Wales

Southern Wales

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Still Wednesday, June 7, 1995

We drive into Wales on our way to Brecon. Wales is much more wild-looking than England, somehow. It's got the same sheep & hedgerow pattern, but it's also got some very large hills. It also has the same traffic circles that they have everywhere else in Britain. You think you're annoyed because there's a couple of them in DC, but here, they're everywhere, in the towns as well as the country. Well, at least in the towns that have room for them. Brecon is one of those little bitty towns with the roads so narrow you can't even park on one side. Bristol was a bit better, but it has basically been rebuilt since World War II, so now most of it reminds me of New York, but filled with English people, of course.

Our hotel in Brecon is the Castle Hotel, and it is connected to the ruins of a castle. Since I don't really discover this until the next morning, I don't know if they're actual ruins or not, or if they're part of the hotel or not. I could probably ask, but what fun would that be.

The dinner is a little different than normal. It still has the main starters: soup, "chilled" fruit juices, or a salad & cheese, but the entrees are a bit different. I get something that has two stacks of pineapple slices with mushroom bit in their centers, sitting in a "mild" curry sauce. Interesting. And a bit spicy. Andrew has the large vegetable & cheese salad, and we all sample his cheeses. Not bad, and apparently all local. Although the one with mustard seeds in it is rather strong. And the help is much more familiar than usual. Probably because we're in a small country village, and not in a fairly ritzy hotel with pretensions in a large town. Kind of fun. I still seem to have no effect on the younger female help, but this is probably because the only thing I say to them is "thanks" and they are trained not to be affected upon by the visitors. So basically nothing changes.

Another thing that does not change is the after-dinner routine. Andrew goes for a walk with his parents. I think I'm going to get some writing done, and end up watching TV. I do go out for a walk, but it's pretty short, and I'm soon back wrestling with the diary & the Wales/Georgia soccer game. Wales loses 1-0. After it's over, I discover Sky TV is showing Posse, so our entertainment is set for the rest of the evening. Even get to see the last bit of Letterman after the movie.

Thursday, June 8, 1995

Today is mostly for travel, so we don't have to get up until 7:30. Serious sleeping-in, here. It takes me about 5 minutes (seemingly) to figure out how the shower works until I'm inspired to pull the cord beside the tub. Finally we get something. The shower has a built-in water heater, which means that I get alternating periods of warm, cool, and blistering hot water. This is great fun. Andrew's dad checks us at about 8:00 to make sure we haven't slept through the alarm again. This will haunt us for the rest of the trip, I'm sure. Then downstairs for the traditional breakfast of cereal and soft-poached eggs on toast. Gonna have to do something about the egg situation.

Our first stop is Carmathen, which was at one time the largest city in Wales. It had a tree of which someone once said, if it falls, so does the city. Apparently, it has fallen, and now the stump is encased in concrete & iron. So everything has moved to the "sort of" level. The tree is still there, sort of, and the town is still there, sort of. It still has a good deal of tourist trade, but there doesn't seem to be anything real special about the place. And the Mark's & Spencer's branch didn't have any towels (it's a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy thing). I try to change a traveler's check, but I'm not buying anything big enough to be able to use it in a store, and the bank I go to says there's a charge. They mention another bank that they don't think will charge, but by that time I don't have enough time to hunt it down. Or the stump, which I find out is about a half-mile away. So we go back to the bus stop for our ride to the ferry. Most people pick up a lunch, but I'm concerned about the effects of the ferry. But then I get a Cadbury chocolate bar from the shop at the ferry. This may not be wise. We'll see.

We arrive at the ferry in Fishguard about an hour early, like we're supposed to. This gives me plenty of time to explore the ship. This, however takes only about 10 minutes, by which time I've located the top platform at the front of the ship, and have to occupy myself until we finally sail. The ferry is pretty large. It's got a bar, a restaurant, and a huge "recliner" section, full of the usual bus/airliner seats for the voyage. It's even got quite a few cabins for some reason. I stay on the furthest deck up and forward that I can find for as long as I can. Which turns out to be quite some time. I think we were scheduled to leave at 3:00, but they don't start casting off until nearly 3:45. Wonder if that means we'll be late getting to the hotel, and the all-important supper? This becomes more of a concern because I skipped lunch. I stay on deck while we cast off and move out of the harbor. It's fairly exciting when you can actually see your progress against the shore. Less exciting when you can't. And that combined with the fact that it is really cool & quite breezy out there finally forces me inside to the large recliner section where most of the passengers are occupying their time by either reading or sleeping. Not a bad idea. There's a TV up front (and there was a Sky TV receiver up top), but it's not on, and no one's offering me the remote, so I go with the reading & sleeping idea. OK, the crossing takes awhile. Quite awhile. We finally get into Rosslare Harbor around 7:00.