Touring southern England & Wales

My parents came for a 2 week visit and we toured around southern England and Wales. I'll leave out the bits about London except to mention that the fruits of imperialism are vast! Upon leaving London, we stopped in Chawton to see Jane Austen's House Museum and stopped at Winchester Cathedral for a tour before heading on to Amesbury. Winchester Cathedral is a veritable exhibit of architecture. The structure is a time capsule, a home there several famous dead as well as a hand illustrated 12th century bible. From Amesbury we visited Stonehenge. In order to visit the inner circle of stones at Stonehenge, it is necessary to book a viewing time outside of the regular visitor hours. The process is straightforward and seeing the stones up close at sunrise is well worth getting up early and the few extra quid. Avesbury is another stone circle site that pre-dates Stonehenge by about 500 years. It is 30 minutes drive north of Stonehenge and has a small museum and displays dedicated to the archaeology of the site which includes the West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill in addition to the stone circle around the village.
On the way back to Aberystwyth, we stopped in Bath. The town is lovely with the Royal Cresent and the Circus. The shopping and food choices are high quality and varied. Because it is a spa town and has great shopping, I'd love to go back when I can spend a little more time and money!

It was nice to relax in Aberystwyth after 7 days of driving around England. The second week we took day trips in Wales. We spent one day fly fishing in the Cambrian Mountains. It was my first time and I gained an awe of the sport, though I won't be buying all the kit anytime soon! There are several guides and places to fish in Wales and the reputation for fly fishing is great. Our guide turned up on a motorbike with all of his gear (and ours) packed on it. He led us out on some logging roads outside of Ponterwyd. The best part was finding new places to explore outside of Aberystwyth.
Our other day journeys included trips to Devil's Bridge, Strata Florida Abbey, Aberaeron, and a quick jaunt to Machynllyth on market day. Konah and I put a few extra miles on the rental car on the way back from Manchester Airport after sending Mom and Dad back over the Atlantic and went to Conwy Castle. It is a fantastic site and the drive back to Aberystwyth through Snowdonia made me want to extend the trip even longer. We stopped off at Tal-y-llyn Lake and enjoyed the sun setting behind Cadair Idris from Castell y Bere to end our journey.

Unusually Pleasant Days in Wales

We've been having some unusually sunny days in Aberystwyth. These are the few days when the photographers for the Welsh Tourism Board grab their tripods and shoot as much as possible for promotional publications. I was beginning to believe that the scenes advertised in the glossy covers of Welsh holiday brochures only existed in the digitized dreams of Photoshop experts, but have been proven wrong. The near 60 degree (F) temps are enough to get the Welsh & Brits to shed their coats and bare pale pink skin to the sea and sky. Even the Royal Regiment of Wales's goat has been out on parade.

Malham Cove

On our trip back from Glasgow, we stopped off in Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. The weather was threatening snow and when we discovered the tiny roads that lead to Malham, we thought we might be spending longer than just the night. The little roads lined with stone walls and the glacially formed landscape are scenes from times past. Malham is a small village with many trails that lead into the countryside and is on the Pennine Way. We stayed at the River House Hotel run by a really friendly couple and ate at the Lister Arms which has the best food I've had in a pub yet and a good selection of beers. We went out walking from the village the next day but the wind beat us. After a walk to the limestone pavement formed by a glacial outburst flood from a lake upstream at the end of the last glacial maximum. We also went to see the Gordale Scar which is a small limestone canyon containing 2 waterfalls. I wish the weather had been more cooperative, but we had fun anyway. One thing about walking in Great Britain: there is usually a pub with a fire going at the end of the trail. It snowed overnight when we got back to Aberystwyth and the light dusting closed down the country for 3 days. We were glad to be back even though our boiler at the Dairy Cottage failed us again.