Category: Travel

Another Day Tying Up of Loose Ends

Post author By TravisGood
Post date August 19, 2010
No Comments on Another Day Tying Up of Loose Ends

Yes, northern Wales has been the recent theme but I’m based in Liverpool and I’m not likely to ignore that fact. Besides, there’s much still to see so it would be silly not to squeeze in as much as possible. Tomorrow is Snowdon Mountain and Friday I relocate to Leeds to spend the weekend with family. If Liverpool is going to happen then today’s the day.

Much like Cardiff, Liverpool is packed with things to see and do. Previously I had focused on the Beatles, Albert Dock museums, and famous buildings. This time I packaged together many top sites into a walking tour which I started only after a boat ride around the River Mersey. Knowing that most everything opens at 10:00 and closes at 5:00 I planned to fill every minute with activity … and this I did!

Historical Mountain Train Travel

Untangling the Llanberis Knot

Post author By TravisGood
Post date August 18, 2010
No Comments on Untangling the Llanberis Knot

One of the cornerstones of my trip and the literal peak of my time in Wales will be climbing Snowdon Mountain. Well, “climbing” isn’t quite the right thing to say as I plan on taking a steam train to the peak and then hike back down. Without a car, my planning challenge has been to get to the base of the mountain early enough to pull this off. Today was to have been Hike Day but my perfect weather took a turn for the worse. Flexibility in my day’s plans was called for.

My plan now became to hike if the weather cleared. When my train arrived at Bangor it was still nasty out so I stayed onboard and rode it to the end of the line. Holyhead is a port city with ferry and cargo terminals focused mainly on Ireland. I had 30 minutes to run around so I took some pictures and hopped back on my train. I had one more stop planned before reaching Bangor and it had only one purpose. I wanted a picture of the longest town name as it appears on the train station: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll. I got it, mission accomplished!

Historical Museum Train Travel

Transition and Rest

Liverpool — This is “art” and while I scoff at its simplicity, I liked it enough to take a crooked picture of it. What moves us is a mystery but when art does that I consider it effective. I want art to affect me.

I have a tendency to walk till I drop. Great for seeing things and learning but hard on the feet. With Snowdon Mountain in the near future I’ve decided to rest my legs as I shift my focus. The first week emphasized South Wales based out of Cardiff. This second week is focused on North Wales and will be bases out of Liverpool, a big English city that I’m familiar with which has lots of train service in to Wales.

Ironically, I started my today with a walk. The weather was perfect and I enjoy Cardiff so much that I thought I’d squeeze in one more visit: City Hall. Boring sounding, isn’t it? “Local government” and “restricted access” could put a damper on any party. In this case “local government” actually covers all of Wales as City Hall is the operational arm of the National Assembly. As for “restricted access,” which I expected coming from ultra-paranoid Washington D.C., that turned out to be a completely incorrect expectation.

Historical Lake Train Travel

Miscellany Around Cardiff

Post author By TravisGood
Post date August 16, 2010
No Comments on Miscellany Around Cardiff

Miscellany Cardiff — The first car I remember my father buying was a Metropolitan. An odd car resulting from Nash and Austin working together. A rare find in pristine condition which initiated waves of nostalgia in me.

Ok, so you’re down to a few hours and you want to make the most of them. How do you start your day? If you’re me then you start at the Tourist Information Office, tell them all I had done and wanted to do and then ask their help in making the most of your day. This worked very well. I learned of two museums that had been closed, I learned of facilities which had moved, and my list was prioritized. The result became my day’s agenda.

Historical Museum Train Travel

Mixed Bag in South Wales

This morning I had two days left in the area and so much still to see! It was time to focus on the best of what was left. Today that meant visiting a castle, a historic Welch village, a car show, and the waterfront. This agenda would make a dent but there’s still so much that will go unseen. Only a bit more can be seen tomorrow, my last day in this abundant city.

Before leaving the U.S. I learned of Caerphilly Castle and knew it had to be seen. It’s the second largest castle in the U.K. after Windsor. The grounds cover 30 acres. It had multiple wall barricades and several bodies of water to protect the castle from attack.

Bike Historical Lake Museum Train Travel

Getting into Cardiff by Bike

Post author By TravisGood
Post date August 14, 2010
No Comments on Getting into Cardiff by Bike

My first full day that focused exclusively on Cardiff required an overview. I hired a bike for three hours and set out to see the city. The experience reminded me of why I take a bicycle with me on road trips. I saw ten times more than I would have walking and when I was done my feet weren’t killing me. There was a lot to see; I came away impressed.

Where I’m staying is across the River Taff from downtown so I was already getting familiar with the lay of the land in that part of the city. What I hadn’t even seen was further south, toward Cardiff Bay, where in the past 20 years a massive redevelopment project has transformed what was once the world’s busiest port.

Historical Museum Ocean Train Travel

Beach Cities: Swansea and Tenby

Post author By TravisGood
Post date August 13, 2010
No Comments on Beach Cities: Swansea and Tenby

Out early I caught the 7:58 from Cardiff to Swansea and before 9:00 I was walking the streets of this once-thriving port city. Using my guide book and a tourist map I knew my agenda. The National Waterfront Museum described the history of important cities along the southern coast of Wales. It was interesting but more so it was impressive. Not even in D.C. do we have such high-tech interactive displays. In stark contrast next door was the Swansea Museum which was low-tech, bizarre, and eclectic with displays ranging from china plates to electric scooters to … wait for it … an honest to goodness mummy. I was floored and tickled all at once. Later I thoroughly wandered the town but was most affected not by what I saw but with a man I met.

As I walked the waterfront I came across a curious observatory just off the beach.

Historical Museum Train Travel

To Cardiff and Wales

My Bristol launchpad was just for getting warmed up and revisit familiar turf. Now it’s on to the new in a land I’d never set foot in before: the land of Camelot, dragons, and rugby fanaticism.

Today started by winding-down my Bristol visit. I had already explored extensively five of the six areas in the core city. What remained was the cathedral and university areas to the west. I had no grand goal, just the ambition to familiarize myself with the area. By pure chance I stumbled across the national organization promoting bicycling and path development. After bending their ear for a while I made it back to check out by 10:00 and headed out to Bristol Temple Mead train station.

When I arrived in Cardiff, I spent the rest of the day at Cardiff Castle.

Historical Museum Train Travel

Ancient Stonehenge

Seeing Stonehenge was not too important to me but I still had to go see it. I wanted to see the place where primitive people found cause to built such an immense structure over 4,000 years ago. What motivated them? How did they transport the huge stones from as far as 240 miles away? What purpose did the site serve? How did they engineer it’s construction? There is no records from when it was built so we just spend our time speculating; there aren’t many answers. Given this mix of unknowns in the presence of this undeniable structure I came away with the sense of wonder I was hoping to feel. Mission accomplished.

However, I didn’t feel this wonder until an hour after I had planned.

Bridge Falls Historical Museum River Train Travel

Smoothly Trans-Atlantic

Bath is famous for many things and probably for these cascades on the River Avon too. However, I came back to this exact spot because the view is spectacular. Bath has so very much to offer.

If not an old shoe, it felt like a familiar shoe when I completed my trip to England by pulling out my Oyster prepaid card and swiping it to enter the Underground to board a Picadilly Line train to Padington. Everything had gone smoothly right down to sleeping which I forced myself to do for several hours in transit. When I strolled off the plane to Customs it felt like the start of a great day; I wasn’t dragging and cursing life. A good first stride in to a familiar and comfortable shoe.

Not wanting to schlep around my suitcase all day, I made my first stop my hostel in Bristol where I checked in and stored my bag in a locker. Then, back on the train for a 10 minute ride back to Bath, a town I’ve previously visited and been blown away by. It has strong Roman influences viewable even today. However, this visit would be different. My plan was to avoid the town’s key feature (the Roman baths) and take in the rest of what was in and around the once-walled city.

My first stop was the tourist information office where they provided me with a walking tour map. With that I set off on my way to explore. So what is there to be seen? A crazy number of interesting sites, among them:

– Jane Austin’s home