Snowy Stonehenge and beautiful Bath

The morning we were due to leave Newport the UK was in the middle of the big freeze. Outside the snow was quite deep and still falling. It was the most snow I had ever seen and the most the UK had experienced for some years. The news were reporting all sorts of road closures, school closures and major transport disruptions.

Luckily for Jess and I we were able to leave Newport and reached Bath just over an hour later. The snow cover had made everything look great and the very old streets of Bath were covered in a thick layer of snow. Many of the shops were closed with signs on the doors reading 'Due to adverse weather conditions this store is closed.'

The snow cover had left the city looking very photogenic so I decided it would be interesting to go and visit Stonehenge and see it in a layer of snow which rarely occurs. Jess had not seen Stonehenge and I had visited the site one time last year on a rainy day. We caught a tour bus out to the stones arriving a few hours later after driving very slowly along some snowy roads.

Upon arrival the site was closed off. Visitors couldn't enter which was disappointing but we were able to snap some photos from the outside of the fence and as we left at around 3.30pm the sun was setting leaving a very memorable image.

Visiting Dylan Thomas' boathouse

I was intrigued to learn more about the life of Dylan Thomas, a famous Welsh poet, who I knew little about except that he had the same first name as me. Dylan Thomas grew up in Swansea where there is now a information centre dedicated to his life. He also spent a bit of time living in a boathouse in a quite seaside town called Laugharne. I had read in the book '501 must visit destinations' that this was a must visit destination.

So we headed to Laughharne it takes a couple of hours on the bus and train to reach Laugharne from Swansea and when we reached the town the sun was shining as we made our way past a castle along the edge of the beach to the boathouse.

Upon reaching the house we read a sign which stated it was closed due to ice in the pipes. Not really sure what this meant but what it did mean was that we were not allowed inside. One of Dylan Thomas' most famous pieces 'Under Milk Wood' speaks of a town called Llareggub an imaginary Welsh town. Llareggub read backwards is Buggerall and many people believe it is based upon Llaugharne because it doesn't have a lot to offer, as Jess and I discovered while waiting a couple of hours for the next bus to take us back.

Thomas when writing about Laugharne said he got off the bas and just forget to get back on. Jess and I definetly remembered to get back on the bus. While spending all day getting to and from Laugharne we had missed our chance to visit the Dylan Thomas centre in Swansea. Therefore I left Swansea knowing almost nothing more about the poet than when I had arrived.

It was time to head back to Newport for a couple of days to make up for the nights we were still due before leaving Wales and making our way back across the border to Bath.

New Years Eve in Wales

One of the downfalls of booking hotels online is not really knowing where the hotel is located or what it will be like. We found this out while trying to book a hotel in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, and finding out the hotel we booked was in Newport. A city with nothing much to offer and at least thirty minutes away from Cardiff.

Jess and I decided it was much better idea to stay in a hostel in Cardiff on New Years Eve than try and commute from Newport. So after a little negotiation with some hotel managers who never seemed to be at the hotel we freed ourselves up for New Year and checked into a really flash hostel with a window view from the room overlooking the river and the Millennium Stadium.

While in Cardiff Jess and I visited the castle, took a walk around Cardiff Bay and spent New Years Eve at the Walkabout, the Aussie themed pub chain which put on a good New Years Eve party.

After a few days in Cardiff we decided to move on and instead of heading back to Newport we continued west to Swansea to check into yet another dodgy hotel. The hotel was located just across from the beach, all the hotels in the area seemed to have been untouched since the 1970's and considering there was a layer of ice on the sand I was not ready to go swimming. Swansea was also a friendly city with a bit to offer for a weekend visit although one of the main reasons I wanted to go to Swansea was to discover more about the life of Dylan Thomas.

Christmas in Bristol

A delicious (or maybe not) food van kebab in a Bristol hotel room for Christmas dinner. Not exactly the three course meal I am used to but that's one of the downfalls of being on the opposite side of the world to the rest of your family.

What lead to me eating a kebab in Bristol on Christmas Day was the decision that Jess and I where to spend Christmas together. We had planned to get to Wales for Christmas but instead found ourselves in the more affordable Bristol just on the England side of the border. Bristol is a very nice city and we were able to amuse ourselves for a few days while there but on Christmas Day pretty much every restaurant, shop or any place which sold food was closed. The only places open where very expensive restaurants and of course the food van.

I enjoyed my time in Bristol and a few days is enough time to have a look around the city. The highlight though for the time there was a chance meeting in McDonald's on our second last morning there. I happened to spot a mate Hugh who I worked with at a summer camp in the USA and had not seen for over four years. It was crazy! I knew he lived in Bristol but when trying to contact him had no success. We spent the morning together before again saying goodbye without knowing when we would ever see each other again.

Leaving Bristol we decided it was now time to go to Wales.

To Bruges or not to Bruges

A few months ago I watched the film 'In Bruges.' The film stars Colin Farrell and it is a very weird advertisement for the city Bruges in Belgium. Anyway since watching the film I have wanted to visit Bruges and therefore when BUNAC where offering a trip to visit the Christmas markets in Bruges I decided to join the trip.

I woke up at 5.30pm on a very cold London morning and got to Great Portland Street and on the bus. As we were heading to Dover reports on the radio stated the ferry between Calais in Dover had stopped. Outside as we drove towards Dover the ground was covered in snow but the driver continued in case the ferry started running again. The channel tunnel was also closed and the trains had stopped running. Therefore we could not get to France which then meant we were not going to Bruges.

We instead went to Canterbury. It may be a nice city full of history but at 8.30am on a snowy, cold Saturday morning it wasn't offering a lot. I wandered the streets with a few others from the group. The cathedral in the centre of the city is the focal point of but I felt I had seen enough churches and cathedrals this year to pay to visit another one.

I was really excited to see snow all around as we toured south east England although it causes chaos to public transport as we discovered. We did though continue on to a small town called Rye which had some really old cobbled streets and one of the oldest pubs in England.

Jess returned from Germany a few days before Christmas and we had to decide where we where going to go over the Christmas and New Year. I did not wish to stay in London, especially after visiting Oxford Street on one of the busiest days of the year.

I will have to try and visit Bruges another time.