Well it has been a busy week in Wales so sorry for the long post below. We have been learning to live in Jeff and trying to understand the how everything works. While we have managed not to lock ourselves out again (go us!) we have banged our heads to many times to count but its all a learning curve, isn’t it.
We started the week in the Brecon Beacons national park where we camped by the large Talybont reservoir for the evening which was really nice and a good way back into wild camping. The next morning we decided to get out in the hills around the reservoir for a hike and climbed Tor Y Foel which made me feel unfit but did allow us to test out our new hiking boots. Afterwards we headed to just outside Newport for the rest of day to a parking place by the sea where we had a walk along the seafront and met lots of cows. It wasn’t a long walk as the clouds were coming over and we knew the Welsh rain, that we have got used to this week, was coming in. We spend the rest of the day sorting out things in the van and deciding what to do the next day as it was due to rain and thunder all day.
Due to the impending rain we decided to head into Cardiff as I have never been and we needed some bits for the van. We didn’t want to plan the day too much so we just wandered the streets, ate some food and did some shopping and it was amazing how quick the day went but it was productive and we managed to tick most things off our list. We managed to find the local market while in Cardiff and find some great vegan food, including vegan welsh cakes which were lovely and we are now disappointed we only bought 1 pack. The stall making them did so many different flavours and cakes that we could have gone a little crazy. We then headed back south along the coast for the evening.
The next morning we explored another place I have never been that I wanted to go to - Barry Island. It was great to walk around and the beach was lovely. If it hadn’t been windy with rain threatening to fall at any moment I’m sure Rich would have been in the sea (we did see some brave souls but they were wearing wetsuits). Once it started raining we retreated back to the van and drove to Caerphilly to see a big cheese and the castle for the short time the sun was out. We then drove to the nearby Parc Penallta to see the pit pony Sultan. This was great to see and we planned to walk around the park but the heavens opened again so we retreated (not before getting soaking wet).
On Friday I had found an owl sanctuary near where we had parked so we headed out there, little did we know it was up on a big hill but we finally made it and had a walk around. It was an ......interesting place. There were lots of beautiful birds there and the location was great but it has probably seen better days. The main board walk into the sanctuary was rotten and there were steps you couldn’t go up. We did find out that they were filming up the road the new series of Sex Education, which, for those who have watched it, will describe the location and the scenery around there, we did try to see if we could see it but we couldn’t so we headed onto our next location which was Abergavenny town were we got some supplies but sadly couldn’t get any more vegan Welsh cakes and then headed back into England and to Leominster. We needed to do some fine tuning on Jeff and his electrical supply so that took up most of the afternoon but we were finally starting to understand how it all works. We then decided to call it a day then made our way to our camper stop for the night which was an interesting place in Hereford which we had spotted a while back. It caught our eye as it was free if you helped do a bit of work around the grounds. Turns out the owner wasn't due to be there but he gave us the code for the key safe and we let ourselves in. It was a acre or so of land which had some groundworks in progress as the owner had recently got planning permission for some shepherds huts. It was a nice area but Rich wasn't impressed when after looking around the grounds he got stung by a Bee on his head. I was able to remove the stinger and stop Rich from moaning long enough to cook dinner and settle down for the night. The owner did arrive and him and his mate invited us down the pub for some food but we decided to call it an early night.
The next day, Saturday, Ash, our friend, was coming to see us and camp with us so we headed to Ludlow to a campsite (very unusual for us but we also needed to finish sorting out the electrics and wanted to plug in to fully charge Jeff due to a lack of sun in Wales!). Once we were all set up the three of us went for a long walk in Mortimer Forest where we walked to the top of another hill and got great vies all around Ludlow. After we headed back to the campsite, had dinner, drank prosecco and had a lovely chilled evening together.
On the Sunday we decided to explore Ludlow for the morning and have some lunch before heading up to Clee Hill where we decided to go for a short bike ride around the summit (before it rained again) and then stayed at the top for the night. It was a windy night on the top of the hill but the views were worth it
Finally today we have been driving from Clee Hill down towards Dover and have booked the ferry for early Wednesday morning which is now very exciting. There is a few things to do and sort out before we go which is what we will be doing tomorrow before an early night and an earlier morning.
