stunned silence.)
Next day, I took Tim to Bath where we admired the predominantly yellow architecture, the glorious Bath Abbey, and entertained ourselves watching the street performers (Tim got dragged in one performance and was forced to wear a pink tutu and assist the crazy performer - as you do). I also introduced Tim to the English Sunday Roast (roast meat and vegies with gravy and a Yorkshire pudding - which kind of bland pastry which seems pointless - what's wrong with bread?) and the joys of chilling out in an outdoor cafe while people watching.
FAREWELL TO OL' ENGLAND FOREVER?
It's quite sad leaving my life here in Bristol for I know I will not be coming back here again to work and live like I have been doing - my 2 year working holiday visa is soon to expire, and you can't renew it. Unless of course I marry someone in the UK or work full time for several years - none of which look desirable to me at this point in time! But you'll never know...
I must say, I have no idea how I’d ever get back to real life. Just coming back from Morocco for two more weeks work and already I can't wait to leave again and explore some relatively untouristed area of the world! Perhaps I’m just spoiled...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment