Wales

Since we both love books Gwendy and I HAD to go to Hay on Wye, a cute little town know for it's ridiculous amount of bookstores and only about 30 miles away :D It's a lovely town to wander along the streets and visit as many book stores as we could. Gwendy had the time of her life and bought loads of books, while I was modest with just 1 book (had to think about the 20 kg limit of check in luggage). A nice morning well spend! We headed back to Brecon to do some grocery shopping and on towards Pen Y Fan, the highest summit in the Brecon Beacons NP. To be honest, we made it as far as Corn Du, it's twin summit, which is about 50 meters from Pen Y Fan. We climbed all the way (it was a steep climb and quite windy at the top) and didn't really wanted to go a step further (the hight difference is so small, we could see just as much from this summit as we would from Pen Y Fan). A great feeling to have made it and some great views along the way: After this nice excercise we wanted to visit the falls near Ystradfellte, which are supposed to be superb. First we drove along a very nice road with sheeps walking near and on the road, the ultimate Wales feeling!!! Ofcourse the route was not very well signposted but fortunately we had our navigation system (go TomTom) which took us along some scary small, winding roads to the right spot. Unfortunately we were too late in the afternoon: the parkrangers left and we couldn't find a way to get to the right parking place, so decided to park the car along the road. We found out that to see the falls you had to do a few hours of walking. Ahum. Well, that would've been fine if we were there early in the morning or afternoon, but not really after already climbing a mountain (and also the parking problem made me a bit nervous, I didn't wanted to be fined or come back to a broken into car). Shame they don't tell you in the guidebooks that it's such a long walk... a well, we had a nice cruise back along the sheep! We at the rest of the rice with Rogan Josh that evening, this time we added loads of tomato sauce to make it less spicy and much more enjoyable. We also had chocolate pudding afterwards, who ever said you can't have nice food when camping ;)

The next morning we packed everything, went for a few groceries into Brecon and then off towards Devil's Bridge where we had some hot coco and a quick glance at the bridge. It was another 45 min walk and we were a bit done walking haha. Good to take a picture though. It was kind off on our way to Aberystwyth anyway where we had a nice stroll along town, saw the big college and castle (ruine) and something special: the Frisian Flag. They put up loads of flags from regions where they speak a minority language! Funny to find such a flag on your holiday... Off towards our new campsite at Bwch Yn Uchaf, where it was rainy, but by now we were so trained in putting up the tent that it all was done within 5 minutes and the tent was basically still dry! Finally some plugs as well, so we could charge our batteries for the camera's (how else could we take so many pictures haha, I managed about 800 in 2 weeks. Ahum. Lots of selecting to do...) We had a nice relaxing evening, had some mash with carrods and custard for desert after which we read for a while (what to see, what to do the next day).

Blaenau Ffestiniog it was, where they have the Llechwedd slate caverns! We first wanted to do a trainride, but the weather was still bad and the views would be miserable (besides the fact that it would've taken all day and we wouldn't have had time to do anything else) and so decided to skip that and head for the caverns. It turned out to be a good choice, cold but very interesting and good for one of the coolest pictures of us during our holiday ;) We did both underground tours and had a short coffee break at the cafe there to warm up a bit. Caernarvon Castle was our next destination. Unfortunately by the time we had a stroll around Caernarvon to find something to eat (we failed miserably because everything closed at 4 on Friday, don't ask me why) and went towards the castle it was too late to do a full tour of the castle (the LP said it closed at 6, the truth was 5 and 45 min is by far to short to take in the whole castle). We walked around it to get an idea of the grandness of it all this on the picture is just a tiny part of it! We headed back towards the campsite and passed the cute little town of Betws-y-Coed. As we drove through we decided to stop and have a stroll around to enjoy the beauty of this little jewel. Not much bragging in the LP and other guide books, but there should be!!! The whole town consisted of beautiful buildings like the one on the picture above AND we found a new gas container for our cooker (we ran out of it and were in desperate need for a new one but they were sold out everywhere). Back at the campsite we had some pasta and a much needed shower after which I decided to put some laundry in the washing machine so it would be done by the time we came back from the local pub. One mistake though: I put my watch in the pocket of my sweater and didn't realise untill it was in the washing machine. OOPS. The door wouldn't open halfway through the programme, so I just had to wait and see if it was still alive by the time the laundry was finished....It was raining, so time to grap our ponchos and off to the local pub. Hmm. A bit sad for a Friday evening, just a few oldies and a few younger chaps playing pool. The beer was nice and well deserved after a cold day with a disappointing Caernaervon and lots of driving (the Caverns were cool and Betws-Y-Coed brilliant, so not too bad a day, the beer just made it complete haha). When we headed back I had a pleasant surprise: my watch was still ticking! Whoei! Clothes into the dryer and the girls to bed...

Time again to pack our stuff and off towards the east of England! After a nice drive we ended up in one of the loveliest towns I've seen in England: Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare's birthtown! The house where he was born is still there with a lovely garden and now ofcourse a museum, which is a definate must do when heading there! We bought a three in one ticket and also visited the house of Nash, William's retirement house, and Halls Croft. Ofcourse we also had to see his grave. Yes, it's all very touristy, but we liked it! We arrived at Wyton Lakes campsite (after check in time, but we had made a reservation and were allowed to stay... pfiew) which is an adult only campsite (Yeah, no kids running around) which we picked because it is close to CAMBRIDGE!!! We had some chili con carne again (great stuff and I normally don't like canned food) and were looking forward to the next day. You'll read about that the next time!