Month: August 2010

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

Historical Museum Road Train

The National Pike

Ever wonder what the first major highway was in the United States?

Roads among the major eastern cities had developed over the early decades of the U.S. but that network didn’t allow for easy expansion west to settle the new territories. Travelers could go as far west as Cumberland by navigating the Potomac River but from there travel got tough.

In 1811 the federal government commissioned the construction of a National Road to connect Cumberland to Pittsburgh and points west. Then, in 1824 a turnpike was constructed which connected Baltimore with Cumberland and was called the National Pike or the eastern extension of the National Road.

190 years after construction began you can still find many mile markers in place indicating distance to Baltimore (e.g. “3 M To B”). Not all are original but even the newest are many decades old. The idea that still today you can find evidence of the National Pike built at the dawn of our country’s history really intrigued me. I was going to hunt them down and take pictures of those which stood out as notable.

My plan was to drive 125 miles of it starting in Cumberland and heading east to Mile Zero in Baltimore.