Doctor Who Lives in Cardiff

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Travel Day from Bath to the Cotswolds

Today was a travel day. I hate travel days. You have to pack your bags and drive to the next B&B, and try to see something touristy along the way so you don’t waste your time. It usually adds up to a lot of stress and fatigue. But not today, because we were going to stop at the Doctor Who exhibition in Cardiff on our way to the Cotswolds!

Doctor Who Lives in Cardiff

It didn’t take much cajoling from Alyssa to convince me to visit the Doctor Who museum. I have loved the show ever since I was a kid, and some would say I am still a kid at heart. We drove through endless traffic and roundabouts to reach Cardiff and had difficulty finding the exhibition on the Garmin. The one thing I have learned about British roads is that everything takes longer to drive than you expect. 60 miles easily takes 2 hours, even with some of the time spent on the highway.

Many of the recent Doctor Who episodes were filmed in Cardiff which I didn’t know. There is also a time rift in Cardiff that the Tardis uses to refuel, (that I did know). The exhibition itself was short, but I loved every minute of it. Alyssa was in heaven too, as she has become addicted to the show as well as Erin. Tiffany is more of a Lord of the Rings fan, so she wasn’t all nuts for Doctor Who like Alyssa and I.

We all lined up to pose in front of the Tardis for a photo, feigned fear as the Daleks attacked us, and took a group photo with the Cybermen. The special effects and costumes used in current episodes really makes the stuff from the 1970’s look like cheap puppets or paper airplanes. Boy am I old! There is a massive Doctor Who toy store in London that we will have to visit before we return home.

Cardiff Bay

After the Doctor Who exhibit, we walked along the waterfront of Cardiff Bay. It was a surprisingly beautiful area that was recently renovated, and full of people enjoying the great weather. We had burgers for lunch (bad idea, the British can’t do American food), and checked out the Light Ship parked in the harbor. Funny thing is that the Light Ship is now a restaurant. Oh well, we should have eaten lunch there!

Tintern Abbey - Another Wrecking Job by Henry VIII

After Cardiff we got back on the road to the Cotswolds with one last stop at Tintern Abbey. Henry the VIII took out this abbey as well, making another future tourist site look fabulous as a ruin. It really is an evocative site, and set in a peaceful area. Honestly, it looked similar to the ruined abbey in Glastonbury minus King Arthur of course. Despite what the British Heritage web site said, our admission to the Tintern Abbey was not covered by the Heritage Pass. I am beginning to think the Heritage Pass was a big waste of money.

Stow on the Wold

After what seemed like endless driving, we arrived at our B&B in the little town of Stow on the Wold. The entire countryside around Stow is quintessential England with farms, fields, sheep and cows for miles around. Our B&B was actually set on a farm on the out skirts of Stow, but no Border Collies were in sight. We had arrived at dinner time, so we quickly unpacked and headed out to the local pub for food.

Erin Almost Catches Fire at the Fox Inn

The roads were really narrow here, especially as we passed through Upper and Lower Oddington. I am not sure if this collection of houses is a hamlet, borough or what. In the USA I guess we would call it a bump in the road. Never the less, we arrived at the Fox Inn and Pub to find it packed with people. Luckily we had arrived just as they opened for dinner, and we got the last table for the night if you can believe it. Click on the web site for the Fox Inn and Pub to see more.

The food was all locally grown and excellent. We even had a candle on the table. Erin and Alyssa were all giggly and misbehaving at dinner again. It was starting to drive me nuts after a long day of driving. For some reason Erin got up from the table, and as she leaned over to get up her hair brushed forward and into the candle flame. Instantly some of her hair melted, giving off that horrible burned hair smell. Thank God the rest of her hair did not catch fire.

After assuring myself that she was ok, I took her outside and proceeded to give her a piece of my mind for being silly at the table and not paying attention to her safety. The rest of dinner was pretty uneventful but generally not enjoyable. We were thankful to return to the B&B and get a well deserved good night’s rest.

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Photos

The View from our B&B in the Cotswolds
The girls pose in front of our B&B in Stow on the Wold.

Comments

[Jaffe]

Beautiful pictures! Glad Erin is ok.

[Anupa]

Wadsworth
OMG - I so remember that Tintern Abbey poem I had to learn as a kid. Long, long, long.