South Wales

October 5-8, 2007

Guess what?! Both of the kids had a four-day weekend due to Columbus day and a teacher-training-ish day, so we decided to take advantage of that and go to Bath and South Wales!

Our travels included two families we LOVE to travel with - The Smiths' and the Takacs'! We left Friday night for Bath where we stayed in 10 pound a night lodging (you can't beat that with a stick!)





Saturday was spent going to check out some sights south of Bath. We traveled to Wookey Hole (caves that have the river Avon run through it) and thought twice about going there - school groups + the cost = "let's move on". We drove to Cheddar (who doesn't love cheese?) and went to the Cheddar Gorge - no, it's not a big gorge of cheese but actually some really nice cliffs and caves! The Cheddar Gorge (more specifically, Gough's Cave) is home of the "Cheddar Man" - Britain's oldest complete skeleton - 7150 BC. It is believed that Mr. Cheddar died a violent death - possibly by cannibalism! yuck ... While in Cheddar, we had to go to the store which had the "only cheddar made in Cheddar" and sampled a few of their delectable tidbits ... yum!














































































After Cheddar, we drove to Weston-Super-Mare, a city not too far from Bristol. Well known for it's beaches, we arrived at low tide, and when I say low tide, I mean low tide! It was almost muddy sand (poor little Jacob had to be rescued by Ben). After fooling around on the beach, we had the famous "2 pound 50" fish and chips (well, we had chicken and chips) near the waterfront.

















Sunday brought us to Southern Wales. After experiencing the most expensive toll yet (over $10) , our first stop was Tenby, a seaside town that had beautifully colored houses. We walked along the beach (and saw the biggest jellyfish ever - along with some sea anemones, barnacles, cool shells, crabs, and a dead fish) and went up toward Castle Hill. There, we saw the ancient cannon, a statue to Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, and St. Catherine's Island, which, built in the 1860s to defend Tenby from possible French attack.

After Tenby, we ventured toward the Stackpoles near Bosherton. We had to drive through a military zone (the tanks weren't firing that day, lucky us) to get to the coast. The views of the cliffs were awesome! Some of our party, mentioning no names, got a little to close to the edge. Speaking of edge, I was a bit on edge when Melissa tried to get a stone out of her shoe by kicking it out ... the shoe went flying and landed 12 inches from the cliff's edge ... of course, she ran after it. There was a bit of hysteria on my part, thank you very much.

One of the sights we desperately wanted to see was St. David's, the western-most point of Britain (St. David is the patron saint of Wales). By the time we arrived, it was getting dark. We walked to St. David's cathedral, which was built upon the 6th century monastery. It was quite an impressive cathedral, even in the dark. We got a quick peek at the interior (they were closing and not too friendly) and Wes was allowed one photo. I would love to go back during the day!

IMPORTANT NOTE: please view the picture of the "magic roundabout" in Swindon - IT WAS CRAZY!

Monday brought us to the close of our trip and on to the Avebury stones we went! We passed the White Horse of Cherhill on our way. Avebury was as beautiful as ever, but were not able to go to the tour of the Avebury Manor (I left my moolah in the car and we would have had to wait for awhile before entry) - maybe next time.

It was a great trip and we are so happy we were able to see such beautiful countryside with such wonderful friends! :)