Reilly Britain

Today consisted of 3 parts. A trip to St Fagans, visiting the Llandoff Cathedral and a short walk along the river Taff. Doing all of these required mastering the local bus system. We had success. No breakfast provided this AM, so a Starbuck run started the day. Then a stop at a mini mart for some take along lunch items. Hopped on the bus and off to St Fagans. This 100 plus acre sight was set aside for a historical outdoor museum. They have over 40 historic buildings set in the woods and along tree lined paths. The buildings are from all over Wales from various time periods. Farmhouses, churches, tannery, bakery, etc. Each of these buildings were taken apart at their original site and relocated at St Fagans where they were reconstructed. There were also some indoor halls depicting life at different eras (clothes, kitchen ware, toys,etc) Here is a collection of photos.                                  ...

We figured that at the end of today we are halfway through our trip. Whooo hooo Before starting our day trip, we explored the castle in Shrewsbury.   The the plan was to take the "Heart of Wales" one carriage train from Shrewsbury to Swansea. There are 34 "stops" but about half of them are "request only" stops. Stops like Llangunllo, Dolau, Ffairfach. The route goes through the countryside, up the hills, along streams. The countryside was bucolic. The ride was beautiful. Sometimes the train would squeeze between the foliage brushing the bushes along the sides of the train. Of course there were tunnels.  This is Llanwrtyd Its also a popular hiking path. People would get on in hiking gear and then get off at the next stop to continue their trek. Also bicycle riders would get on and off. At one of the stops we had to wait to connect with another train to exchange staff. We ended up talking to a local man about the area and plants and being in Wales. Delightfu...

 Good morning.  Nice breakfast at our B & B. Then headed out for a 3 mile hike to the Castlerigg Stone circle. A bit of a hike but beautiful views. Made it there and back while encountering only a few rain drops. On our way down we saw the cute "tea hut". Sheep on the way up the path. Back into town to pick up our suitcases and then meandered around town. We had planned to walk and boat around the lake, but due to the unseasonably wet and rainy weather the trails and docks were flooded. So we walked around their Thursday market, had some coffee and cake and grabbed some lunch items in the market. Dennis got some locally produced cheese that he paired with a fresh roll from the local bakery. Denise found a pastelis de nata from Portugal. They were the real deal. Oh yum. As we walked, Dennis kept getting distracted by the slate on the houses and  the variety of dogs. Keswick was dog city. Dogs in tow everywhere . Many eateries welcoming dogs inside and one providing a d...

 Denise chronicles our trip while I tell stories.  Since I remain sober, it will all be true.  Today is more and no less a travel day. I figure that on a river boat cruise there are travel days, then this equates well with such a day. This is very good  since today it rained every where we traveled.  A few days back we were blessed to observe train delays and how locals dealt with such inconveniences. Then, it did not affect us however today it did. We began the day with plans to travel from York to Keswick (pronounced kes-uck, go figure only the Brits) by train York-Newcastle upon Tyne-Carlisle-Penrith which if you counted is 3 trains and 2 transfers. Bad start, the first train was canceled 20 minutes after departure. Therefore we never got on, in fact it never arrived. We learned the earlier day that the train system simply rolls your ticket to the next available train. One hour later we are on our way to Newcastle. You get the idea,  we roll along from o...

Lovely breakfast of eggs Benedict at our hotel. Then a self paced tour of the York Minster (church). Its a really old church and has some beautiful carvings. Part of the church had a roof fire in 1984. They were able to control the fire pretty quickly and had it rebuilt by 1988.  Then Dennis took the optional tour of the tower hiking up the 275 steps. Here are some views from the top. Then it was back to wandering through ,"the Shambles." We stopped for a coffee, walked through the market, stopped at the Clifford Tower and then down to the river Ouse for a short ramble.  Clifford Tower was built as a castle in 1068 by Willams the First. King Henry VIII rebuilt the castle in the 13th century.  At the end of the 13th century,  during the Scottish wars it was used by the military. For the next 3 centuries it flipped back and forth between a prison and military use. It was used for a prison up to 1935.  We stopped and got soup (again from the same place as yesterday...