Category: Visits

So, the electronic marketplace – I don’t like it. We have been updating the house recently, and because of this we had some stuff which we no longer want and its all too big to take down the tip, so we stuck in on “the ‘bay”. The idea in my mind all the time is that even if we get a quid, its better than having to cut it all up and take it all down the tip – but in reality that’s not the point. I hate ebay, I hate the people who use it to attempt to get that absolute cheapest possible price. I am not too naive to realise that all people want is a bargain, but the way they do it makes my skin crawl. One bid we had this week was to trump an offer of a fiver, with a fiver and four pence, four bloody pence – the tight arse tw@. I really wanted to just set fire to the item as they came to pick it up. I mean I am probably just stupid, but I would bid by 50p at least.

We also had another imbecile who bid some doors up to 137 quid – great one I thought, then they didn’t realise that where I live was in Wales and not sodding Oxford – so they didn’t want it then, luckily the next in the list agreed to take it, but for a ton – still, that’s more like it, don’t mind selling things at that price, as it was useless to us. We also sold a bed which took a PHD in astrophysics to dismantle – so gawd knows how they will re-assemble it – still we only had 33 quid for it.

So glad I don’t have to use it much. Which brings me to Stella Tortoise, love it in its chalise glass looking moist and tempting, but it is the demons drink I tell’s thee. It must have been a couple of years now that I moved to the dark side, not any more. It’s not that it makes me mental or anything, but I have just stopped enjoying what it does to me – and I am sure it does something more than other beers. I had six Amstels the other night and felt really great and happy and straight headed. Six Stellas and the story isn’t quite as rosy. So for now I am switching to Heineken, or Amstel or even, heaven forbid – Fosters.

Sunday was a little deary, but we thought we would go out for a walk, I had jogged a little further than I had wanted to in the morning, and assembled Kate’s new wardrobe – so it was time to get out and see the world. We decided to pop over to Tintern and more specifically the Station. This is yet another place we used to visit before it got “commercial” – they even had a sodding pay and display there now, so if you are popping down in the winter for a quick walk you still have to feed it a quid. We had misty rain and it was getting a little dark, but its quite a pleasant walk along an old railway line and then down to the River Usk. We tried very unsuccessfully to creep up on some sheep, and Kate pulled me over, but we decided to go for a beverage in Brockwier, where we have been some time back when a walk we did didn’t turn out too successful. Tiny little bar and unfortunately a very limited budget as I was the only one with money and I only had a tenner. So just a pint, half and a coke – it was quite nice though, in the tiny room with a fire and a pint.

Off back then to the car and home – and because I had the taste I had to get some cans in – Fosters.

Nice walk. 7/10.

We decided to go away for my birthday this year, as it’s only really the three of us at home now, so we thought we would go somewhere to do nothing for a couple of days, other than perhaps a little walking, reading and sitting around with booze. Oh and food.

I had looked around and came across a place called the Queens Arms in a little place called Corton Denham. I think I came across it from TravelZoo, but I got in touch directly and arrange a two night trip from the Sunday until the Tues. This was three of us, two nights, breakfast and a seven course taster on one night – all for 240 quid. Bargain.

The plan was that we could take a walk on the Monday from the pub across the wilderness and to a pub in the next village, then have lunch and come back. Little did we know this weekend was to be “the worse storms in Britain (since the last big wind)…

Clocks went back on the Sunday morning, so we had plenty of time to get ready and out of the door just after 9:00 for the initial stage which was down the M5 to Bridgewater and then to a place called Street. IN Street there is a shopping center where they have outlet stores with discounts from loads of major retailers, such as Barbour, M+S, Le Cruseat, Timberland etc etc its called “Clarkes Village”, and it is pretty much the town center of Street. I am not a true fn of shopping, but this is great. Its clean and reasonably quiet if you get there early, and loads of things to see, and bargains to be had. I got a Barbour coat, some T-shirts and some chocolate – all with a good percentage off what you would pay on the interweb. So we spent some time here, and left sometime around lunchtime.

After a little bit of faffing to find a petrol station – where I was robbed my the sly pump which only had “super-dooper” unleaded and 10 pence a litre more than the regular stuff, we made our way down multiple back roads to Corton Denham, and very luckily into the only parking space around the pub. It was slightly confusing getting in, and it was rammed. I managed to get the bar tenders attention, and he basically said we had no chance to move in until 3, it was around 1:30 – so we nabbed a table, and got some beers in – the relax had begun.

The place was frantic until about 3:00, when we noticed some of the bar staff set off to make up our room, and we enjoyed a fresh, very lovely pork pie from the bar and quoffed a couple more ales. Once the room was ready we moved the bags into it, had a quick look around and went back to the bar for extras. The room was a decent size, even with the “Z” bed, it had oldish heavy, dark wood furniture and a big old fashioned free standing bath and shower and ginormous sink. Really good all in all. So back in the bar we played some games, read some books and drank some Amstel. Quite surprisingly the bar man kept reusing my beer glass, until after about 5 I did ask him for a clean one, as this one was holding less ale due to the white scummy residue around the sides. I had a scare from a dog who went mental at me, just out of the blue barked like a dog possessed, until it was taken out, then when it came back it growled a little then STFU.

We had some really good nosh for supper, and very reasonably priced – Burger for me, game pudding and chicken nuggets for the ladies. We went to bed expecting the hurricane, full and dizzy.

Next day was my birthday, so I celebrated by having a full English. It was great, nice bacon, tasty haggis, fat and meaty sausage, nice fresh bread for toast, but crappy unsalted butter. We still stole half the breakfast rooms butters though – they give you such a tiny amount ;o) After breakfast and after checking that actually the hurricane was a bit of a let down, we tooled up and set out for our walk.

It was windy, and a little rainy, but in all it was a very nice walk – across and through undulating countryside, with some terrific views. It was reasonably well signposted until we came to a farmers field, so we kept to the edge,  and then found ourselves at the bottom next to a new fence with no sign as to where the walk had gone. So we figured we would climb the fence and keep out of his field. Unfortunately for me a miserable twat on a horse happened by at that very point, and patronizingly told me what an idiot I was to not realise that this isn’t the way the walk goes and that we should have gone right across the field diagonally. Why do these country tossers have to be so awful? Anyway we found our way out, then across another field we lost the route and didn’t really know where we were. So we headed back along the road and finally got back to where we would have been if we had jumped the fence. We then headed for South Cadbury, which is apparently not the home of chocolate, but of King Arthur’s Camelot.

We climbed the hill to Camelot and found ourselves at the top, of a hill, with no castle. There was a plaque shaped like a well, which we climbed on.

Back down after the disappointment of the legendary Camelot (to be honest we sort of knew there would be nothing there, and after all Camelot is “such a silly place” ), we were met with disappointment squared then cubed. They had only closed the only pub for miles. We got there and it didn’t really look open, so we went in anyway, as there was noise, and the new landlord told us he was shut. The previous landlord had left the night before, and he was not opening until the 1st. Bugger. The next nearest pub was in the next village, but was closed on a Monday, as was the “coffee shop”. Bugger. So parched and cross we were told the only other pub was “The Queens Arms” – the pub we had left some hours before. Bugger. We walked the road – 3 miles back. Not happy bunnies.

The pub was pretty full when we got there so we headed off into Sherborne, which is supposed to be the prettiest town in the world or something, but isn’t (I thought I had blogged this before – but it appears I didn’t?) they were filming there, and we went to the White Hart pub and had a weird toasted sandwich. Then back to the pub now that the lunch rush was over. Opened my presents, I was very spoilt yet again, and down for a couple of beers and ready for our taster at seven.

Supper was fan-tast-ic. We have had a couple of tasting menus and they have all been not great, this one was.

Started off with slices of fried Chorizo and scallops – not alot but tasty. Then A thing like a scotch egg, but with black pudding inside, that was ace, and the sause and even the tiny peas – lovely. Then we had Risotto which was shit, mainly because it reminds me of sick and I just cannot swallow it. It was a wild mushroom one, so I ate them. Then the most tasteful sorbet I have ever had, it tasty exactly like a strawberry opal fruit – a bit much but really good. Then we had duck with onion puree and straw potatoes – great, great, great – oh and a carrot, which I left. Then we had cheese, which was small and sufficient, and the cheddar was fabulous. Then to finish some Panacotta, three of them, each with a topping, the blackcurrant was the most intense blackcurrant taste <clarkson> in the world </clarkson>, the apple was light and nice and the mango was a bit mongo, but the underneath was okay.

It was really, really good and I enjoyed it all, expect for the nobly sick. Great value, great place, very nice people – wonderful. I would recommend it to anyone – and that doesn’t happen very often.

Place – 8/10

Food – 9/10

Down to the cultural capital of Wales this weekend – blumming heck it was full of scary weirdos.

Initially I had planned to get the train, but as there was a car full of us, and the hotel had a car-park next door it made sense to drive. Left around midday, and drove through torrential rain, and began to get a little worried about the wetness of the day – but as we neared Swansea the sun put its little hat on..

We stayed in the Premier Inn at the Waterfront, I love Premier Inn, they are nearly all good, and reasonable value, and you know exactly what you are getting – this one was no different, great check in staff, and a great room – these new ones even get air-con – woooo!. Just dumped the bags off and set off into the town, we headed up to the train station to start with as I was keen to see where I used to arrive at Swansea all those years ago. We started on Wind Street, which is apparently known as Wine Street as it is the street of pubs. Well, I have never seen as many middle aged wino’s sucking their fags with there punch juice looking all tattooed and quarrelsome. We walked passed the Labour club, which had drunkards spilling out to the street, then going next door to the bookies, back to the club and round and round a little like a weather clock. Its rough. Very. But it does have beer…

Didn’t make it to the station as it was pointless to take everyone up there, so we walked along the top street where the last time I visited Swansea properly I was probably 19 and where we sat on the street boozing alot – not even a pub there any more. Back to the quadrant, and met up with Ant, bought a pen and a sticky tape refill and he took us to the pubs – so back to Wind Street and passed the scary men, and the odd woman. Then into the Piano and Pitcher which was the most salubrious place we saw. Student Ant has a taste for expensive beers, so I had to match that with a Peroni, two of those, a wine and soda, two cokes – 17 quid. We waited for a bit and Tom came looking like he had been caught in a river and then badly blow dried, so we had another and watched him open a package from Japan he honestly looked worried about.

Next stop was the bowling alley, which was over by the plantarium – yes plant-arium no stars. Realized I had last been here 20 years ago with the Prouts in Jase’s Granada for a quick trip from H/West. After an hour long game, which I just won by 117 points to 115, all on the last bowl. Two Stella’s here, in the nice glasses, and Ant bought one of them – which was nice.. All a little shabby here, and 35 quid for an hour – but that took us to supper time, so back down Wind street to Frankie and Bennies. Table for seven was no problem, Bud here, and a big menu to choose. I know what I should have had, but went for the biggest thing on the menu – Mixed Grill. It was crap. Chicken was overdone, steak was rubbish, gammon was okay and the sausage was alright – bonus was that for some reason I got a free pint. So another three here – lovely. Boys had some nice burgers and Kate and Becs also managed a dessert. I got a tenner off mine and a total cost of 120 sovs – not to bad. Slightly weird place as they kept turning off the lights and singing Happy Birthday to random people, they never sang at our table – don’t know why?! ;o)

Back to the hotel, Becs stayed and Kate shared with us, which meant that Sian slept on the floor for a lot of the night – I got up in the night gasping for a wee-wee, and waited for ages for her to come out of the toilet only to finally realize she was lying on the floor on the other side of the bed.

Slept okay, then we let the hotel and got in the car when it completely poured down real massive drops we were lucky to miss it. By the time we got to Ants it had stopped, rand him for outside, we were 10 minutes early, which means he had only been up for 5 mins. We then went down to the Uplands Diner http://www.uplandsdiner.co.uk/ for a big breakie. Quite a nice place in a grimy caf sort of way, I should have had the pulled pork sub – but went for the Beast Baguette which is six bacon, four sausage, 2 hash browns, two black puddings, mushrooms and two baguettes – because I didn’t have beans or eggs I has extra bacon and sausage. I made a miserable effort of eating it. It was very dry and the sausage wasn’t brilliant – but it was okay for breakfast, I just wasn’t really hungry enough – although I am not sure I would have eaten it anyway. Next time – it will be burger.

So that was it, we dropped off Ant, and set off home. Nice to have everyone together, its a pity they don’t go to Uni somewhere else! ;o) Not a fantastic place Swansea – is it butt?

Hotel – 7/10

Food – 5/10

Beer – 7/10

Breakfast – 8/10 (for the place)

1861 is a restaurant between Abergavenny and Monmouth, I bought a TravelZoo deal for a 7-course taster menu here a few months back, and we forgot it, so had to use it this month.

The parking was across the road and there were only two cars in the car park when we arrived. There was a couple sitting outside – you could tell they would just LOVE this experience. We went in and sat in a little lounge area with some easyish chairs, and after calling me Mickey and saying my phone line was crap, she gave us some wine stuff, some cashews and some olives. And asked what preference we had – I hesitated, wanting to say no veg, but thought I can take what they throw at me.

After some time, we were taken into the dining room. Enough for about 10 tables of varying size, two small rooms, only the outside couple sitting down – she showed us to our table, out of the entire rest of the room she sat us next to the first couple – we were a few feet away, and on a bigger table, but right next to them. It was a little awkward to say can we sit elsewhere, and I should have, but being British – I didn’t.

First up was some water, then a bit of a loaf. This was warm, difficult to cut straight and had some great butter – it was nice.. After this came course no 1.

1.  Courgette in Tempura batter with sweet chilli sauce with something else I didn’t like. Batter was nice, courgette is disgusting and the sauce looked exactly like the one you get from Tesco. Plain and I am sure I could have cooked it.

2. Vomit. (Actually beetroot rice pudding with Lavender). Awful. Warm beetroot has no place in the world, this was vile, the texture is hideous, the lumps made me gag, the beetroot didn’t work for me, and then there is the bloody lavender, you have that in a crappy scrunched up doily in your grandma’s cupboards and draws but not  in a bloody dish of food. It was like liquid pot-purri with lumps. Hate.

3. Hake with Fennel. Or a postage stamp sized scraping of fish with a giant fennel, in an odd sauce that made everything taste like fennel, including the supposedly light taste of Hake. The size of the hake was exactly the same size as the piece of fish Mr Burns coughed up in the episode of the Simpsons with the three eyed fish. And I think I would have preferred the taste of that.

4. Strawberry and Champagne sorbet. Okay, small but enough.

5. The main event – beef, woohoo. A “presentation” of beef, one like a sausage – okay but over seasoned, one like tiny sliced fillet – not very tasteful and chewy, and finally either skirt or shin I cannot remember. Cooked well, fell apart on the plate, but had no taste what so ever. Even Mr Blands blandish dish would be more exciting. How can a (small) lump of welsh beef have zero taste. And there was no salt and pepper on the table.

Then we were asked if we wanted an “extra” cheese course – no mention of price, or even whether it was part of the meal or not. The table next to us had it and it looked okay – in so much as there was some cheese on a plate, but we declined.

6. Apricot fritters and honey ice cream – lovely. Just like being the Chinese, the fritters were small and crunchy then soft and fruity and tasty and hot and the honey ice cream was a perfectly cold accompaniment – only two tiny bits, but that was enough.

7. A selection of  “berry” desserts. Crap, nice, okay, hot. A berry soup, a berry something, a berry crumble and a berry Creme Brulee. “Berry” seemed to mean a small berry like a blackcurrant but more horrible. The creme brulee was a revelation, I had never had one before and it was really nice. Luckily the portions were dolls house sizes so it didn’t make me too sick.

She came around and asked if we wanted coffee or tea, but  we’d I’d had enough by then so we just said – no we are going to shoot off, and we put our napkins down and left. I do wonder if they wanted a tip..!

Wont return. Its too far away and I don’t think the chef really showed me anything “wow”, which is supposed to be the point of the tasting menu’s. It was his indulgence of stuff that they had cheaply from the garden. Nothing exciting or interesting, and most of it was barely nice to actually eat. If I had paid 50 quid each for that I would have been most annoyed.

3/10

So – 1300 miles and 35 hours in the car and we successfully travelled from North Wales to Dublin – Belfast – Derry – Sligo – Galway – Limerick – Cork – Rosslare. We saw a real variety of scenery, some stunning, some rubbish – and in all it was a good trip. For me though, Ireland is just like Pembrokeshire – some of the things are bigger (Cliffs of Moher) and some of the specific things are not in Pembrokeshire, but in all, the scenery was very much like Wales, and in my opinion the villages are far better in Pembs.

The good things were:
Dark Hedges – loved it, natural and free – it was brilliant.
Giants Causeway – just so impressive, it takes a while to really appreciate how special it is
Galway Town – great place, what Ireland should be like
Churchtown – something about that graveyard
Blarney – over priced, but I liked it

The bad things were:
The “villages” were mostly horrible – I expected Cotswold type places, instead they looked like Glasgow sink estates
The rope bridge – massive rip off, far smaller than you could possibly imagine
The new “visitor centres” which have sprung up and the health and safety nonsense with has grown up around them
The cost – beer and food were about a third more expensive than here

Best Town – Galway
Worse Town – Limerick
Best Hotel – Cork/Raddison
Worse Hotel – B+B then Menlo
Best Food – Pizza Express! Or Galway
Best Site – Giants Causeway

Would I return?
Yep – in a couple of years perhaps, would like to revisit Galway, skip Limerick and base myself somewhere in Kerry. This is supposed to be the best area, and we didn’t get to see it at all this time.

Here we are then, the last day. Okay breakfast, then straight out for a full day of viewing the south of Ireland.
Straight out and onto the fast roads, and off on the next junction down to a little town called Cobh. A little like Tenby i suppose, but not so nice, it did feel the most foreign as we walked down from the car park. Nice little stroll and finished in the cathedral where we found the first electronic candles. Usually you have to light your candles, not here, you just press a button – odd…

Next up was New Ross, where they had an emigrant ship, which was an example of a ship which used to sail to america from Ireland, specifically in this instance when all the spuds died. It was surprisingly interesting – i had chips from a chippy after.

From here we headed south to the oldest maned, working lighthouse in the world. It had a light.

From here to Tintern Abbey, which was created and populated by monks from ‘our’ tintern abbey in monmouthshire. Unfortunately it was closed for repairs, but another sunny day, so we had a walk around, and Kate had a paddle..
Next up was wexford, which was rubbish. Although i need think i recognised some of it and i may have been there on a crawl some twenty years ago. Roads were odd, but we managed to fi d a parking space and had a little walk. From here it was just a hop, skip and a jump to the b&b – i don’t really like b&b’s – this one didnt change my mind.
Quickly out and a pub crawl in the village. The merry elf was first, with a couple of locals and a pleasant  bar man. We regaled them with tales of the ireland trip, mostly mentioning beer cost and weather. On to the next, and final pub on the crawl. We had food here too, i had scampi made out of prawns. It was pretty good. Then to someone elses home, and bed.

Cobh – 6/10
New Ross – 7/10
Lighthoiuse – 5/10
Tintern – 5/10
B&b – 5/10
Pubs – 6/10

Wonderful day. Best yet.
No breakfast in the strand, so it meant that we out and on the road early doors.. First stop was to a lough, or large pond. They had a toilet, but unfortunately as we were up so early the visitor center had not even opened yet. So we had a quick look around and a wee wee, then off in search of breakfast. Half hour later we were in a little town where we went in search of breakfast. We found a little cafe, which was pretty much the only place open – so butties and sarnies all around and we were set for the day.

Next stop was a little place called Chruchtown, which is a little village with a pub. It’s claim to fame however is that it was the village that oliver reed spent a lot of his life, mostly in the pub. After he arm wrestled sailors in Malta and had a heart attack whilst filming Gladiator, he was brought back to this tiny place, with its tiny graveyard to be buried. It’s fascinating. I loved it.

In what may be a cynical marketing ploy, the graveyard is locked now, and has a note stating that grave digging is a criminal offence! You get the key from the pub… Luckily, although it was only about ten, the pub was open, and a couple of lovely, if perhaps slightly drunk people were inside. They were more than happy to pass the key over, so we opened the yard and trooped through the overgrown yard and onto a little path around to his grave. After whispering a prayer to the god of booze, and taking a few snaps – we left.

Next up was a special treat for Kate, and it was only a few miles away
And it was free – woohoo. It was a donkey sanctury, which was actually quite good, and Kate loved it, so it was well worth it. She had a lot of patting to do, and the sun was shining. It is a little odd that we have a society which has the time to invest in donkeys given the other suffering in the world – but it don’t cost me oot, so no problem.

Both Kate and I  had our treats, so next up was Blarney for Sian. She had been here years ago on a cycle trip, so was interested to see how it had changed, plus we all need a little bit of blarney. Sun was out, parking was free, but of course there was a big charge to get in. In all it was worth it though. Nice grounds, little cave, and the castle itself is  okay. You go up and up through spiral staircases to the very top of the tower, the staircase is tiny, how the fat Americans get up there I will never know. I don’t like these stairs, it makes me sweat, and i don’t like heights, so by the time we got to the top I was a wet mess. Then we had a queue for a short while which was high, my legs were now aching from attempting to save myself from falling. Then it was my turn to kiss that greasy stone. You have to lie on your back then grab some bars and lean backwards and downwards. I didn’t manage downwards, and only just managed to get my lips onto the saliva soaked rock. You are not allowed to take a photo, as they have an Alton Towers type camera arrangement which photos you, where thick tourists pay another ten euros to pick up later. Had a quick pint in the village, then headed for cork.

We tried to go to a neat church in cork where you ring the bells, but we couldn’t park anywhere, so we went to the hotel. Great place, we had room no. 001, which I have never had before. Top room, it was a suite, with a lounge and bedroom – i really liked it. Sian and Kate went for a swim and i had a couple of pints and had a facebook chat…

Took the train into cork and had a couple of beers in a couple of pubs – one of which was “The Woodford”, where I had a Molston Canadian – then a real top draw Chinese. We noticed the time and had around 15 mins to catch the train, which was at least 20 mins away, we went quite fast, and luckily just made it – I was ‘glowing’.

Grave – 8/10
Donkies – 6/10
Blarney – 7/10
Hotel – 8/10
Cork – 7/10
Food – 8/10

Hopefully a better day today, had a reasonably good nights sleep in the Menlo Park – and was up at around 7:00. Shower and sorted, and down for yet another full breakfast, I really should say NO! But I am far too greedy. So bacon, black and white pudding, mushrooms, ham, cheese, sausage, toast and rolls. Greedy greedy. Got Kate a sausage and bacon tiny roll, then we were away and checking out.

After a bit of a faff with the Sat Nav, we headed east from Galway and then south towards the Burrens. This is basically the same as the brecon beacons only in Ireland, and with extra stones. But the first part of the trip was great – another coast road which really skirted the mountain and ocean. We stopped in a little pull in and examined the cliff face, which wasn’t, so we scrambled down it towards the sea. As it was a pretty nice day the waves were mediocre, it would have been very impressive on a stormy day. Continuing around the cliffs we arrived at Doolin which was supposed to be great – we must have taken the wrong road through it (there only seemed to be one) as we saw nothing but a street of nondescript houses and a couple of “pubs”. Don’t know what we missed, but Doolin was supposed to be good – we didn’t see the good side some how. We continued around the coast until we got to the Cliffs of Moher. These are some cliffs, you have to pay 6 euos each to view. From a bit of a distance thanks to elf and safety. They were pretty impressive, but you have to stay so far from the edge that we don’t really get the real magnitude of the sheerness. You could see where they probably used to let visitors go, which was a flat top of one of the cliffs which went right to the edge – no chance now. It would be amazing if they got one of those glass viewing platforms there have on the Grand Canyon (I think it’s there?). As with all of Ireland they had WiFi, and Chinese with cameras.

From the coast we made our way east to Ennis, nothing much to write home about on the journey, but Ennis town was pretty good. Small enough to be compact and with a great variety of shops/pubs and eateries. It was covered in buntings and was very pleasant. Kate choose our lunch and we must have gone to the Ireland Pizza Express franchise, the place was identical, but was called Milanos. I cannot believe it was a rip off (and subsequent googling and shown it is a Pizza Express, but they are not allowed to use that name). It was nice.

From Ennis we meandered a bit, but headed to Quin, where we looked at an Abbey and some Irish jobsworth told Kate off for standing on the stone frame of a doorway – something that had been there for 700 years and had survived all of those feet. We nipped in a pub here, which was completely empty, apart from the serving woman, it was a nice looking pub, and probably gets rammed in the evenings.. From here we lost our way a bit, and in reality we headed for Limerick to get an early checkin as Kate was desperate for a swim. Sian and Kate went for one whilst I type this…

After swimming we set off for the town and it poured down, then we couldn’t find a pub – in the whole of Limerick, I thought every other shop would be a pub, but we struggled to find one – as usual I asked an old dude on the corner and through his incoherent mumblings he pointed to a pub, just 10 meters away. Flannerys, we bought a pint and sat down next to the most sweary women in the world. She was at the bar, and we were by the window, but every third word was f&*k. She was using it like others might use a um, or ur. The rain had stopped, so we headed off to find another pub, which we found some way away – this one bizarrely was also called Flannerys – not sure if they are related, or that every pub in Limerick was a Flannerys. Off to nosh then in the Texas SteakOut, which was nice but very very rich, and the chicken was too hot for Kate – but 60 euros wasn’t too bad. Back to hotel then and up the glass elevator, which is not so scary in the night time, and I went to get my camera to take a night shot – I obviously do not know how to do that so the shot was rubbish – I think you probably need a tripod for evening work.

Coast road – 7/10

Cliffs – 8/10 (experience – 6/10)

Doolin – 1/10

Ennis – 7/10

Lunch – 9/10

Quin – 6/10

Limerick – 6/10

Shower – 6/10

Same routine in the morning again. Slept okay, then down for breakfast by the river (which sounds better than it was) with Kate having a lie in again. Okay breakfast, I soon tire of these full breakfasts every morning. The day was overcast with the promise of rain, although the weather man said it wouldn’t – he lied.

Set off down south to the Monolithic Burial site, which is the oldest in the world or something, and it shows. We had a walk round in between some rocks and I took some pointless photo’s, but a couple of flower shots which I hope will be okay. The best preserved burial monument can only be viewed from a distance because it lives on someone else’s land. AT least we used their toilet.

We then headed south again towards Cong, which was a long way through rubbish roads and scenery – the only highlight was when we nearly had a crash with a Heron. It was quite shite all told. Eventually we got to Cong – which was very nice, and it would have been good to stay longer, but we had a plan. The plan didn’t work. We did see some amazing scenery but with no real purpose, and we just sort of meandered around for hours. Along this route we came across a “Spar” which had some tasty hot food, and we had quite tasty port and chicken rolls..We came to a sort of beach, so stopped – to kill time and also sneak a wee in, and then we were at Galway – luckily just before rush hour.

Arrived and checked in and the room and a load humming noise in it – no good for me, so went to ask for a move, and the lovely reception woman managed it, to a room we hoped would be quieter, and it also seemed a little nicer anyway. had a beer then a 20 min walk into Galway itself. Galway is pretty good, lots of streets and pubs and restaurants. We sampled a couple, and decided on Oscars for food. I went for the lamb, Sian the Monkfish and Kate had to have the fish and chips – we also splurged on a sharing seafood platter for starters – which involved a variety of items including oysters. If you have never tried oysters, don’t bother. The experience is like drowning in the sea – slowly. I can never understand the love of oysters – I think everyone hates them and people just pretend – because that is what you are supposed to do. They are just slimy bags of seawater – terrible. The rest of the food was top nosh, although Kate didn’t like her fish, but then at a hundred euros I would hope it was okay – the lager was five euros a pop, so unusually we only had one each!.

Once finished, we walked the long walk home, stopping at MaccyD’s for a McFlurry for Kate, then home to sleep the sleep of the conquerors and hope that tomorrows visits will be better than today’s.

Monolithic – 4/10

Cong – 8/10

Drive – 3/10

Galway – 8/10

Food – 7/10

Shower – 8/10

Slept okay, not great, but okay – dreamt that someone shot themselves, so probably not ideal.

Down for breakfast at a reasonable time, Kate stayed in bed to get some beauty sleep, me and Sian don’t need that anymore!. Great normal Premier breakfast, and we made Kate a bacon sandwich, then checked out. As we went for down the hotel had a massive leak of water from above reception, we guessed that someone had left the bath on, i guess that is an occupational hazard in hotel, but not seen it before, the water was pi%%ing down through the ceiling.

As we didn’t get to Derry last night we went down and parked in a dodgy place, recommended by the hotel lady. We walking thought he new “city of culture” square, and across the peace bridge (TM), into Derry itself. As it was Sunday and early, we walked the walls in relative quite, although nearin the end we met three guided fat American tours. You would not believe the size of the behinds of some of them. We made the circuit in quick time, seeing the all too reality of large fences at the loyalist end, and the IRA writing on the roofs of Bogside – it does make you think – and Kate worried.

After the quick tour of Derry it was time to get on the road to the continent, and within 20 mins we were on “top of the world”, and Kate and Sian shouted from the top. This was some sort of fort, which was tall, and well made, but not very big inside. It was about a six bedroom, with no second lounge sort of thing. The views were immense. This journey had some of the odd up and down roads again, which are fun, until you begin to get scared of hurting the car. Back into UK, the out again, then back in and the next stop was Omaghn. These places are quite sobering, in the sense of death and nonsense reasons, ut also have very little open on a Sunday morning. we did find a bar, and I accidental ordered a beer. Quick Heiniken,  Latte and Coke and we headed off, with my head slightly spinning, into Enniskilling.

A day of town visits I guess today, but this was supposed to be good – it wasn’t great, I probably wouldn’t bother again – but we saw the square where the bomb went off, I realise this seems like a tour of bomb sites, but unfortunately a lot of N. Iron had it. We also had some food – which was good. Unfortunately we had a bit of an issue when I parked up, as I was looking for a toilet and had to walk for 2 miles to find it, I had my camera bad over my shoulder and was crossing my legs slightly – I had a lot of looks from normal people and quite a few from the mincers. We probably stayed too long here, but the pub was “busy” and it took ages for food – although Sian and kate had a free beer from it, I didn’t as by this time I had already had a couple of beers. we left and headed for the subterranean tunnels.

We finally got there about three thirty, and the queue was an hour long, as we had another hour plus home, we decided against it – thank christ. It would have been good to do it, but I was knackered, and the thought of leaving over two hours later made we happy for the choice. After an hour we arrived in Sligo and the Glasshouse. We parked underground and watched a dude slip over in front of us as we went in – which I am sure made him a little embarrassed – he even said sorry to us! We squeezed into a parking space (later we realised there was another two floors) and then checked in – cool room. Bathroom not as good as the room, but the room was massive and we had a balcony.

Down the bar, then into Sligo. We had some beers in some nice pubs – none serving food, but eventually we got to the final feeding pub. Looked great, really liked the interior, and they were obviously busy. I spoke to the waiter and he told me to have the rib eye. It was shit. As a “starter”, they gave us a loaf of really tasty bread with butter and a chilli “marmalade”, it was good. My steak looked good, the meat was grand, but it had bad fat and tough bits, it was rib eye from gods sake – the onion rings and thick chips were under cooked. I told the serving wench (the main man didn’t come back) and she didn’t seem to either give a shit, or know what to do. Sian’s was great, Kate’s wasn’t.

We seemed to get a beer for free, but no one came back over, and Sian paid to save me having a moan, so we came back to the hotel for a final beer – then bed – in our large, comfy room…!

Derry Walls – 6/10

The fort (views) – 7/10

Omaghn – 5/10

Enniskillen – 5/10

Roads – 6/10 (some 10/10)

Hotel – 8/10

Sligo – 7/10

Food – 5/10

Shower – 3/10

Here we are on the third day of the tour of ireland. Today we tour the antrim coast. I had a pretty good nights sleep, but was up at six, then hung around in bed awaiting the call to the throne.. Breakfast was okay, had crumpets and marmite, with bacon on top, so can’t complain. Then we were out of there.
Headed to larne to start, but took a detour of to see the glanoe water fall, which was really good, and free. On the way there i went down the most roller coaster road ever, i even let out a sad squeak of worriedness on one especially steep up and down. Then we hit the coastal road….

This was ace. Slow run, mainly because of the scenery the road was right by the sea for miles, you could see so far ahead around the bays, it was great. After a time we headed for the dark hedges, the driving to get here, which was a good ten mile out of the way, was immense. It went up and down through the Irish glens and we saw maybe ten cars in the entire trip, the road was twisty and turny and i spent most of it on the right hand side of the road… Really enjoyed throwing the five down here. Then after a slight wavier, thanks to the sat nat and postcodes we got to the trees. I loved them.

We were now way behind my schedule, but we rejoined the coast road which was no loinger on the coast, and made our way to the rope bridge. Didn’t like this. At all. Too busy, too pricy, too badly organised, no real pay off. The bridge is the one you may have seen in some photos, it’s a rope bridge across to an island, and looks amazing in the photos, is not. It’s shite. Although being a shandy i was scared crossing anyway. You queue, then you go 18 meters across the wobbly bridge, then you wait to come back – not great.

After this we went to giants causeway. I was unsure about this to start with, but only six pound for parking i heard, bargain. Not any more! They now have a ‘cool’ visitor center work needs to be paid for, so it’s now 21 quid, but to be honest it is worth it, it’s incredible. I was a little unsure to start with, but after looking at it for some time you realise that you can never see something like this for real  *anywhere*. We spent some time here, and we had not even had lunch yet, and it was after three, so we headed on. Next stop was a beach side town, we decided on Portsteward rather than Portrush, luckily from one point of view, as Portrush was completely packed out for some reason, but the other was rubbish. We parked up, for free, which was good and then walked down their promanarde which was odd, people just sat in their cars looking, sleeping or eating ice cream. It troubled me more than it should. We didn’t stay long. on the drive to Derry we passed an appropriate place  to retire to – Dungiven… !

Next stop was Derry, as we are so late we decided to see the town tomorrow, so we got the bar immediately and after quite a few buds i risked the chicken buffet, and the others tucked into fish and sausage and mash.

Waterfall – 7/10
Coast road (start) – 8/10
Trees – 8/10
Rope bridge – 3/10

Shower -6/10

So here we are on the trip proper and off on the ‘fast’ very to Dublin. Unfortunately we don’t have the time to stay at Dublin, so it’s a trip from Holyhead to Belfast today. Kate has been a little worried about the troubles which have been on the news recently, but we told her that’s just usual…

Bit of a lie in today as we had allot of morning to kill, so a doss around, and then went to MaccyD’s for bacon rolls this morning. Then to Asda to make a pic-an-ic. I was desperate for a wee-wee which seems to happen more and more these days, so i was out of asda quick smart whilst they took an eternity to decide which charity they wanted to stick there little green disks in. Fifteen minutes of more dosing and it was time for the ferry. Not having done this before i was a little apprehensive, but it was fine. We got there about half an hour before the start and were pretty much last. Wait wait wait as all the others slipped up the ramp into the belly of the waiting ‘fast crossing’ Irish beast. Finally it was our turn, and he stuck us, at a weird angle at the very very back of the boat. Not in any of the car channels, just pushed sideways into the back…. Managed to secure some chairs by the TV which was pretty good, but even before the beast moved i felt sick. But there was wi-fi, but the bloody fantasy football is blocked by their filter, as it’s a ‘game’ dag-nammit…

Had a sneaky try of outside on the boat, and by god it was windy, but nice – made the inside feel odd when we got back. Once the film had finished we were nearly over. We snuck back to the car, and due to the fact we were at the back we could join a queue to get the funk out of there. We were in a foreign place. It was raining…

Out of the port and though the toll charged tunnel, then on the m1 to belfast. Rainy, and just that little bit different, is not quite the UK – close, bit no e-cig. We followed a little yellow car for miles, keeping speed with him, assuming that he knew where to go fast and where to go slow.. Not sure he really did, but it was nice. One little bit of a queue and we cruised the rest of the way, and had to pay another toll.. Before too long we were back in the USSR UK.

Two hours and we were at the hotel, another great room from the premiere team. Quick checkin, then my time to shine and show the gang all the best things i know about belfast. BT building, the coroners office (which i think really sums up the troubles), the road passed the Belfast social club and the town hall. They were not awfully impressed.. Kate thought bombs were going to go off, and at the least some fires.. They didn’t. We had a pint and sat outside in the fug of the smokers, next pub didn’t let us in, so we went back to a place i knew well, the holiday inn. Couple pints here then to pizza express, were we had a weird server, who was ace, but started with a very broad Irish accent, then went into a special Italian one. The food was absolutely wonderful – really enjoyed it. Long walk back, then bed.

Ferry – 5/10
Driving in foreign climes – 6/10
Driving back in UK – 9/10
Belfast pubs – 6/10
Pizza Express – 9/10

Shower – 6/10

So here we are at the start of the nee journey. Up early doors at around six, after yet another rubbish night. Toilet, then tea, then decided to head into Newport and fill up the tank with some cheap petrol curtsey of Tesco. Snuck through the old steelworks again, hopefully they will open this road for real one day, but sneaking through world for me. Some toast and a completely jammed car, and we were on or way, three minutes early at 8:27.

Roads were empty which was great, because i always think we’re are going to hit rush hour, bit after a few hours in the car we made it add far as dolgeddlau. We had to take a bit of a detor here, as i just had to take the team up the massive hill i did when i was cycling. I am not convinced they were quite as into it as i was, but it was quite interesting seeing what it looked like from a car perspective.. ( it was still hilly) we had a little pause here to see the view and then through dolgellau and onto Caernarvon.
We had pretty much followed the route we went with paul, at the start of the lon las, but we veered off into caernarvon. It was a cracking day, and typically i think i have probably burnt my mush somewhat, but we did manage food in the black boy ( or bouy) which was quite nice, but my beef with hoi soon was cold which surprised me. After caernarvon we decided to hear over to Bangor, which was shite. Brendon had been trying to get a joke through to us regarding a girlfriend and bangor, which never worked, and even that nonsence was a million times better than the real place. I never want to go there again, i cannot think of one redeaming feature of the place, although i suppose the multi story was quite nice.. It was full of people which you couldn’t help but think they just ‘didn’t know better’, we also saw, what Kate called an old Sea captain, who would have great stories, but was actually a stinky old wierdo, with a Captain Birdseye dirty beard, a long mac and wellies – ah, the innocence of youth….

After Bangor we headed over the Menai Bridge, which is an amazing feat of engineering, and then up the road to llanfairpull… The famous long named train station. Not much to sees here other than the sign, so we soon set of to Holyhead itself. Nipped up the A5 and before we knew it, we were in the second worse place of the day. Quick Checkin to the travel lodge, then a walk along the “promenarde” to a place for stella. Couple of beers and then we examined the food options, there were none. Kate thought she would hop up the steps from the prom and thought she had broke her tendons – don’t know where she gets this air of the dramatics from… So we went to the chinky, it was surprisingly tasty, and compared to the rest of the holes we saw uber luxurious. It would have been good in any town, nevermind this hellhole. After Garlick and satay chick chick, sizzling beef and black pepper and some amazing rice, we paid up and returned to the lodge – knackerred.

Trip – 7/10
Caernarfon – 7/10
Bangor – 3/10
Holyhead – 5/10
Food, lunch – 6/10
Food, supper – 8/10

Shower – 5/10

Off to Cardiff for the weekend with me ma and pa and my sisters family. Not far for us to go, so on a roasting hot Friday we ventured into the big smoke of Wales. The Mariott is quite an awkward place to get to by car if you have not done it before, but we had little problem finding our selves within the car park.

Luckily mother had been there for a bit, and was already primed with a jug of Pimms, quick order later and a frosty Stella was on its way down. After a pint or two we checked in and realised that they charge fifteen, yep fifteen pounds a night parking the robbing shits. So for three cars we had to pay near a ton just to park!.

Couple more beers and the rest of the crew arrived, so we popped off for an earlyish supper at Nandos. Generally speaking Nandos is good, you know what you are getting, and at less than a ton for the eight of us it was cheaper than parking. extra hot Nandos goes down a treat and everyone pretty much enjoyed it.

We had a little walk around the city, just before it got too rowdy – and were soon back in the hotel for a final one before bed.

Next day we were up and about, and after collecting a picnic we headed over to St Fagens. Although before we left I realised that I didn’t have the car keys, and couldn’t remember having them since leaving te car – which is very unusual for me. Anyway, luckily;y they were in the hotel safe, so someone had picked them up – thankfully.

Decent place St Fagens, its billed as the Museum of Welsh Life, and they ensure all the staff can speak Welsh, which is a great touch. They have rebuild, brick my brick in most cases, a variety of houses from various times in history. Its free to get in, which is a bit daft really, and there is a lot to see. We knew the weather was going to break about 14:00, so we had our stroll and picnic just before the rain started. We had literally got in the car to leave when the pitter patter started.

Nipped over to Queen Street once back in Cardiff and took the train down the Bay – unfortunately it was still raining, so we had a walk around and a very stuffy pint, then back on the train ready for a cocktail before supper. We went over the Yard just after 17:00 for the cocktail happy hour and it was packed – there are so many hen and stag nights going on its incredible. We managed to get a seat near the rain and had a switfy before Jamie’s.

We had booked into Jamie’s Italian, which is an Italian. And has something to do with a fake, mokney dribbler. The staff were overly fakely nice, and the music was too loud (they did turn that down a touch) and they missed quite a few things out. The food was good though –  well, mine was and I am always on the lookout for a moan. Great bread to start, and the calamari was excellent. I had the special for mains, which was the bream with mussels – and very nice it was too – also had a few “Funky chips” – all in all I liked it – but it wasn’t something I would normally order.

The cheeky sods slyed on a 10% service charge, and forgot to take our gold card discount off (Jamie’s Gold Card membership is worth getting if you ever go – its free and you get some stuff.) and the alcohol is expensive (as it is everywhere) but its okay – he is really on to a good thing with these – they were packed – stupid really, he is only putting his daft name to it, and there are better Italians in Cardiff anyway.

Beer in the hotel and a £1:55 glass of milk, then bed – ready for another massive breakie and home sweet home.

Cardiff is a good place to go, everything is close, there are many restaurants and pubs and there are quite a few things to do – living so close though means that its lost some of its excitement.

7/10

I hate this place. But I also love it.

Got there early doors, and already the car park was filling nicely. There was already a big queue for the monorail (monorail, That’s right monorail – I hear those things are awfully load – no, it glides as softly as a cloud…)  so we walked the walk into the park – which I am not sure I have done before, but it was easy to find as we just followed the other 20,000 people. Luckily the entrance was quiet and we walked straight in.

So, Smiler was the big attraction, so the plan was to queue on that, then get some fast tracks for the other big ones, and be leaving the park at 12:00 (well, the last bit was my plan, the others were not signed up to that) we saw the queue for smiler, then were told that the end of the queue was actually arouhnd the corner and out of sight. But we stood and prepared for the wait. It took ages until the ride actually took passengers, then the queue started moving quite well, and after 1.5 hrs we were about 30 mins away from the most inverted ride in the world (thats *IN*verted). But then, there was a massive clunk, and (according to newspaper reports – which were boll0x) a massive piece of the track fell off. We waitewd and waited and waited and then after 15 minutes we gave up. We saw that the contestants in the carriages (which were back at the station) were going to be rescued so we left – the ride was closed all day, and it still is i think days later.

We had a look at other ride times and decided to try Rita with a half hour queue. After 45 minutes we were nearing the end and that bloody well broke down. We were promised fast track tickets for it, but we couldn’t find where we would get them from so at 12:00 we had queued since 9:30 and not been on anything. I was not in the best of moods.

Food time, and a quite reasonable seven quid later I had a burger, chips and coke aand we started queuing for air. Now that was 25 min queue and it really was, I had only just finished my nosh when we borded. Probably not the best idea. Kate had a little panic when she was waiting for the ride to start, but here she was, on the first big coaster of her life, and it was ready to swing her around to face the floor, and possible death.

Air is good, but scares me more than any other ride. I don’t like the fact that if the harness opened you would have to try to hang on – actually the ride that scares me the most is the cable cars. After Air we went onto the Nemisis – which was only about a 20 min wait was well, and then we made our way back to Oblivion.

Earlier in the day there were 40 minute queues for this, so a little apprehensively we climbed the route to the top, and there was nothing – no queue what so ever – we went straight on, I could not believe it. Oblivion is fab. It takes you up to the top of a big drop and then holds you at the top for a second or so before dropping you done and into a hole int he ground. It really truly takes your breath away. On this first attempt I honestly could not breath – its immense.

Kate loved it, so we went on again.

We went back on Rita which I don’t like too much and then on Th1rteen – which is unusual and quite enjoyable and after finding the log flume was shut it was time to pay for parking – the cheeky monkeys, and queue for the monorail back.

After a couple of hours in the car we were safely back home. Was a shame we didn’t do Smiler, but at least Kate experienced some pretty cool rides on here first day of being tall enough…

So we went “oop north” this weekend, well up North for us anyway.

We had tickets to see the Alton Towers place, so needed a stop off on the Saturday. As we had never been to Uttoxeter we thought we would try there, and as we pretty much had to go through Stafford to get there I thought I would take the family around the old haunts of mine when I was a student back in 1990.

Great journey up, until we got to Junt 13, and the road into Stafford was shut, so we continued up the M6 and got off on the next one. It was weird coming back into Stafford, the old places were either closed – KFC, or still there – the original Balti house. We parked up and took a waltz in,

Although I didn’t spend much time in Stafford center itself, the place looked vaguely familiar, Bird in the Hand was one place we went, the union seems to be a court now, and the roads and streets looked something like they did before. We only stuck a couple of hours on the car, so we made a b-line for the Bear Inn – which did some great burgers. This was another place I used to go occasionally, but it seemed so much smaller than it was!

Anyway – had a look around, then back in the car for a trip down to Brooke Court in Milton Grove. It wasn’t there – it had been torn down some years back, and on the site a number of new houses. The flat opposite was still there though – it must have been worth saving..

Across town and over to Bodmin Avenue to see the old place, then round to the Linton Tavern which was now closed. Back to Beconside and off to Uttoxeter.

Uttoxeter is shit.

The Premier Inn was hot, and afer a short walk in, we got to the town which was scary. We go to quite a few places, but this was something out of a zombie Apocalypse. Everyone looked off their nuts on heroin, although we saw no trouble, it was not somewhere I was confortable with. We walked around the town, which as far as the shops go isn’t the worst place we have been to, and found the chinese we planned to use later. Then we headed to a pub – and there was not much choice – and we have been in some real dives before. We settled on Wetherspoons, which was the best of a worrying bunch and settled in for a couple of beers. After a Stella, Amstel and a couple of Heinekens we were off to Woo’s.

The Chinese was packed, but we managed to get a tiny table near the entrance, and filled ourselves with rice, beef, port and satay chicken – it was pretty good nosh to be fair, and for us, the location – a little out of the way behind a screen was ideal!!!

Back home and after a couple of beers the place was not quite so scary and back to the hot hot room for zed’s before the Alton mission.

Ha ha we went to Willey.

It was the wedding of the year, well the only wedding of year up near Rugby in a tiny hamlet called Willey. It was the wedding of our nephew James on Sian’s side of the family, and they had planned to have it “outside”..

So they picked the right day for it, this weekend has been the hottest of the year so far, and may well be the best of the year in total. We arrived at around 14:00, to meet up in the local pub, it was pretty warm, but before I had taking a decent slug of my ice cold Stella I was on parking duties and had to park up our two cars, in someones big long drive. Should be easy, it wasn’t, I was parking in the wrong place, and had two of the householders coming to tell me off – our car was no problem, no one noticed me, by the time I brought Becs car over the parking attendants were out in force, and with no air con I was sweating cobs.

Got back to my pint and it was now steaming over, but it was still colder than me. The sweat was staining, I couldn’t hear due to water build up, and I realised I should have worn a vest. Managed to get in the shade and started to cool down a little, when we were called to the ceremony – in a field, at 15:00, in the sun. Even the cows went to seek some shade.

The ceremony was a “Humanitarianism” one. Don’t know what it means, but no imaginary people were mentioned and it was quite good. As soon as possible we heading to the massive marque for tea and scones. And discovered the FREE bar, yep free – ace.

Tea and scones and San Miguel then a couple of speeches the best “man” (who dramatically was a woman) was pretty good, and the groom was especially tearful.

The rest of the day involved sitting in the shade, taking trips to the portaloo, which was an especially fine example – although it was like a sauna inside (I don’t mean it was full of half clothed people, sweating over themselves – just hot). Picking up free beer and water and coke and stuff, and then eating a pretty good BBQ later on – great sausage, chicken and lamb burgers.

They had a great band on, playing swingy jazz, but we left earlyish to let the youngsters enjoy the beerred up rest of the evening – so we were back in the hotel by 11:00.

Good day, fantastic weather, top food and a free bar – how could it be better!!!..

Over to Aust today to visit The Boars Head, unfortunately it was a little bit wet today, so we had a quick walk down to the old ferry “port” which is in a right old state now – although it has been a while now since it was used. Hung about in the rain for a bit, then headed across the road to the Boars Head – very nice. We were greeted as we entered and pointed at the bar when we said we only wanted a beer. they had a covered (smallish) beer garden, and a larger uncovered beer garden. Inside was quite cosy in a couple of rooms, another couple of rooms didn’t look quite so hot, they had 1664 which was okay and a couple of bitters. Obviously do okay food as it got quite busy by the time we left, looks like a place which would be good for a sunny Saturday.

7/10

The Wellington Inn, Nash – Hidden away behind the hall, a quite large, old fashioned pub. We were told to be very careful of the paint on the door, which to be honest looked rubbish. San Miguel on tap, and what appeared to be a small selection of bitters. The “beer garden” was just a few tables at the front of the pub – so not great unfortuntly. But it was a nice day and the drinks went down well. The barmaid even brought a drink for the dog..

6/10

We had a look at a couple of places in Newport, they were scary. One looked shut, one lost its roof and one had some bald nasties sitting outside. In the end we went around the corner and near the Celtic Manor to a little place called,   . The Greyhound Inn, was quite a nice place, quiet and had Amstel on tap. The toilets were okay, but the beer garden was not brilliant. IN fact it was a bit of a death trap trying to get out the back, here we found the washing line being used. We sat at the front on the village square with a nice view of the church. It was still warm, and this made things okay with the world.

6 /10

Continuing the magical mystery tour of local pubs, get us down to the river side, starting in Chepstow.

The Boat Inn  – we got there and there were four blokes looking at the sky through binos – one was very small (the man, not the binos).

Chepstow has quite a few pubs, almost as many have closed as have in Haverfordwest, but this one is still going and it was one I didn’t know was there, even though I must have walked passed it once. It’s down by the river, which is a little muddy, and very banked – but it does have some seats outside. Inside is a little nicer, made up like an old warehouse (that’s *ware*-house) with some nice tables and an open upstairs. Apparently, so Paul told me, there is a ghost, who barges past people – there is even a plaque telling you this. We had a beer, can’t remember what it was now, and sat in the sun – nice pub – beer garden is not so nice.

6/10

Ferry Inn – was down under the Bridge on the other side of Chepstow – it seems massive, and probably was very busy when the ferry used to take people across the Severn. But now it just looks a little neglected – but did have, as usual for these types of pubs on a lunchtime on a Wednesday, a far diversity of oldies having some nosh. For such a big place, right next to the river it’s beer garden was very modest 0 but I suppose unfortunately the view of the bridge and the muddy estuary are not ideal? Had an okay beer in the garden, and Paul returned for some nosh a few days later – but I wouldn’t make a special trip..

5/10

Next up was a place I had been meaning to go to for an age, and after getting in there, I was very surprised that the inside didn’t look like I expected.

The Piercefield just up from the race-course in Chepstow at a place called St Arvan – we sat outside in the large beer gardens with piped music – which was quite nice. They have Heineken here, which I like and I thought all in all in was pretty good. We returned a couple of weeks later for some lunchtime nosh – and I enjoyed the bangers and mash, although I would ask for extra gravy next time.  Really nicely laid out inside and I quite liked it.

8/10

The Greyhound, on the way to Usk was yet another place I had fancied stopping at, but never had the reason to. Nice garden, although the “gardener” insisted on moving, very noisily, around us whilst we were there. It has three bars, sort of connected, but at different levels, and a couple of areas to sit in – all looked okay. I think this might have been a Stella place, but again I cannot remember (I really should take notes). All good, although the weather could have been better – it did brighten up later and we sat back home in the Lion.

7.5/10

Off to sunny Chippenham today.

It seems like one of those places that is miles away, as it’s over the bridge and far away, but actually its only about 40 miles or so. We had a little look in the morning of places we hadn’t been and we were not too sure on this one, so decided to give it a go.

I was starving when we left, and figured that in 40 mins we could pitch up to a place and get some nosh. Unusually for me I had not planned it all to the nth degree, so had no idea where to park, what the main street looked like, nor where to eat. Although I had run a quick tripadvisor against restaurants but not really remembering anything.

Arrived at the town and it seems to take you on a very wide round-about route to get into the town itself, and once we were there I was convinced we had cycled through it on one of our jaunts – but I cannot be sure. Found the car park which was small, but pretty much “one way”, so you just drove slowely in until you saw some people leaving, and luckily within 5 mins we were parked up and ready to go. Parking bays are a little tight in our car, so we stuck out a bit, but no trouble.

First stop was a book sale, which was just a load of books marked up with normal process in what may have served as Chipperhams Corn Exchange, Kate picked a book – then when she realsied she would have to pay for it she did a double take – but she did get it. A little walk round the town where they had a Saturday market, which had the standard crap, and a bloke cooking noodles on a gas cylinder – I was hungry.

Nothing much to remark about the town, it was okay, nice church, although we didn’t go in, and very few pubs – in fact I can only recall a couple and one of those was a Wetherspoons.

Walked a little out of the center and came across the Revolutions Cafe, which squeezed us in, and we had quite decent nosh. I had a chilli cheese burger which was small but quite tasty and remarkably not dry, Sian had a Chilli which was pretty good, and Kate was poorly so just had chips – which I ate most of. They were “double cooked” chips which here must mean cooked, slightly under, and not very crispy. But they were okay for a starver like me.

After grub that was all that was around it seemed, so back in the car and off to Cribbs, before home.

Okay place, wouldn’t make a journey to go again though.

So over the last couple of weeks I have been visiting some pubs I have not been to before with Paul.

First up was the Portskewett Inn, which is Inn, Portskewett. Odd little entrance to the car park, and the pub itself on the side, slightly old fashioned, rather than olde worlde decor. Bar staff seemed friendly – although Paul knowing most of the old timers helped, and the 1664 was drinkable. Not had 1664 for a while and it went down well. Also had a Foosball table which I won, by “cheating” – I didn’t realise you were not allowed to spin the players..

Food seemed to be going down well, and the bogs were white and roomy and cold.

6/10

Next was the Carpenters Arms, which was not called the Carmarthen Arms as I had first put, which was in Shirenewton – a place I thought I might want to retire too – after seeing it some more, not so sure anymore. So this pub is on the main road which by-passing the village on the way to Usk from Chepstow, and by god it looks grotty. I didn’t think it was open at all, and not just open today, but ever. But it was, it has a single old fashioned heavy wooden door, and straight into an interesting pub. Little rooms and tables stuck about the place, with a teeny  tiny bar. Just Carlsberg (I think) on tap but a very interesting place indeed. Food smelt heavy on onions and grease – but in a good way. A few discerning couples where in there eating, so it cannot be too bad. Great bar man, with wispy hair and a good all round place. Probably made nicer due to the fact I was expected a shitehole.

6/10 – would like to go there for food

Mathern was next up, two pubs here, one on the main road and one more in the village.  Millers Arms is the place, and looks great, inside and out – nice bit outside and looking at their website they really get the flowers moving in the summer – didn’t notice any for us. Lovely pint of Heineken taken “al fresco” – would like a lunch down here one day. Only downside, the inside smelt a bit of disinfectant – if that is there the next time, then thats a no-no.

7/10 – food here some time in the summer.

Second pub in Mathern was the New Inn, been to its car park in the past but for some reason didn’t go in. Crap beer garden for starters. But the inside was better, looked like it had been here for some time, and it had, but was upgraded and looked good. Amstel on tap with an Amstel glass is always a good thing, but we were not here long, so will maybe come back and have some food next time?

6/10 – may re-adjust on return.

Over to Bristol today. No real reason, just fancied getting out and Bristol is close and has some stuff there.

Took a different route today, as usually we go by car, so took the choochoo out of Severn Tunnel and 25 mins later we were in Bristol. Blumming train was packed again – as usual, so we stood up all the way, then we had to buy our tickets once arrived as no one bothered walking through the carriage – 12 quid for the three of us is cheaper than driving.

Took a quick look at the triathlon shop, which was smaller and hotter than I would have liked – spend 20 seconds looking at the wetsuits then nearly fainted so had to get out into the air ;o) Off into Bristol proper, and as another change, we headed over to the docks. It was quite chilly, and  went past the Ostrich which I bet is packed in the Summer, then over to M-Shed. Nearly got run over by a 50 ton loco, travelling at 1.2 miles an hour and had a quick look in the M-Shed museum, then, as it happened there was a boat race today, so we watch Bristol have their arses handed to them by someone I thought was called UWE (but then realised that UWE is actually Bristol).

Into town proper and time for nosh, saw an interesting band on the other side of the dock, but it was too cold for any nonsense so we walked to Cafe Amour – which is supposed to be great – but we didn’t know how to work it. It has a counter where you queue, and two floors and loads of Higgily Piggley tables, none of which appeared to be free. But we didn’t know if you got a table first, then ordered, or ordered then found a seat – far too complicated, as if you found a table a- then went to order then table wouldn’t be there when you got back – odd.

So Kate had a quick Greggs, then we went to this place in St Nicks market which is supposed to do great pulled pork. It doesn’t. It didn’t look great, so we went to the pub for a livener first – then tempted fate. I have been waiting 20 years for a pulled pork roll – and it was okay, but nothing more. Very disappointing. Then we walked around for a bit back into the center and I bought a fruit bowl to use for my chinese and Indians. We watched a quietly, shouty Aussie do some “magic” in the street – then headed back to the train with a thought of having a cheeky beer if we had to wait for the train. As luck (or not) would have it there was a train waiting on the platform for us – to whisk us on our merry way home.

Like Bristol, not happy with the pork. Will have to be sausage and mash when I return on Thurs…

Off to Bath today – it was wet.

Looking on the trainline suggests a straight through service which takes over an hour, by nipping into Temple Meads and picking up another train there it only takes 45 mins – odd, so that’s what we did.

We sat outside Kate’s gym for an hour waiting for her to finish, and I felt the feeling of needing a wee raising – this was only after 20 mins. Still I am not quite too old yet so I managed to wait until be finally boarded the train. £19 and six tickets later we were on our way to Bristol, with a seat, together. So we ignored each other and read our books! In no time at all were at Temple Meads, then a mad rush to the Paddington train to get the connection to Bath. It was bust, so we stood in the Buffet Car – feeling hungry but not rich we didn’t sample the fare.

10 mins later we arrived in Bath, and decided we needed a late breakfast  the first place we saw was Giraffe, which I had heard of, but never been – I had thought it was child focused, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I had a quite Delicious scrambled egg and bacon and toast concoction with a diet coke – the coke being a bad idea. Our waitress said too much and they automatically put the tip on the bill which I was going to remove to make a point, but then didn’t because I didn’t want to make a fuss – how terribly British…

Had a good walk around all parts of Bath, in the drizzle, and went to get Kate some shoes from a place which had tickets like you used to get at Tesco’s meet counter. The counter said 19, we picked 28, but there was no one there. Then a slightly pleasant, but odd lad came to serve us, and repeatedly said to Kate – Stand up big and tall for me, we found some shoes in reasonably quick time, but then tried 20 sizes to get one that matched her wide foot. The ladies there had quick disconcertingly high heels on, which seemed really stupid for a shoe shop.

There was a band playing upstairs in the street, in the drizzle, and a couple of older spoons had a little dance and a jig – that’s what I used to do – now I just felt sorry for them.

Once we had had enough of walking around we stopped at the Griffin, behind the Theatre for some drinkies – seemed like an okay place, a little small, but it was nice to have a sit down and a beer. By this time it was too late to have a late lunch if we wanted to catch the next train, so we hightailed it out of there and got the busy trains back home.

I like Bath more than it deserves I think.

Back to the sunny ‘Shire this weekend for Easter.

As I was working half day on Thurs we managed to get away around 13:00, with the boot full and the cycle strapped to the back we had to take it steady back as I was scared of loosing the bike. I don’t think I put it on right, as once we were up to about 50 miles an hour the bike rack (Bones 3) raised up. Luckily the straps held fast, but I felt myself loking back every 30 seconds. Driving an under 80 is scarey, and far more dangerous than just zooming along in the fast lane. But we made great progress and in a little over 1.5 hrs we were passing a closed Mill-Ford arms and into town. We had a nice relaxing evening, no beer, and a fantastic fish stew (thanks Pop’s if you are reading this!! ;o) Then early to bed ready for the cycle in the morning.

By 9 I had had a number of slices of toast, and got on my bike for the Tri route. Sian was off also, down to Manor Park with her mum. I was back in the house about ten to 12, so after a shower and a load of bacon sarnies I was outside Mr Bradleys house, suited and booted and looking forward to an ale or two. He wasn’t ready. He had only been waiting 7 months, but no, he ponced around a while whilst I drank water (good job really). Finally he was ready and off we trotted. After a disagreement about the Glen, we settled on the Georges for the first pint – not great, and I sat on the formica table whilst Ders regaled me with tales of exciting new ventures. Down into toen next, and a 10 minute wait to get cash – we decided to head to the Fishguard Arms, it was full of dodgies and many kids, so we headed around the corner to the Farmers Arms. Last time I was here it was the new opening with the landlady I knew at the time – this time it was half full of locals – who stared at us as we entered. Well used to that I suppose. Drinks bought we retired around the corner to an empty table.

After there we went back to the Fishguard Arms, still had a number of slightly wierd looking people in, but less children, so we braved it. I asked for a Stella after spying the Chalice glasses, and she looked at my, then at the Stella, then at me, then she picked up a Carling glass. Hmm I said, looking at the glass – In that case, I’ll have a carling.. Was I too scared to ask for the “right” glass, or was I scared of Stella – I don’t know – but it was a cheep round – just six quids. Starting to get a little tipsy now, and was accosted in the toilets by a “ruffian” “You not from around here, but”, “Yes” I squeeked, “Originally”. This threw him so he repeated – “You not from around here, but” no from Magor I said – “Where’s that too” he remarked – “The good side of the Severn Bridge” – “Ah” he relied “Good match wasn’t it, but”. So we then chatted like great mates about how “we” defeated those rascal English. He seemed quite content.

After the Fish, and neding a little wee-wee we set off for the County, only to be told it was residence only. In the old days we might have just booked a room there and then to spite them and have a drink anyway, but those days of excess are long gone, so still needing a jimmy-riddle we set off the miles it took to get to the Milf. I had told Ders it had been shut the sday before, but we went anyway – it was shut. Damn. He suggested I might have a tinkle behind the garage, cos the bloke who runs it was a “Tw@”, but I thought I could wait until the Trader.

Once at the Trader I ran to what was once the Gents, but which had a sign mentioning “Art Gallery” I burst through anyway, Jackson Pollocks, it was still the Gents – aaaahhhhhhhhhhh. Sat outside here for one, the the Fuse came and regailed us with tales of paint and scaffold, and we had anothewr two pints. Then off to the Wetherspoons (no idea what it was called) were we had some okay, but cheep beers and a wine for the poof and sat in the Window seat. I think we had another one or two here, it was starting to get a little bit blurry now, and Fuse had a fake fag which enabled him to blow “smoke” everywhere, which seemed like a really fun thing after a few beers.

Fuse left to look after his family at this point, so we headed back to the Trader to finish up. I realized at this time that I was going home at 5:30, which left me with minus two hours to go, so Ders ordered a bottle of wine for himself and I had a beer. Arranged for a life home at 8 and I slipped down the final beer and left Ders, outside the Trader with a large glass of Pinot and a big smile on his chops.

Next day was pretty quiet.

We did go to The Georges and had the pork special in a hot, spicy Creole sauce which was nice. I had one pint all day – Yes, the shandy man can.

Next day was with Sian’s family, where we ate, drank, hid, then searched for Easter eggs, played games, ate again and went to bed.

In between all that we did managed to go for a little walk through Haverfordwest, we started at the Green and walked down passed the old Forum, which is now just a load of homes – oh the old days there, 50p to get in and 50p for a bottle of Pils. Ders walking around with a pint of Vodka and Coke – one day he tripped, fell forward and banged his head on the table – but still managed to not spill a drop of his Vodka.. Walked down Tower Hill and passed the Mariners and the Greyhound, up past St Martins to the Castle. I cannot even remember being here before, but I must have been. Then down into town and a quick call into Costa (perhaps my second only visit to a “coffee shop”) for a cupachar. Across town to the Trader and up to the Parade. We had a little look around here, and spend a few minutes watching an imaginary game of crown green bowls, our claps and murmurs of “Good shot, sir” got a strange look from the locals. Back up passed the leisure center and back.

Monday was home time, we waited for Kate to get up – picked up the bike from mothers in a hurry to get home. We got to St Claires and realised we didn’t have the %^$£% $£%£^% £^£^£^ &&*&^%% %%%%%% key for the house. So went back to meet Becs. Bike rack stayed put this time, and we got home slightly faster.

Good weekend – it flies.

What an odd name – I keep calling it “in the” makes a lot more sense. So, as Sian is off, and I had taken a day off on Monday anyway to get my holidays down we decided to look for somewhere to visit for a night. Its always a bit complicated finding a place, and a room which is big enough but not too expensive – so took a while investigating TripAdvisor – I narrowed it down to the Cotswolds, and wanted to visit STow, so after some investigation and a chat with a bloke we agreed on a night in Moreton for a very reasonable £99 for a “delux-junior-suite” – which was nice.

Moreton is about and hour and a half away, so we set off on Sunday around 10:30 ish – which was quite good as we had a few drinks (and a couple more) at a birthday party the night before. But before we knew it we were in Stow. I had passed through many times on the way to Milton Keynes, but had never actually had a look around. Worryingly as we got closer to Stow the snow on the ground got worse – at one point it was right across the road and a rather unfortunate car had obviously not slowed enough and was on its roof in the field. We took it easy.

Once arrived we filed out of the car (after paying for parking – on a Sunday!) and realised quite what -2 feels like. Also the wind – it was bitter. Stupidly, yet again I had not brought my “big” coat – which was so silly as I could have left it in the car had I not needed it – but anyway, I had a scarf – so I was bound to be toasty. We had a quick glance around the town – which is very nice, had a look in the flea market – which wasn’t. Why is it that flea markets think its okay to but a 5 pound price tag on a useless old piece of shit. just cos its old doesn’t automatically make it worth anything you dopey idiots. But it was okay as there was a bus full of yanks who were cooing over everything – “Hey doe-reen, see this old British drinking cup”.

We soon left and went for nosh – first stop on the trip away was Huffkins, which was a nice, if expensive tea shop. I had the Old Spot sausage which was lovely, with some home made tomato sauce which was great – Kate didn’t approve. Washed down with some chippy chips and some tea. Once full but 30 quid poorer we had a look in a sweet shop. Not sure why? Then back to the car to get to Moreton.

Four miles later we were there. Moreton is a street, with some buildings, a couple of hotels and seven drinking establishments. It was around 1:30 – plenty of time to sample the goods.

We had an initial look up and down the strip, and decided to start our endeavors in the pub which was furthest away. They had a duck house on the pond which was nice. Arriving at the counter we were met with a little hostility I felt – it was like walking into a cave of halfbreds. But once water and after a read of the paper we left on good terms.

We checked in next – the hotel (http://www.redesdalearms.com/index) was really rather great, the room was also pretty fab, with a separate lounge which Kate stayed in – she had her own TV! Cool! Nice, nice, nice. Back into their bar for the most expensive round of fdrinks of the day then once done we ventured out to sample the delights of the rest of the public establishments.

The Bell- very quiet, Stella in a squat chalice. Not great. We sat next to a hydrant and someone asked us to watch his bag – we though of some fun we could have – but we were not drunk enough yet – so didn’t do anything.

The Black Bear – one pissed local, long bar, dartboard over the fire – which was roaring. Had a black bear and three TV’s. San Miguel – impressive toilets un-becoming the establishment.

The White Hart Hotel – nearly stayed here, big open fire, the fish smelt good, Amstel – quite nice.

The Manor House – really nice place, and had a plug to charge my phone (which wasn’t connecting – stupid Facebook app), Amstel (I think), great toilets again.

The Swan – odd, Stella Tortoise, was a bit like a Labour/Social club – too many children and dopey parents. Can’t remember too much of it.

The Spice Room – Ruby Murry, Mongoose, Starter and Vindaloo which was not very hot. Stuffed as a stuffed thing.

Tesco Metro – Chocolate peanuts, Water and Pork Scratchings.

Bed – pooped.

Next day we had a great breakie, then checked out and headed for Cirencester. Car was missing and really feeling rough, then the engine light came on and it was panic time. Checked to see if someone had stuck an apple up the exhaust and continued – then the light went off and it was fine.

Cirencester is a nice place, it was cold again, we had a look around – nearly bought a statue – should have picked it up on the way back round but forgot. Had a sarnie in Cafe Mosaic which TripAdvisor said was brilliant, but wasn’t.

Home James.

Off to Brockwier today. We had been meaning to go here for ages, but mostly end up going to Tintern. A walk had been described in the times last weekend, so thought we may as well do it. Arrived into the brockwier inn car park around 11, expecting a 6 mile, 3hour walk and expected to be back in the inn for a late lunch.

Following the instructions from the paper we started well, opposite the inn, follow the road to orchard cottage, then up the restricted byway and up, up in the mud. Been walking uphill for about 20mins now, so I figured it was about time I passed a  snowball to Kate, it went down her back – she wasn’t delighted.
About now things went wrong, the write up said that we would get to a t junction, go left young man it said then follow the offas dyke trail. No darts, couldn’t find this track so wandered up the wet boggy track. We have never been able to find offas trail, ever, never – perhaps it doesn’t exist.

The trail turned into a stream so we decided to cross some fields and see if there was a road way. As we crossed the field we realised it was sort of like someone’s garden, but luckily no nasty farmer shouted. We hopped a hedge and found ourselves on a road a little lost, we decided to head back to brockwier, but bumped in to the farmer who looked at us with a little bit of disdain as we said we were lost and had no map. Anyway, he said we probably went wrong when we crossed his field!
He pointed us in the right direction and we headed off. Not to Offas but down the ramblers path to the river. So the walk wasn’t quite 6 miles and we got ourselves back the pub by about 12:30 after spending some time trying to hit a stationary wife with snowballs, and wading through more mud.

Back into the pub and a pint, cheesy chips a fish finger buttie for me and a tuna sarnie for Sian, great filling food, and 18 quid for the lot.

Might have to examine the route in more detail if we are to return.

Didn’t go anywhere this weekend as we had a load of snow, so we made the most of sitting in the warm. But, on Sunday, we decided to take a walk down Magor Marsh to trample through the snow. And get a beer! ;o)

Set off around 11:00, as we had someone come and pick up a table we have sold before that – the day was grey, slightly chilly and some dusting of snow. Set off around the corner and walked down to the tracks, there wasn’t too much snow about, and we mostly stomped into the puddles breaking the slight amount of ice. We got to the first field and it was slightly muddy under the snow and ice, me and Kate didn’t care as we had the wellies on, but Sian had to take things more carefully.

We had a bit of a snowball fight, and somehow Kate landed in the snow, we saw some very grey swans but we had a mission in mind so set off for the pub. Not sure why we didn’t have any lunch, but had a beer or four. Service was crap. It does blow a little hot and cold there to be honest.

The back for the footie and another four pack. Not sure how good an impression we are making to the children, case in point was Tom, who nipped out for a little bit on Sat night then sent his monther an email at midnight which read “I may be home late. I accidently got very drunk.” Well done!

Saw Crickhowell mentioned in the Times yesterday, and although we have driven passed it many times we have never stopped – to be honest I didn’t think there was much there…

There wasn’t.

Only just over half an hour away, we are really spoilt for nice towns to visit, and we arrived on a crisp Sunday morning with a temperature hovering around zero. Took the most roundabout route to the car park, and had to pay, even on a Sunday;. Arrived at 10:30, which was about 3 months too early to be honest. Had a little walk down one of the streets, and as it was so chilly and nothing was open we nipped into No. 18 for an overpriced coffee, hot chocolate and a tea. With hindsight I should have had some brekkie. Drinks were fine, chair was wobbly and the place was doing a decent  (fair) trade.

Once warmed we walked round the outskirts of the town down to the bridge and had a quick game of pooh sticks, but for some reason none of our sticks seemed to appear on the other side – perhaps it was a magic bridge? Once sated, we walked up around the other side of the town and into the center, when we arrived we realised that the center, and side streets and shopping arcade are all just all one little street. With four shops on, and a bank with no cashpoint.

After about 40 seconds of browsing the high street, we walked over to the castle. Which is were we found a cashpoint – woop. The castle was a pile of bricks, but there was a mound just next to it, which we scaled. Then on the other side we spied a park, so Kate took off down the side of the mound, I stayed on the path – my knees groan just looking at a drop higher than a curb these days. We had a play on the round-a-bout, the see-saw and some climbing stuff, then it was time to head back to the Tourist Information Depot. They had a gallery there, with paintings from local artists – selling from £70 to £900 and they were shit. (mostly). Some had a little charm about them, but they mostly looked like a baby had painted them – art is stupid.

Once our inner artist had been cheered, off we went – home.

Probably better when the four shops are open, and you can take some time to have a pint. Its nice, quite pretty and has some nice walks around, but today, early and in the cold – not so good. Perhaps we’ll try again.

Its the New Year, another year – so started early with the visits this year – first up Hay-on-Wye.

Have been meaning to go to Hay for ages now, and have never got around to it before. Its only about 50 miles from us, but the roads are not great, but anyway it took around and hour and a quarter to get up there with some idiots on the roads.

Not a great day, and it did look like rain at one point, but it held off, and although a little cold it was pretty okay all day. As you get into Hay there is obvious parking, and after coughing up a couple of quid for four hours we headed up to the first shop. This was a crystal and candle shop Kate loved it, I didn’t, the Candle Cave just stank.

Across the road and the first mention of a book shop. Down a little alley and into Hay proper. Hay itself is not very big, a few roads and a little center which holds the Thursday market, you can walk around the lot in an hour, but what it does have is quite a few book shops. We went in some.

First stop though was a cuppa in the Cafe. We got ourselves a table and I went to the counter to queue – they were slow, then after ages I released I was queuing at the wrong end of the counter. So after getting myself more in tune with the vibe I got us some stuff. After stuff we headed out into the town for a look around. We spend quite a lot of it either in “Antique” shops or book shops. Although Antique shops is really just a grand title for bric-a-brac crap store. One book shop was so big it even had a toilet – I felt abliged to buy a book or two just because it was so big, even though they didn’t stock anything I wanted.

Almost lunch time, so we had a look round for the right place to eat, and picked the wrong one. We went to Oscars which was okay, but really just okay, Panini was okay, it should have had nice crisps and some red onion with the tuna, and the jacket potato had garlic butter which was odd.

We noticed that Hay has a downer on Kindles, one sign even suggested that Hay should “ban them” – fools.

The bookshops tended to have an underlying arrogance to them, especially the ‘keepers – but when you think about it, they need to get off their high and mighty steps and realise that actually they are perpetuating a system and commercial activity which goes out of its way to prevent authors from getting money for the books they have written. The second hand book market only lines the pockets of the booksellers themselves.

Give me a kindle any day – second hand book sellers – boo.

Hay is quite nice though, would be good to stay over and sample the pubs, we were going to – but they obviously have a specific tariff because even the day before, at the beginning of January the tariff was generally £135 a night for the three of us, even tough I am pretty sure they would not have filled the rooms at such a last minute. Anyway, we went there and back and were back in the local pub at 3:15 – tidy darts.

So another Christmas comes close, which means its time for the regulation Non Electricity Day, still not sure why we don’t call it No Electricity Day but anyway.. So the purpose of the day is to have a day with hardly any electrical powered devices and exists with gas and candles. We have done it for a number of years now and is a bit of a Christmas event, even though most of the children now have other things to do…

So it begins in the morning, with no TV, no kettle – use the gas and light with a match. Luckily I can use my watch as it is clockwork and no battery. We use the heating, even though strictly speaking it uses electric, and we keep the fridge on (but remove the light) and turn the oven and microwave off so we have no electric light in the house at all.

We mostly drive somewhere for a walk, which is a bit cheating again, but this year we decided to keep more in the spirit of things we would walk to the next village. We only had Kate and Becs with us, as the boys were revising, Sian gave them dispensation to use a calculator. We set off around 11:00 to walk the three miles or so out to Redwick, and had a beer in the Rose. They were only doing Sunday Lunch, so we ordered one each and sheltered in the pub. It poured.

Luckily after food (the beef was good i thought) it had stopped the torrential rain and we went down to the sea wall to walk back. It was quite muddy on the way down, and unfortunately it was right next to the farmers slurry pit and he didn’t care where he spread his sh1t. Anyway, soon on the sea wall and a fine view of the Severn Estuary.. For some reason running along the edge of the sea wall made me run like an “old man”, oh dear it might just be me now.

It rained a lot and we got wet, but we were soon home. Then it was time for Pictureka, then frustration whilst I had a doze like an “old man”, then a couple of games of Uno. It was dark now and the candles were lit and all was good. But before we knew it, it was time to go down the village for one before ordering a take out. The joys of non electricity day.

Nosh, noshed and then I had a little sit down, Ant went out and I think I must have fallen asleep again.. Kate wasn’t feeling too good and was sick, so she slept on the floor for a while. Then at about 9:00 I had to go to bed, and that was that for non-electricity day. I actaully am an old man by the looks of things…

So the folks were up this week, so we looked at a little bit of the culture and industry of Wales which doesn’t really exist much any more – mining.

First up though was a fantastic Christmas Fair, well when I say fantastic I mean small, it was run by the scout group Kate is part of, it consisted of five or six tables with some second hand toys, second hand cakes, a tombola  and a hoopla game and a great smell of bacon. We bought some stuff for a quid, won a couple of drinks and were out of there – perhaps we were too early, perhaps it was just rubbish.

Off to Abertillery then to see the Six Bells Guardian. This was a memorial commissioned a few years back to commemorate some real grafters at the Six Bells colliery at Abertillery. It is a massive steel statute made up of “slices” of steel in the shape of a miner. From a distance it looks almost transparent, up close it is solid, and quite remarkable. The definition of the miner is amazing, its pretty large, one finger is the size of your arm, and it stands proud over looking the valley. It was a chilly, frosty morning and it was magnificent.

Just across from the car park is Ty Ebbw Fach, which is a little tea house and small museum which served a selection of hot and cold food and coffee and stuff – really nicely made out, all good.

After this we headed over the hills Blaenavon and “BIG PIT”. Big Pit is a museum which is a mine. 300ft pit which you tour around, for the princely sum of no pounds – now that’s value. Even the parking was on £2. We ambled though and within 5 mins we were being kitted out with our helmet and light, then told we could no bring any contraband into the pit – this is mobile phones, lighters, smoking materials, watches anything like that – even though they are not in production they still have to adhere to the rules on mines. Into the tight lift and down we went.

Rob was our guide and a very pleasant bloke he was too, the tour just really walks around in the mine and he regales us with information and stories – some a little fabricated I figure. But it was great. I had my comedy moment when he pretended to electrocute me – I made a comedy howl, and my wife got it, but it would appear I was too good an actor and the rest of the team thought I was a gaylord.

Once out of the pit we continued over the hills and down into Abergavenny. We had a look around and some nosh in the Hen and Chickens again (Taverners Chicken this time) and bumped into Paul who was down for a Christmas sleep over. Back to the car then headed home.

Really good day, a couple of fabulous things to see, and all for no money – now that’s incredible.

Bit of a miserable day today, but we decided to head up to Abergavenny for a few hours to get out of the house. We are very lucky in that we have lots of decent places within half an hour drive to visit, from cities to towns to just walks in the forest.

On the way up it completely poured down, which didn’t bode well, but when we got there it was okay, no rain at least… So we walked up the main street until we got to the Angel Hotel, I needed to book afternoon tea for us on the 8th Dec, so took the oppertunity to book it in person. The only time they had was 4:45 on the Saturday, which was quite surprising. She also looked at me a little odd when I said i wanted a table for 5 but only three would have the tea..

Had a little stroll through the town, but it was 12:30 and I wanted some nosh – I had checked out a place on the net that did beef and dripping sandwiches, so delicately directed Kate and Sian in the direction of the Hen and Chickens. Its one of those places where when you first walk in you think, Uh ho – this is not were I want to be, how can I leave. But in the end we were very pleased with it. They had plenty of food to choose from (they also did Sunday Dinner), we had soup, chicken burger and faggots for me. They could have done with a bit more gravy, which I am sure they would have brought if i had asked, but they were very nice. They have a jazz band every other Sunday, we were on the other weekend unfortunately but a good place – I would return. There was a bloke in there, who was with a girl when we arrived – after half hour or so, the girl had left and he stayed with his pint. The bar maid came over in due course and said “where is she”, he replied “gone”, “shopping?” she asked, “no for good” he said.. Made me chuckle a little inside…

After grub we continued around the town, and then into the market and then that was it. Would quite like to come over for a good drink one day, it could be a nice place for that.

What a splendid day. Light and crisp and even – frosty and clean this morning so dragged my fat gut out of bed and got on the road for a five mile jog it was lovely.

Waited for Tesco to deliver – they said 11 – 12, by 12:30 they still had not turned up, so the boys were home now so off we went. (The delivery driver quit half way through his shift) Half hour into Cardiff, and we could tell it was busy as we drove down Newport Road, as we got into Cardiff the signs said three of the car parks were full! Parked in Knox road which was the car park I used to use when I very first started to work in Cardiff a scary 14 years ago. Bit chilly.

Walked down the central drag and came to Santa’s Grotto and lots and lots of people. Then down the Hayes where I happened to spot a large German sausage seller, then some beer, then some pig roast – things were looking up. After sampling some cheese and having a look into all the little Christmas sheds we headed back to the sausage man – yummy. Big thick and delish – Kate had a Greggs and a quite nice eclair.

Full of German goodness we braved Hamleys which has now opened in Cardiff – same as any other toy shop but with a 20% Hamleys mark up. It was packed. Off to the Lego shop to spend Kate’s voucher then over to Marks for a “coffee”. This is new for us, never go for “coffee” – so I had a tea. Odd.

More walking in the cold, then back in the car.

Got home expected the smell of cooking pork, but the Tesco man had not delivered it – he said it was not available and there was no alternative – no alternative to a pork loin, in a massive Tesco’s! So we had to phone a curry. Stuffed. Bed.

Day before my Birthday, so we wanted to escape somewhere for the day to get out of the house before the rains. Almost went to Avesbury, but instead headed for Hereford. Not sure I have ever been there before, certainly driven through it, and would be surprised if I had not – but I can’t remember if I did. Anyway, its about an hour up the road – so we were there about mid day.

Looked on Google Maps for the best parking place on the approach, so no problem with getting somewhere to park, then we walked over the bridge and into the town. Just over the bridge was a place called Left Bank, it had fantastic terraces overlooking the river – three tiers and looked really nice. Until you got close up and realised it was now an empty shell – probably was something once, but was in such a fantastic position it seemed strange nothing had been done to it. Followed some folks down a back street and came out at the cathedral.

There was noise and white tents and lots of people, we were shaghighed as we entered the court-yard and was told that we had stumbled upon the Hereford Food Festival – and yes, Mary Berry was going to be there. Lots of tents and stalls, mostly selling cheese or some type of fruit drink. You could see the stalls with free samples as they were packed, the ones without were left alone by the greedy throng. Too many people really for my liking, but it was bustly and a little like a Christmas market. We had a nose around and tasted some very nice cheeses, but with all this food around we needed lunch!

We took a walk into the town itself and came across an array of food stalls, selling lots of hot, tasty, nice smelling stuff. But it was parky out, so we had a look, then a warm in The Entertainer, then looked for a pub. None to be seen. This must be the first place I have ever been that didn’t seem to have any pubs around. We found one, which was closed (or at least looked closed) and lots of shops, but nothing else – we must have been looking in the wrong places as there are always pubs in towns like these – but they weer well hidden. So we ended up in Pizza Express. We nearly had a buffet of English/Chinese and Indian, but Sian scoped the place and we decided against it. Pizza Express was good.

Then we had another stroll around the tents, and the Cathedral itself, then Kate bought a rubbish cake from a stall and we made our way back to the car, with 10 mins to spare on our three hour ticket. That was Hereford. Seems nice, not enough pubs to keep my attention though.

Big deal today was the Houses of Parliament. So after a pretty good breakie we were off on the tubes to Charring Cross again to see it in day light. From Trafalgar Sq we walked up the Mall to Horse Guards then out to Whitehall and past Number 10. There were many police about because the Unions were moaning again about the fact that the world is suffering a shortage of money, but they don’t want to help they just want more money and no cuts to anything. Like we live in a magical world that because they think it makes it so – idiots.

Had a meeting with our guide to keep, so we headed over to the Big House. Stopped on the way for a tinkle, until we found it cost 50p. 50 sodding pee for a tinkle. Crazy, I’d prefer to wet myself than pay that. Anyway we survived the wee scare, and trundled through the ridiculous security screening to get into the House. All these security personal are tossers. Whether in the airports or at screenings like this. They all have the same holier than thou attitude, brisk and borderline rude. Hateful little people, who know no one dare say anything in these situations cos they’ll “do you” ;o)

Into the hall and time for a free wee, then into line for the tour. Tour takes about an hour – and takes you around the Lords area, which is dripping in gold and fabric, then through to the Commons area which isn’t. It does all have the pomp and ceremony around it – which I think I think is okay – but the Commons area is completely different in appearance. I thought the most interesting bit was seeing the marks Black Rod made on the door and the area where the dudes go to be in the “Yes” camp or the “No” camp. When they have to vote like this a bell is rung across the Whitehall area and they have 8 minutes to get into the right room for the vote to stand. Its like a grown up and slightly posher “Runaround”, but without Mike Read. Tour was good, interesting and not too long. I snuck a sit down in the House of Commons, even though we weren’t supposed to – ain’t I naughty.

After this the tour began, because of the imbeciles “protesting” it took longer than it should have to get the tube, and we headed out to Aldgate East. From this tube we walked east to a little road, which looked very dodgy indeed. But it soon turned into a slightly less dodgy road called brick lane – very famous for the Chinese and Indian “restaurants”  all along the street. Also, not quite so famously for the street art, or graffiti as us New York hipsters call it. Too much choice for lunch, so we picked a street vendor and had a nice bit of chicken and noodles on a little bench. After food we had a quick look at the banksie car in perspex. And a little look at an exhibition by some bloke called Shepard Fairey, no, I didn’t know who he was either – apparently her did a picture of Obama.

Onward to the top of Brick Lane and across to the North West to a place called Arnold Circus – which my dad wanted to see. Back then to Spitalfields Market – which has been all revamped, so we had a beer at a traditional London pub called Los Iguanas. Back to Aldgate tube, then next stop – Monument – which I didn’t realise was called Monument because there is a Monument there. And I also didn’t realise it was a Monument to the Great Fire of London which started in a little road called Pudding Lane, which is just there!> We paid 3 quid each for the pleasure of walking up 311 steps – it was quite tiring, and the top made me feel dizzy!. Once done, off to Bank to have a quick look at the Bank of England.

If we had arrived earlier we were going to have a looksee at the Bank of England museum, but some might same fortunately we were too late, and after a quick look around we took the tube a couple of stops to St Pauls. Once here we walked past my head office and to a little place called Postman’s Park – which is really worth a visit if you are in the area. Not much here but a very pleasant place. After this we headed off for a pint. First place we went was just about to serve us, but told us Kate had to be out at 5:00, as it was 4:55 we declined a pint and walked elsewhere. Next stop was Madison Roof Top bar, which was high up, high up in a lift with glass sides. That’s scary ;o) What was more scary were the prices. Luckily not my round, but two wines a three quarter pint of   heineken and two soft drinks was a wopping £25. He nearly bought a bottle, but after she pulled the cork out he inquired on the price – £36 she said – just stick some in two glasses then he said.

After that expense we went a stop down the line and got to the Citte of York, quite an old pub, with secluded dark wood alcoves – again policy is no children after 5:00, but we snuck Kate into an alcove and the rest of us sat at the bar and had adult conversation. Sam Smiths pub, so cheaper prices a good £10 cheaper. Couple of pints here, then it was time to walk around the corner to Red Lion street and Isolabella’s for nosh. Another top table 50% off grub offer, so we all ordered with blatant disregarding for prices and had a pretty good meal. Got a great table again and left full and happy if a little tired. Great thing about the place was the slowness, which could annoy you, but we were in no rush so it was great to have a big pause between the starters and mains…

Back on the tube again, and 20 mins later we were home to bed. I was knackered and slept almost immediately, not everyone did. Sunday morning saw a couple of swimming off in the pool, a big massive breakfast and back on a packed train at 12:37 – the London visit for Autumn was over.

Long weekend, and time for our London visit.

Ma and Pa arrived up on the Thurs around 5:30, just time to show them the buildings around the corner in the last of the light. Then we had mash and a couple of sausages, bought from the sausage company in Bristol – so we had quite a variety – from lamb to Buffalo and back to good old Gloucester old spot. Early to bed supposidly ready for the trip tomorrow.

Friday morning, and with school and work booked off we set off to Bristol Parkway just after the morning rush-hour. Surprisingly easy to park at the station we were all ready for the train at 10:30. As we knew we were going I had booked tickets for 4 adults and a child, for 80 squids all in – bobby bargain. By 12:00 we pulled into Paddington.

I took everyone to where I thought the Underground for the City line was, but things had changed slightly at the station, so I figured we would be better off going down the side of the station and back onto the District line to Edgeware road where the hotel was. By the time we had popped up into the London grime it had started to rain. A quick dash across the road and into the Hilton Metropole.

What a place. Its massive, and I hated it as soon as we arrived. After a while queuing I was told we couldn’t check in, and had to drop the baggage off in the “West Wing”. After a bit of a faff, as some of us had to get changed into our finery (I had my tie on all day) we dropped the bags off and headed out into the rain for a drink.

A few yards past the Underground was a decent looking pub called The Chapel, so we called in for a beverage. Once slightly watered we walked round the corner to a “famous” place called the Windsor. It was jam packed with English memorabilia so a real London boozer, but also a Thai restaurant – that does fish and chips. Odd. Couple of pints, and a plate of fish and chips for the little one – cheaper than a round in the last place. This one had name plates on the bar next to peoples seat so the pissheads knew where to sit I suppose?

Anyway – by this time we were ready for the main event, so a couple of tube stations later we emerged once again into the rain opposite the Ritz.

Firstly we didn’t know which way to get in, and the entrance and foyer area is not much to write home about, and someone opened some double doors and there we were, next to Palm court ready for our tea. Walking along the corridor a little way and you find the tea area to your left and the cloaks to the right. Its nice, but not *that* nice. So we hung about for 10 mins, and then walked up to the bloke with the penguin suit and the iPad and were shown to the table. Great table on the edge, so that everyone apart from me had a great view of the whole room. Took some time, to be served initially but once it started it was pretty well done.

17 Types of tea on show, and it’s impossible to guess what might be nice. The table went for English Tea, I pushed the boat out with one with Red in the title. Then came the tea tray things, with some little cakes on the top, then an empty plate and then sandwiches at the bottom. The are finger sandwiches, about three to a normal slice of bread, with Salmon, chicken, ham, cheese, cucuber and egg – along with others types of “sauces” and breads. The best for me was the cheese (and onion bread) and the chicken ones – although I ate a number of ham ones. If you need any more, you just shout, although they do come around and top them up anyway.

After a while, they took the middle plates away, only to return slightly later with a half dozen warm scones  – they were fabulous. Massive dollop  of clotted cream, and jam if you like it. I loved them. Not really something I eat much – but I managed two – they were good. Then I had a tiny cake on the top, which was chocolate and more chocolate and was lovely. They came round with another two big cakes and more tea but by this point I was surprisingly stuffed. We stopped for about and hour and a qrt, we were full and enjoyed it – £42 a head, you wouldn’t want to do that every day, or week, or even year for that matter – but taking it all into account it was okay as a once off experience. Kate was £21, so here cucumber sandwich and small cake were about 11 pounds each!!! ;o)

Still raining, so we headed back to check in. Hateful. We queued, and attempted to track down our luggage, then we got to the counter only to be told the room bill would be an *extra* £160. So that made it over £900 for two rooms for two nights. I couldn’t bloody believe it. £226 a night per room. We were looking at around £760, as this was what we were quoted when we booked, because we were using the fantastic Tesco Voucher scheme – but we had no regress when told it was more again. We just stared dumbstruck and muttered to ourselves like any self respecting Brit would do. We got the keys and off we were to rooms 708 and 710. They were not big, and neither were the bathrooms. But, we didn’t have a second bed in the room – for Kate. We were specifically told that out of all the hotels in London we had to book this one as the rooms were big enough (and more expensive) to cater for another bed – seems to be complete and utter bollocks.  So, kindly Sian went and had a chat, then half hour later we were on the 17th floor, with another bed, but an even smaller bathroom.

Out later and straight onto the Strand to pitch up at Smollensky’s for half price nosh thanks to top table. The drinks took ages, then all the food came at the same time, starters and mains. No one was hugely hungry, but I managed a full rack of BBQ ribs, couple of Stella’s and then the night train back to the Hotel.

Didn’t sleep great – was so stuffed and still felt a bit sick after the scones!

To Caerphilly today.

Had to stop off at Tesco first so Kate could print out her photo’s for her Scout photography badge – interesting set up where you just stick your USB stick in and print them out then and there. Our’s came out with a bit too much green on them, probably cheaper than doing them at home, at 30p each.

Caerphilly is only a few miles away, and I had never been there, so a quick drive North brought us to the town. The Morrisons has a massive carpark, so we parked there and had a stroll around the town. It was okay, but nothing special – two parts to it really, and we ventured through both, but it was lunch time so we looked for somewhere to have some nosh – we picked – Wimpy. Yes its still open.

Plenty of space in there, so we sat in the diner chairs which have not changed for 30 years – very very efficient staff, we were asked if we were ready three times before we’d picked up the menu. After what for the staff seemed like ages, we were finally ready – I asked for a chicken toastie – she told me it would take “too long”! She said he’d have to cook the chicken, then mix it with the sauce, then add the cheese, then make the toastie – pretty much what I would expect – but she really did’t want me to have it – so I had a bacon cheese burger. Sian asked for a Tuna toastie, but they had no tuna, so she settled for a cheese and onion one. I had chips and onion rings cos I is greedy…

Foods came in seconds, and it was okay – tasty in fact, and I was stuffed at the end.

After lunch was the main event – cookies from Greggs, then we had a look round the castle. Very impressive – the only thing we didn’t get to have a proper look at was the Great Hall, because there was a wedding going on, although we spied then from an upstairs window. It’s a very impressive castle, and has been refurbed to an extend over the last 100 years. Lots of rooms and heights to see.

Not a bad place Caerphilly, but its done now, and we won’t rush back I don’t think.

Out and about in Bristol today. Went down in the morning to do a little bit of shopping returns in Cabot Circus. Its really quite a good place to go now, with the new “mall” thing, and easy parking – and the bays were big enough for the car. M32 can bit a pain, but we sailed straight in around 11:00. and spend an hour or so mooching around the place.

Once returned, we made our way to Clifton, a “village” on the top of Bristol – its a village in the London sense of the word – as it is plainly not actually a village, but it likes to dress itself up as one. The last time I was here was probably about 20 years ago, when I can for a breakfast in a famous place, which I cannot remember much of. Biggest pain in Clifton is parking.

We circled three times before deciding to cross the suspension bridge and park on the street on the other side. After a bit of faff, we secured a parking space and walked back over the bridge. 50p for cars, but free for walkers, it really is quite impressive, its high, its suspended and it now has a security fence to stop all the jumpers. It was too high for me, I am pretty sure I couldn’t do a bungee anymore. Over we went and into Clifton proper – even though we had parked on the other side it only took 5 mins to get across, then into the village itself to find a pub and some food.

We were going to go to the terrace bar at the White Lion, but could see it was packed – so we decided to go there later. Onward and into the village, passed old Georgian houses which looked a lot like Bath. Found what looked like a nice pub, which it might have been, but no for us, so after a quick coke and moldy Smirnoff we let Kate take us to a sandwich shop. I had a “doorstep” sausage sanger. It was massive, good job my gob is too. Nice and full we wondered around a little more, and Sian took us past her old digs and told us stories of yesterworld.

Once full of Clifton (want to go to the chippy next time), we ambled back down to the White Liuon which has a large terrace area with a great view of the bridge and the gorge. It was packed. It was sunny mind. The service was shite, and we queued for a fair while for our expensive drinks and just managed to get a table and steal a few chairs. It was hot, it was sunny and we had alcohol – fab. We assembled some Lego figures and before we knew it we had to leave. Another walk over the heights – not so bad this time, and home.

Got back and the sun was still out, so nipped to the local for a couple in the last of the autumn sun.

Nice day – like Clifton (and Bristol).

Back home to Pembs this weekend, Sian and Kate were off on Friday, so we left around 14:30, and got back in quick time. Spent the evening with my folks and gobbled down a nice Chinese and a couple of beers.

Saturday was “clean the attic” day, my goodness there was a lot of stuff up there – it filled a room. Afterwards I had arranged to meet up with Mr Bradley and we spent a good few hours and a good few pints talking nonsense outside of the Trader in town. Managed to stumble home, then some cod in the Rising Sun (Cod tastes of nothing at all..) a couple of Amstel’s and then it was time for bed – I was knackered some snoring before Kate.

Next morning saw us run around the Haven Road a couple of times, Sian did an extra 3 mile loop – then we showered and said our goodbyes in the different places as we went off to the Christening, which was the real reason for the visit. The church was in Rubuxton, which doesn’t seem to exist in Google Maps, so we kind of knew where we were going, and got there with a few mins to spare.

We sat at the “back”, then realized that the font and the action was also happening in the back, so we had the best seats in the house – probably should have moved for the parents, but it was too late then!. Christening is a little silly, grown people talking about imaginary friends – odd. Anyway some people like it, so I’m all for it for them.

Afterwards we had a convoy back to Crundale for some tea and crisps. Had a quick beer, and some sandwiches and sausages and a quick catch up with some of the old crew – and everyone had a better half – we must be getting old. We had to get back to Magor so didn’t stay too long, and enjoyed a drive home in the pouring rain.

After a longish run this morning, we thought we should get out and see something today. So we went to Monmouth.

Took the new car and it was a pleasure to drive down there, bit of a problem parking as it is still bigger than a parking bay – but being Sunday we managed. Monmouth is a great little town, really just one long street of shops and pubs and restaurants. We have a stroll and a look in the toy shop, and luckily it stayed warm, even though the rain was close.

Has a quick pint in the Gate House which was nice, might venture back another time. Also saw that Fred MacAuly was on in the Savoy, which we may possibly go to see?

Picked up a chicken from Waitrose and off we went – home.

Quite like Monmouth.