9 August 2012
Hello, my dear followers! Much to my surprise I have been able to write Opusses while I am away. This is due to a few unexpected events. Firstly, the places I am staying in have free wi-fi, which isn't really that unexpected, but I didn't think I'd have enough battery life to use it. However, today I bought a charger from Carphone Warehouse which works fine and plugs into the mains, so all problems are solved!
So where am I now, I hear you ask? Well, from Annan in the Southwest of Scotland, we made the 18 miles journey south to Carlisle, and then continued down over about 3 hours in all to the beautiful border city of Chester. From it you can see the hills of Wales.
We spent one night in Chester. It was at a little B&B run by a very nice man (possibly French, probably Spanish) who could talk for Great Britain, so we ran away from him as soon as possible. We explored some shops (a disappointingly small Waterstones) and others, and had dinner in a very nice place called Upstairs at the Grill. Not cheap, but I wasn't paying, and the food was amazing. If you ever visit Chester, do eat there.
The next day we went on a nice tourist bus around the city, and then we were off into Wales!
We went South, through the Breken Beacons and into Cardiff, the land of my Grandfather! It is a lovely city (with a perfectly sized Waterstones). Our accommodation is very nice with friendly owners. Today we spent a lot of time in St Fagan's National History Museum which has a lot of Welsh stuff. It's open air, and really is stunning in nice weather. A bit like Beamish or Ironbridge in parts, of you've ever been there. Do visit this!
Of course the Olympics are on in Cardiff, and they use the city's Millennium Stadium for all the football. There's a game tomorrow apparently, but we won't be here. :( There's a giant screen in the street for viewing the games on. This isn's unique, of course. They're all over the country, but this is the first of this scale I've seen.
Tonight we ate at a very nice Italian restaurant (run by Welshmen, of course) that had a very friendly waiter who was very interested in rugby, and told us all about it. For those who don't know, rugby is arguably even bigger than football in Wales, possibly because their rugby team is very good, whereas the football team... I'll say no more.
Tomorrow we head off back to England to the Southern coast and to the town of Pool. I will tell you all about it if I can tomorrow night. Until then, goodbye!
P.S. In Waterstones I discovered Tolkien's Unfinished Tales. Is it any good? Let me know! Thanks.
Travelogue: A Long Expected Journey • Opuss № I