Mon 13 & Tues 14 June, 2016

Monday 13 June

The 3-hour train trip from Paddington to Swansea in Wales was a welcome "rest" after our two packed days in London.  

That night, we had dinner in Port Talbot with Helen and Paul (Sam's mum and step-dad).  YUM - a beautiful meal and I didn't think I could eat again for days.  

Tuesday 14 June

We got a taxi into "downtown" Swansea and bought new warmer jackets.  It's not quite summer here yet, but in the wind, it's cold.  Then we got a hire car and took off for Rhossili and other parts of the peninsula south-west of Swansea.  Had an amazing day.  Just look at this:


Rhossili Beach

You can't tell from the photo of course, but the wind was howling.  Nearly blew us back to Australia!

The big rock with the pointed head was referred to as "Worm's Head" by Dylan Thomas.

Despite the cold and the ferocious wind, the sheep seemed perfectly happy!

We sat here, at the Worm's Head Hotel, for lunch  --  inside of course!   No-one was brave enough to sit outside.




The little town of Rhossili itself was fascinating:









After leaving Rhossili, we discovered so much more.

The ruins of an un-named castle suddenly appeared ...







This ivy-like bush had grown to become part of the wall.  Even though there was no more of the castle left, the one remaining room was used (we think) as a small coffee stop.  However, it was deserted when we were there.





We had some fun (meaning 'scary moments') on some of the very narrow roads which carry big buses and trucks as well as cars.

We were stuck behind this bus for ages.  He started backing-up, so I started backing-up, and the car behind me refused to budge.  The bus driver got out and tried to explain that a camper-van was coming the other way and he had to reverse to let it pass.  Eventually, common sense took over, and everyone backed up so that the bus could manoeuvre itself and gradually make room for the camper van to get past.  It took about 20 minutes, but eventually, we all got going again.




We then drove further around the peninsula to Oyster Bay and discovered the amazing Oysterbay Castle:





A rather Desperate Daryl found the castle he'd been looking for too!  A happy chappy.....









The Welsh flag, flying proudly:




We then drove home along the coast.  It reminded us tiny bit of the St Kilda esplanade, with all the boarding houses and holiday homes  --  but it went forever.  We passed through a wonderful area called "The Mumbles".  Going back there tomorrow night for Sam's 30th birthday!  Then the next day, she's the bride!   Happy days.