Day 27 - ENG

Cookie says...
Today turned out to be a mission. We made a B line for Chepstow Castle and then to Tintern Abbey before heading to Bath. Tintern Abby was an impressive structure and would have been amazing at the peak of it's use.

Inside Chepstow Castle

Tintern Abby

Unfortunately when we arrived in Bath, I had 40 minutes until I had to be on a train so Bath will have to wait for another time. Hopefully Brendan takes a chance to nose around a little. Brendan and I went our seperate ways at the station and I trained it to Paddington. It didn't feel like it took too long as I was doing nerd stuff on the computer. Once at Paddington I tubed it to Edgeware Road (pointless ride) then to Liverpool St Station then to Tower Hill where I walked to Fenchurch Street Station and then an overland train to Chafford Hundred followed by a walk to Lakeside Shopping Complex. So, after leaving Bath 3.5hrs earlier, I met Julie for a hot chocolate and a brownie.

We hung out at the shops until we met her friends and went for dinner at an Italian place. The others weren't too impressed with it and I thought it was okay but it was nice to finally meet the crew (Dan and Amy, Little Dan and Anushka) which Julie has adopted. Afterwards we went and watched the second National Treasure movie and then Little Dan drove us back to Julie's place. It was late in the evening and as Julie was off to Boston on Thursday, she packed and I slept.

Brendan says...
I still feel guilty about Bath. If I hadn't been late on the first day we'd have had time to do Bath as a group. As it was, I was the only one who got to visit the town properly. Needless to say, I didn't let the guilt stop me spending 2 1/2 hours on the self-guided tour of the Roman Baths after Cookie had gone. But, this is Cookie's blog so you'll have to wait until he visits them to find out what they're like. Ooh, the suspense.

Chepstow was my second favourite castle. It was just interesting, and broke from the traditional square geometry by hugging a sheer cliff overlooking a river. Shame it was such a dreary morning.

Tintern Abbey, now there's a ruin. What a magical place that must have been. It was a pity we only had about half an hour to wander around this site. These monks only had a fire lit for 3 months of the year, and only then in a single room. Nippy.

Day 26 - WAL

Cookie says...
More fried toast this morning but my stomach was no more interested it than yesterday. Consolation prize in that it was midly better than last nights dinner which was quite forgettable.

We invaded Pembroke Castle first. Initially we were planning to head to the northen end of Wales but one we realised that Pembroke was open, we went there instead and it probably turned out to be the pick of the castles we visited. Tell you what though, climbing all those towers soon got boring as it's a continuous right hand spiral with slippery and steep stairs. Tell you what though, I'm not sure how these people moved around these castles with ease cause they're pretty tight at times, especially those soldiers who carried photographic gear with them!

Mildly easier to navigate than the stairs in the hotel Julz and I stayed in

You could probably play AFL inside Pembroke it's that big!

On leaving I noticed a brass rubbing store next to the castle exit. Sarah's a bit of a fan of these rubbings so I thought I'd have a go. King Hen-rye the 8th is a favourite of Sarah's so I rubbed up a brass King Henry for her which she was pleased with. It will now feature on her wall of stuff.

I don't think I've ever looked this focused!

Damn it... back at work already!

We also checked out Carew and Cilgerran castles. Once we finished Cilgerran Castle, we inserted some bogan reference. Figured while we were so close to this town, we'd take the opportunity to take this photo considering we're both Magna owners and Mitsubishi is commonly referred to as the 'Cardigan Car Company'

Carew Castle was more manor than keep

These crazy Welsh or Tudors or whoever must have good taste in music!
(lame Bon Jovi reference)

Welsh bogans (English equivalent are Chavs)

Seeing as though we intended on checking out Bath the next day, we worked our way back to Cardiff for the night and managed to stay in the same room although Brendan managed to score a broken bed.

Brendan says...
I agree with Cookie on both counts - Pembroke was a fantastic castle; easily the best I've been to, and surprisingly big, but the initial excitement upon finding a hitherto unnoticed doorway quickly fades as it leads to yet another sequence of small, round rooms and narrow, winding stair-cases.

It was fascinating to be able to explore a castle almost in its entirety. The usual castle ruin experience happens at ground level as all the stairways have crumbled or are blocked off, and keeps that used to boast four or five storeys are now hollow stone tubes, full of mud and pigeons. So being able to wander between towers whilst inside a wall, or ascend to the top of the gatehouse and lean over the parapet was awesome. We spent 3 hours here!

One thing though - people were a lot shorter back then.

Carew was majestic, with amazing picture windows. It would have been a sight back in the day. But it and, in particular, Cilgerran, were a bit "meh" after Pembroke.

I'm still yet to find a satisfying Mexican restaurant in the UK. And for some reason all my dreams were at funny angles.

Day 25 - WAL

Cookie says...
Had the hotel breakfast this morning which was basically an English breakfast comprising of toast, bacon, eggs, beans, mushrooms, tea and fried toast of all things. Seems to be an odd inclusion however I guess some people enjoy eating heart attack material like this.

Before bailing on the town, we checked out Cardiff Castle. It's a neat, ordially castle. We did a tour of the main house and learnt all about some dudes. Quite nice interiors too. Also noted that due to looking at these places in the middle of winter, there's hardly anyone else around which makes tours and looking at things a bit swifter than usual.

Inside Cardiff Castle

Cardiff from the Norman Keep

Sorry Pilty but here's a better looking Falcon than what Ford make :P

We finished up and headed for Caerphilly and was a castle that had undergone refurbishment by the same bloke who owned Cardif. Rich fella who had nothing better to do than restore this big things. Probably a good thing though or they would just slowly waste away.

Kidwelly Castle was closed to all but the birds

Laugharne was also closed too. Wales is starting to
feel like Adelaide!

I know blue is supposed to be a boys colour but...

Brendan says...
Fried bread is a standard feature of the "Full English" breakfast. Forgetting, for the moment, that it's going to kill you, it can actually be quite tasty. This one wasn't. I think they're still using oil from last year.

Cardiff Castle wasn't bad - but lots and lots of empty space inside which didn't give much of an impression of how life might have been back in the day. The manor house tour was intruiguing, but a little more contemporary than I find interesting. I'd seen the work of this William Burgess architect / decorator chap before. He's widely acclaimed, but his designs are so bright and busy I can't imagine living with them.

The tour guide was a laugh. He had one of those news reader voices. I kept expecting him to sign off with, "I'm David Jones, BBC Wales, Cardiff", then pause for a transfer back to the studio. I enjoyed Caerphilly Castle more, with many places to explore (it rhymes).

Finished the day being ignored by several B&Bs in Pembroke and finding every single other hotel in the town booked solid. Ended up staying a little way out of town in a hotel room you could only describe as"quaint". I think Cookie secretly liked the frilly stuff.

Day 24 - ENG

Cookie says...
The place we stayed in was quaint and by quaint I mean the floor was so lumpy I'd be scared of walking it after a skin full and the shower was a feature. Sarah refers to them as shaths - shower cross bath. Pressure was poor and it was basically a bath with a hand held shower rose. It was the first time I've worked up a sweat showering and turned a five minute process into something closer to twenty.

The 406 was happy to be on the road again

We checked out, had breaky and were on the way to Bourton-on-the-Water. It was a really pretty town and somewhere I know mum would love to stay. The town featured a model town, miniature railroad display, canal filled with ducks and plenty of tourists around the place. Basically we walked around the place, had some fun with the camera, sent random messages to Pilty and had lunch.

These towns have a charm that photos cannot convey

Roadtrip!

It had soon become time to get the girls to the train so we headed to Moreton-on-Marsh. After some confusion as to whether the trains were running due to track works on this weekend, it was obvious that it was all good. The train arrived and after nine awesome days of hanging out, Julie and I went our separate ways. Julie and Sarah had to work tomorrow however for Brendan and I, Wales was waiting.

We grabbed a pint of local ale to drown our sorrows and then we hit the frog and toad. Caerphilly was the target as there was a decent sized castle there. We didn't see much in the way of accommodation so we headed to Cardiff. We hadn't booked anywhere so were happy when the first place we tried had room. Once checked in we headed to a bar for dinner and the net. Ate, drank and crashed early as we'd had a big day.

Julz says...
I awoke to the mixed sounds of my roomies snoring, and figured that today was going to be an interesting one. After mastering the shower (I had used one for 3 months at my old house), we were out and about. The search was again on for a full english brekky for Cookie, but as with last time, it proved unsuccessful. Maybe this is a sign that England isn't all its cracked up to be...

We checked out and hit the road to Bourton, finding it nice and peaceful. It felt so good just to wander around slowly with no particular destination in mind. The warm sun was a lovely addition to the day, and so tea and scones sitting outside was definately on the menu.

But, all too soon, the time had come for the long journey home. Cookie finally managed to regain some brownie points back after carrying my suitcase from the car to the platform. We said our goodbyes (much to Sarah's disgust), and then us girls found some seats on the train. We ended up being delayed 45mins into London due to signal failure (the joy of all train travel in England), but that meant the train lady was too busy to check our tickets (or lack there-of), so we got off scot free. My journey then continued alone for a few more hours, but after 10 days on the road, I happily walked back into my own house. Did the joyous tasks of washing (I leave for Boston on Thurs) and organising for school (yippee, work tomorrow), and then literally crashed into bed.

Sarah says...

Cookie is right (I know, I am as surprised as the rest of you) – Boughton-on-the-Water was absolutely beautiful. There was a little stream running through and a little high street with lovely shops. It was quite a fine day and it was lovely to sit in the sun (despite the fact that it really is not that strong). After tea and scones (which I think you would agree, the occasion called for) Julie and I headed back to London and we just chatted the whole way back – Julie may have been missing Cookie but she was strong and didn’t show it. Overall it was actually a really nice weekend (despite the fact that our room meant the four of us were literally sleeping on top if each other) and the shath (which I can say was the most painful experience of my life to date). The Cotswolds were so quaint and I loved the villages (also the company was okay I suppose).