The final count down

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Well, as the title suggests our time in Wales is coming close to an end. As I type this we only have 2 weeks left till finishing work and heading off on our xmas/new years adventures in Scotland. We have continued to try and squeeze in lots on our weekends to make the most of our time whilst working. Here's a tatse of what we have been up to...

Wye Valley Walk

Nov 2-4

Kirstyn attempted to pick Jason up from work for an early departure for the weekend but another accident on the M4 held us up. Arrived that night in a lovely cottage B&B just near Erwood village and were welcomed by our very friendly hosts Ally and Dave. After an enormous breakfast on Sat morning (we tried our first black pudding!) we set off on a section of the Wye Valley walk which was a picturesque walk along the Wye river and through the rolling farmlands, the autumn leaves a highlight of the scenery. We walked all the way to Builth Wells, had a well earned pint, watched some local rugby before catching the bus home. After a rejuvinating shower we headed into Erwood for a hearty pub meal. The pub was packed with the entire village, a wake was in full swing for one of the obviously popular recently deceased. We were more than welcome and had a great meal, met a few strange ex-Welshman walkers who had returned for the weekend and had an in depth discussion with a lovely but some what inebriated local farmer on the plight of Welsh farming. We never realised that they had to keep their sheep in a shed for up to 6 months of the year! Diced with death on the somewhat scary walk home with barely enough verge to escape the oncoming traffic.. The following morning we set off on a scenic drive up to the Elan Valley complete with its historic dam system. Ventured across to Strata Florida Abbey ruins, the lonely Capel Soar and descended the Devil's Staircase before heading on back home.

Dinner, Bristol and Shopping

Nov 9-11


We had a lovely evening this Friday with Derek, Tracey and the family, the couple we met at our local a few weeks back. We went round to their place for a few beers and a delicious home cooked meal! On Saturday we ventured across to Bristol for a bit of a quick look and to try and find some snow boots for our upcoming freezing holidays! No luck on the boot front, but we visited the impressive Clifton Suspension bridge. The weather was freezing so we didn't hang about too much!
Tracked down some ski pants on the Sunday in Cardiff as we begin to accumulate warm clothes etc for the impending winter travel.

Ancient Stones, Glastonbury and Pastie Stealing Seagulls

Nov 16-18


This time Karen, Mick and Kirstyn all picked Jason up from just outside Newport on Friday night on our way across to Avesbury. The next morning we visited the Avesbury Stone circle before heading to the world famous (and subsequently ridiculously busy and overpriced) Stone Henge. Still impressive to see and one of the big tourists landmarks ticked of the must see list. From here we dropped into Glastonbury and visited the impressive 'Tor' and Cathedral before continuing on to the gorgeous seaside village of Padstow. After a bit of shopping in the morning we headed down further to St Ives for a very brief look, a famous scrumpy and cornish pastie and an unexpected giant seagull attack (Kirstyn had memories of a time in Karumba when she was four years old.....). We then had a mission to drive all the way back, Mick doing a stella job driving most of the way in the rain with the rest of us dozing away.

Millenium Stadium and more winter shopping!

Nov 23-25


The highlight of the weekend was the rugby international between the locals and the newly crowned world champions. The Welsh put up a reasonable contest given their recent woeful world cup, interim coach etc.. It was good to see Millenium Stadium closer to full capacity and the Welsh supporters gave us a taste of what the atmosphere can be like with some Welsh singing. We even got to catch a distand glimpse of Prince William. Not much else done this weekend except some more stocking up on thermals etc for our Russian trip, skiing etc.

London Visit...finally

Dec 1-2

Finally got around to getting down to London this weekend to catch up with Lizzy and Tunde and also John and Lani. We drove down on the Saturday morning and did a bit of shopping before navigating our way to Lizzys. Met Tunde and the very cute Zane for the first time. That night we ventured in on the tube to the Soho district for a catch up with John and Lani.

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Photos

Glastonbury Tor
It looks pretty impressive standing all alone on this isolated hill