Holidays > 1998 > 14 - 16 October: Wales with Kate

Kate (my sister) and I went to Wales on Wednesday.  We went to Tewkesbury, Ledbury Monmouth and then headed straight for the Youth Hostel in the mountains at Ystradfellte.

There is a six hour Waterfall walk, which takes in four waterfalls and at one stage, the path goes behind the water, but on Thursday morning, we didn't get that far, as we only had time for two hours before heading for the Gower Peninsula.  We had lunch in the car overlooking the bay in Swansea and then went off to find the castle at The Mumbles.  The sign was pointing the wrong way for the castle, but the detour had nice scenery, so wasn't wasted.  However, when we finally found the castle, it was closed.  We decided to head off in the direction of the next Youth Hostel, which took us past Carreg Cennon Castle.  We were three quarters of the way to the castle when my car started to clatter each time we went over a bump.  I stopped to ask the directions to the nearest garage and was told to hurry, as it closes in ten minutes.  We made it and it turned out the nut from the passenger side brake calliper had fallen off.  A nut of a similar size was used, but I have to get it replaced properly on Monday.  We wound our way through the country roads to the castle, which is built on top of a very high hill.  The foot path leads you through  a private farm, around and up the hill to the castle.  It was a ruin, but a lot of it was still standing.  The view was very impressive.  There are some steps from inside the castle leading down to a cave, but Kate refused to go any further down, as it was getting too dark, even though we had a torch.  We sat on a corner of the hill for about half an hour and looked out over the fields while Kate smoked a cigarette. We arrived at the Youth Hostel (Llewn-y-Celyn) at about 21:00.

We went to Bronllys Castle, which turned out to be a huge tower.  It looked very impressive from the bottom of the steps.  We then went to Builth Wells, where the Castle turned out to be a mound.  It was dismantled at the end of the Medieval period to build a mansion!  This was to be just one of the disappointments of the day.  We went to The Centre of Alternative Technology, but all the exhibits (except the Library and Restaurant) are outside and it had started to pour down.  The lower car park was flooded and there were two cars parked there.  We decided at that point to go home, as Kate didn't want to stay in a Youth Hostel again and the roads were getting hazardous.  A quarter of the way home, we had to drive through a torrent of water running across the road.  The car didn't stall, but I think the synchromesh in the gearbox is knackered, as I struggle to change into first, third and fourth.  I am getting it sorted out on Monday.  I dropped Kate off just after eight o' clock - five hours after the Centre of Alternative Technology!

The Waterfall Walk, Carreg Cennen Castle and the part of Gower Peninsula we did see, were good, but it was unfortunate Kate didn't want to stay in Youth Hostels anymore and my car developed the Calliper and Gearbox problems.

Holidays, who needs them!

I definitely want to go back to Carreg Cennen and maybe Dreslwyn, another castle.  The Waterfall Walk is also a must.  Basically, I think summer would be a good idea!