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enfyswanders · 3 months ago

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Cardiff, Wales: July 19-26, 2024

"I have no idea what I'm going to do in Cardiff" was a regular refrain as I fretted while planning my trip, and apart from pre-booking a Doctor Who tour, I decided to simply wing it when I got there, and that worked out really well.

I flew from Dublin to London Heathrow, then took the Tube to Paddington Station for the train to Cardiff, where I took this crappy through-the-train-window pic of the Paddington Bear bench, mainly so I could show my mom, since we read those books together when I was a kid and my grandma made me a Paddington Bear plushie.

I got settled at my hotel in Cardiff and took it easy the rest of the day, and the next day I decided to do some easy walks for sightseeing and visited Cardiff Market, a fabulous, two-story indoor market full of shops and food stalls. I bought a couple of Welsh Cakes almost immediately and that was a very, very good decision.

For the uninitiated, a Welsh Cake is basically a flattened scone cooked on a griddle and dusted with granulated sugar. At this shop, they sold them warm off the griddle, with the option to be served sandwiched with filling like lemon curd, Biscoff cookie spread, Nutella, or jam. I was instantly hooked and ended up getting Welsh Cakes for breakfast most of the mornings I was in Cardiff. It helped that they were less than a pound apiece, so it made for a very cheap breakfast (it only took two before I felt full).

Also, this shop in Cardiff Market is run by an American and I giggled at the name:

Another find on my first day was the Queer Emporium, a shop/coffee bar/cocktail bar where I felt right at home. I made it a point to stop there every day to buy a drink and fill up my "Gay Card." And one evening when I was wandering around, I stumbled upon a queer crafting night there and joined in to chat and do some cross-stitch with a small group of fellow neurodivergent queers, and that was a welcome bit of socialization during a trip that was sometimes a bit lonely.

I really enjoyed shopping downtown and bought probably more stuff than I should have. There are tons of arcades (covered but open-air alleyways full of quirky and interesting shops and cafes), a beautiful library, and some cool-looking museums (most of which I failed to visit due to not feeling well my last day in town).

The day after my downtown exploration, I decided to visit Cardiff Bay, which includes Roald Dahl Plass, named for the author, a Ferris wheel (and yes, reader, I took a ride on it), a building that looks a lot like the Smithsonian Castle in DC, an historic Norwegian church-turned-cafe-and-craft-boutique, a phenomenal ice cream shop with some serious innuendo in its signage, and a very peaceful wetlands reserve with a wide bike and walking path and lots of birds.

For my nerdy readers (probably most of you?), Cardiff Bay is also home to Torchwood Tower (so small - and surrounded by a family fun faire - I missed it my first visit and had to go back to see it again after my Doctor Who tour guide pointed it out) and Ianto's Shrine, which is still being curated ten years after "Torchwood" was canceled.

As I mentioned, I also did the Doctor Who tour, which was fun, and we had a really great and indulgent guide who showed us dozens of shooting locations from all the modern seasons of Doctor Who, right up through the Ncuti Gatwa episodes. Since most of the stuff we saw wasn't exactly scenic (mostly alleys and fronts of office buildings and shops), I didn't really take any photos, apart from one in St. John the Baptist Church, where keen observers will find a tiny Cyberman has replaced one of the knights up above the rear chapel altar.

While in Cardiff I had another Adventure In Trying To Do Laundry, and in this episode, I took a bus to a not-great part of town where the laundromat was very good and the person running it was very kind and I met a nice couple from Seattle but most importantly, it had the most bonkers vending machine of hot-water-based potables I've ever seen.

And while I was there, the vending machine was not operational because the electricity costs were too high at the time. (Many places in the UK have different electricity rates for different times of day and days of the week.) Not that I was tempted by the possibility of herbal tea that may have tasted like tomato soup.

The true highlight of Cardiff, however, was the Cardiff Castle tour, specifically the residence, but honestly the whole thing was an absolute delight, and it was my favorite castle to explore of all the castles I visited during my trip.

I didn't take a ton of photos, both to adhere to my five-photos-a-day rule and because I knew my photography equipment - er, phone - and skill were not up to the task of capturing some of the more magnificent sights (which is why I bought a book in the gift shop instead).

But. Let me tell you about this place. It is WILD. There's been a castle on that site for 2000 years, since the Roman occupation of Britain, so it has a really rich history and some absolutely bananas decor.

First off, when you buy your admission, there's a military history museum, which is actually pretty darned interesting even if you have no interest in military history. For one thing, there's a person demonstrating various swords and other edged weaponry from various historical periods. For another, there's this absolutely jaw-dropping, enormous sculpture? Relief? Mural? Thing? depicting the Roman rule era. It runs the entire length of a super-long hallway, and arcs around a corner as well. Absolutely astonishing. It was created in the 1980s, so it's not exactly historic in and of itself, but it's still an incredible sight to behold.

But the military history museum has nothing on the residence tour, which costs a few extra pounds but is well worth the expense. Our guide was a fabulous nonbinary person who I vibed with instantly and turned out to be a fan of my band, The Misbehavin' Maidens, which is rad enough to make the tour worth it, but holy shit this house. This HOUSE.

It was built in the Victorian era by the Scottish Marquis who owned it at the time, and he was incredibly wealthy thanks to the coal industry, so practically every surface in this mansion is covered in 22-karat gold. Here's the one photo I took that turned out decently, of the zodiac ceiling in the winter smoking room:

And that's not even the most opulent room in the place. Check out the Arab Room if you want to see something truly astonishing.

The funniest part of the tour was seeing the Marquis' bedroom and learning that he converted to Catholicism at age 21 to marry his wife, and kinda turned being Catholic into his whole personality, to the point where his bedroom has a wardrobe designed to look like a confession booth, and there are angel faces looking down at you from the ceiling, positioned so that no matter where you are in the room, at least one of them is staring at you at all times.

Every room had gorgeous art on the walls and ceiling, including a very detailed mural in the nursery featuring tons of storybook characters and storytellers.

As if that weren't enough to make for a fantastic day, then I got to run around in and among the ramparts, and as we know from my time spent in York, I love running around castle walls. It may be a new obsession of mine.

Another fun place in Cardiff Castle was inside the walls, where they created a bomb shelter in WWII and have up period-appropriate signs and play bits of radio from the time interspersed with the sounds of bombs dropping and air raid sirens. It's haunting and intense. I do question the choice of playing the song "We'll Meet Again," though. Someone on staff loves Doctor Strangelove!

I did break my five-photos-a-day rule the day before I left Cardiff to capture the Animal Wall of Cardiff Castle, though, and I have no regrets. Here are my faves, but you can see them all here.

Overall, Cardiff was definitely a highlight of my trip and I had no trouble filling my time there with activities, even though I didn't have much of a plan before I went.

Though I kinda wish I'd stopped to have a drink at this place (fonts matter, people!):

#sabbatical 2024

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sasha-whos-askin-racket · 8 months ago

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Just tell us what every Torchwoods member favourite bar is!

And where Jack and Ianto love to go on dates multiple times.

And where Tosh would love to go with Owen for a Date!

(Disclaimer that I was not of legal drinking age when Torchwood was airing and therefore don't have a particularly good knowledge of the early 2000s Cardiff scene, so will be partially substituting it with what I think they'd like today as well.)

Ianto is a Fuel fan. Half of that man's pay-check goes on the digital jukebox, and he will pay extra to fast-track all of his songs and make everyone else listen to the most obscure and off-the-wall rock and metal bullshit. I feel like he'd also appreciate a good live music venue, and I'm thinking The Moon more than something like Brewhouse. The Owain only does live music on Fridays, but I think you'd find him there on the occasional Thursday doing the quiz.

Now listen, I love Gwen. I do, okay? I love her, and I hate to admit it, but you'd find her in a Popworld. You would absolutely find her on the dancefloor in Popworld. Do I think she'd buy too much of the shitty merch? I do. I absolutely do. She's got about 12 Popworld branded ducks scattered around her flat. The music has permanently damaged her hearing. She's having a great time.

He's not a Torchwood team member as such but Andy would love Roxy Lanes. He'd absolutely fucking love Roxy Lanes. Give this man a cocktail and stick him in the batting cages. Let him play shuffleboard, watch him accidentally launch a bowling ball into the wrong lane. Actually I think he'd love any of the clubs where you can play games, be it something physical like Roxy Lanes and Golf Fang, or the arcade machines in NQ64. I'm also very tempted to say that he'd like Ballie Ballerson, but I think that's just wishful thinking. This man has seen The Horrors, let him in the ball pit.

Owen I think would like Ten Mill Lane. Maybe like is the wrong word actually but I do think that's probably where you'd find him. Probably not on the dancefloor though. I don't know why I've picked Ten Mill because it's not wholly in character for him, but I can just feel it in my soul. I have just realised I've been primarily listing nightclubs and not bars, but it's fine. We're fine. I think him and Tosh would go on a date to The Alchemist. I think they'd both enjoy it, because they're both pretty nerdy in that way. (For those unfamiliar, The Alchemist is a cocktail bar and restaurant where some the drinks are science-themed. They've got drinks that change colour and they do things with like, dry ice and fire and they serve them in test-tubes and distilling flasks and it's very expensive but very cool.)

I kind of don't have Tosh pinned as a nightclub person, I'm gonna be super honest with you. So again I think something like The Alchemist or The Botanist. There's a Wetherspoons in Mermaid Quay which I think would get a lot of use from all of them tbh. She'd probably also like NQ64 to be fair. I want to say one of them would like Heidi's because that's our go-to on nights out but also I can't decide which of them would like Heidi's so I guess I'm gonna give that to Tosh. But she'd definitely join Ianto in The Owain on quiz night.

I 1000% do not have Jack pinned as a nightclub guy, I do think he'd probably pick a local that's not actually local to him, somewhere like the Andrew Buchan or the Albany. I know most Spoons are kinda technically independents but I don't have him down as a Spoons guy, he'd be like a proper old man and only go to actual locals. I think he'd take Ianto on dates to The Owain, it does good food and the drink aren't too bad price-wise. They'd do the quiz, they'd probably half pay attention to the sports and Ianto would complain about the quality of the coffee machine but still order a latte with his dinner.

#torchwood #im insanely tired so i dunno man take this i guess #also i have at one point worked at more than one of the venues listed above - can you work out which?

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thetragicallynerdy · 1 year ago

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@yerbamansa tagged me in this fun music taste bingo!! I didn't get a bingo with them (sadly) BUT we still share some great bands. (They have great taste in music!!)

Tagging, if you're interested - @swallowtailed, @alfalfairy, @yourlocal-charlatan, @garlicenthusiasm, @lovewithagirl, @nevershootamockingbird, @georgekirrin, @bringinghometherain, @ladythmpr, @draculafemme, @thou-art-of-the-stars, I feel like this is so many people so I dunno, if you see this and wanna do it feel free XD (and also if I tagged you and you don't want to do it hello i am giving you a lil kiss on the noggin)

[Image descriptions: Three "what music do you have in common with (blank)" Bingo cards by @/holysickdivine with a 4-by-4 grid and a note at the bottom reading "(leave a blank!)".

Left: What music do you have in common with yerbamansa

Squares include: Neko Case (circled), Janelle Monae (circled), R.E.M., Ted Leo, Nirvana, Built to Spill, Joy Oladokun, Angel Olsen, The Mountain Goats, Wilco (circled), Talking Heads, Yo La Tengo, Aimee Mann, Bjork, Lucinda Williams, New Pornographers (circled)

Middle: What music do you have in common with tragicallynerdy!

Squares include: The National, Noah Kahan, boygenius, The Knife, Phoebe Bridgers, Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, Neko Case, Hop Along, Gordon Lightfoot, Gregory Alan Isakov, Arcade Fire, Craig Cardiff, Caamp, Bon Iver, and Paul Simon.

Right: blank BINGO card. End ID.]

#music taste bingo #tag game

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photosbyjabo · 8 months ago

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Travelling west to the country of Wales

My partner and I usually celebrate special occasions by travelling. The end of June marks my birthday and we decided to travel all the way to the capital city of Wales, Cardiff.

We arrived mid-day and as I'm writing this down in 2024, I'm trying to remember if we did have an itinerary for our two and a half days that we were there for but I really couldn't. It being my birthday, we obviously started with a nice café for brunch. I was definitely very much pleased with the one we found — the Coffee Barker.

It's a charming café by day and then a buzzing bar at night. We already spent most of our morning there and I admittedly have taken way too many photos. A guilty pleasure, indeed. I would come back here every day if I could, honestly.

After some good few hours, we decided to start walking. I personally believe that a good city must be explored by simply strolling around its streets.

I'd like to say that I am more of a traveller rather than a tourist but I'd be lying if I claim it so. One of the things that truly interest me apart from getting to see new places and admiring the architecture is knowing a bit of its history. Before we went on this trip, I regrettably didn't know that Wales had another language completely different from England.

Later that day we went to see the Cardiff Castle. There were a lot of fascinating details to see and learn inside the castle but I was really drawn to the Arab Room. Truly a masterpiece.

Day two: We took the bus to go to Cardiff Bay. Not very different from the London buses, although less busy definitely. Mainly, we strolled around the area and had our coffee at the Mermaid Quay. You can see the Pierhead here, the Wales Millenium Centre, and lots of places to eat. But this day we decided to go for a little boat tour. Highly recommended especially with the glorious sun out. How I wish I could've swam too.

Then, we took the bus to go back to the city centre and we ended up walking along the National Museum of Cardiff. Somehow, we weren't able to go in. We decided to have lunch first instead but didn't manage to go back anymore. Thereafter, we went for another walk to go to the Bute Park and spent most of our afternoon lounging about and taking a nap whilst laying down on the grass. Perfect kind of weather to do so.

Day three: Our last day at this city. Definitely too quick. We had another late start to our day, had brunch al fresco in a nice café just beside the Wyndham Arcade. We were so happy the sun stayed for the entire three days that we were here. Maybe next time we could go outside the city. People have recommended the beaches and to go on hiking too.

All photos taken with an iPhone (June, 2019).

#Cardiff #Wales #iphonephotography #travel #travelphotography #photojournal #iphone #adventure

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universe-on-her-shoulders · 2 years ago

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I posted 7,523 times in 2022

That's 947 more posts than 2021!

297 posts created (4%)

7,226 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@azraeldoesnotdispute

@minimoefoe

@toshisato

@expelliarmus

@langernameohnebedeutung

I tagged 7,523 of my posts in 2022

#our flag means death - 602 posts

#thirteenth doctor - 547 posts

#stranger things - 478 posts

#tenth doctor - 465 posts

#torchwood - 448 posts

#clara oswald - 359 posts

#twelfth doctor - 352 posts

#art - 331 posts

#yasmin khan - 322 posts

#eleventh doctor - 303 posts

Longest Tag: 133 characters

#so it's ok for you to be totally ignorant of mine but when i ask a question about a very very specific part of yours i'm an idiot? ok

My Top Posts in 2022:

Oh my god oh my god Ianto and Owen playing Mortal Kombat and Owen getting steamed that Ianto is beating him

“How are you doing this?” Owen demanded to know, throwing down his controller and scowling at Ianto with overt suspicion as the screen displayed the final score. “There’s no way you’re this good at Mortal Kombat. It’s not normal.”

“Admit it, Owen,” Ianto told him smugly, setting his own controller down and taking a swig of his beer. “You’ve finally found something that you’re not excellent at, and it stings, doesn’t it?”

“You’ve got to be cheating. There is no way that move is even… how did you… I don’t understand. I’ve been playing this…”

“Since dinosaurs roamed the earth. I know.”

“Fuck off. You’ve got to be cheating. Did you get Jack to modify the console with some futuristic bullshit?”

“Nope.”

“Did you get him to give you cheat codes?”

“Nope.”

“Did you get Tosh to hack the system so you always win?”

“Nope. But I did spend a large amount of my youth in arcades.”

Owen looked over at him with considerable surprise; Ianto didn’t feel the need to elaborate further. It was, after all, none of Owen’s business that he had spent sizeable chunks of his childhood trying to avoid going home, and thus the arcade, the cinema and the local shopping centre had all been regular haunts.

“How much did you play this?” Owen asked with interest. “Just so I know what I’m up against.”

“About four hours a day, every Saturday and Sunday, for about six years.”

“I’m fucked, aren’t I?”

“Utterly.”

46 notes - Posted March 7, 2022

Jack finally inveigles Martha and Ianto into a Jones-sandwich (interpret how you will).

"Well," Jack beamed, looking from Ianto to Martha and back again. "This is cosy."

"No," Ianto shot back, his gaze still fixed on the menu, although Jack knew he would've already viewed it online prior to tonight, and that he'd already have chosen what he wanted to order - drinks, starters, mains, and dessert. "This is a mid-range Italian restaurant in Cardiff city centre on a Friday night. It's about the furthest from cosy that you could get."

"It's a figure of speech," Jack protested, shooting an apologetic glance at Martha, who was sipping her glass of red wine with an expression that was somewhere between serene and suspicious; she arched an eyebrow in response. "It's cosy having the three of us back together. I feel like I'm in a Jones Sandwich."

"Is that the only reason you arranged this meeting?" Ianto asked with incredulity. "Because if so, I want you to pay for my dinner as an apology for the terrible joke. And you can bet your arse that I will be ordering the lobster pasta, and four starters."

"I was going to pay anyway," Jack lied with magnanimity. Surely he could charge it as a work expense? "So go nuts. Although you don't even like lobster."

"I do when you're paying."

"Boys, not that this flirting isn't great fun to watch, but I'm presuming you invited me here for a reason other than to either third-wheel, referee any rows about the bill, or to make jokes about Jones Squared," Martha interjected, putting her wine glass down and propping her elbows on the table in a businesslike manner. "So, cut to the chase, Jack. What do you need? Or what do you want, whichever. How do you want to play this?"

"What makes you think I want something?" Jack said with an air of woundedness that he hoped very much sounded sincere.

"Because since the funerals, I haven't heard a damn thing from you, and suddenly you're in my inbox with a dinner invite. So, what do you want? Guns? Intel? State secrets?"

"I just wanted to say hi!" Jack protested, to which Martha and Ianto both raised their eyebrows. "And yeah, alright, maybe some intel..."

Martha sighed, but to his surprise she didn't stalk out of the restaurant, which he considered a definite victory. "Alright, fine. But can we pretend to be normal over antipasti first? Warm me up a bit?"

Jack grinned. "With pleasure."

46 notes - Posted November 12, 2022

It's movie night at the hub, something cute and fluffy with all of our happy pairings, post exit wounds but everyone's alive - they're just trying to recoup after Gray and all the damage to the city

“Right,” Ianto said pragmatically, closing the Blu-ray player’s drawer and retreating to the beanbags that Jack had dragged out of storage and arranged artfully around the conference room. Jack himself was sat on an adjacent beanbag, and Ianto realised for the first time quite how difficult it was to snuggle while sliding about on something with the approximate texture of water. Wrinkling his nose, he shifted his a bit closer to Jack and took his hand, reassured as Jack gave it a squeeze. “Everyone ready?”

“What are we watching?” Owen asked, cracking open a beer; Ianto was amazed that he and Tosh had managed to cuddle up together on their own beanbag, but he supposed Tosh was slightly smaller than Jack, and Owen slightly less preoccupied with being uncomfortable. As he watched, Ianto handed the can to Tosh, who accepted it with a quiet murmur of thanks and took a sip with a somewhat guilty expression.

“Casino Royale. Latest Bond.”

“You and your bloody James Bond,” Owen shot back, but there was warmth in his tone, and he grinned as he spoke. “Are we just watching this because you fancy Daniel Craig?”

“No,” Ianto said, at the exact same instant that Jack answered: “Yes.” The two of them eyed each other with their eyebrows raised.

“Everyone fancies Daniel Craig,” Ianto argued, as Jack smirked. “Don’t they?”

“I don’t,” Owen pointed out magnanimously.

“You haven’t seen the film,” Tosh reminded him, then admitted: “I do.”

“I don’t,” Rhys piped up from where he was ensconced on his own beanbag with Gwen’s feet slung across his lap from her perch beside him. “But I’ll watch it for the Bond Girl.”

“Perv,” she chided, kicking him playfully in the thigh and narrowly missing his crotch. “I do. And I’ll watch it for the Bond Girl as well.”

“Now who’s the perv?”

“I think Gwen makes a great point,” Jack reasoned with a grin. “Beautiful people and guns… sort of our MO, isn’t it?”

“Rubbish guns,” Owen noted, raising his eyebrows and jerking his head towards the armoury. “Compared to ours.”

“Oh, boys, don’t start the whole ‘mine is bigger than yours’ talk,” Gwen implored them, as the Blu-ray menu finally loaded. “Let’s just perv over the beautiful people, please and thank you.”

50 notes - Posted March 9, 2022

Jodie for the BAFTA edition of the Radio Times!

108 notes - Posted May 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Jodie supporting World Down Syndrome Day 2022!

195 notes - Posted March 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review

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lindsaystravelblogs5 · 23 days ago

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Days 48-50 Back into England

Day 48 Sunday

Time to move on and it was a very long day. By sheer bad luck, we left the caravan park with the folding step into the van still on the pitch. We realised this when we parked at night and had a bit stretch to get into the van without it.

We started with a drive down to the local village (Laugharne, pronounced Larn) where we found a great castle, or the ruins thereof. It was near a fast-flowing stream and there was a lot of water around. We took some photos in a large parking area and Heather spoke to a local woman who said that a combination of all the recent rain and a high tide resulted in two parked cars being submerged in the parking area overnight. It was a very moody morning, and with the ruins of the castle looming above us and the muddy stream rushing headlong to the ocean, it had a wonderful, if foreboding, feel about it all.

As we drove further during the day, we saw a lot of water lying around and numerous very swollen rivers. Everyone we talk to comments on all the exceptional rain they have had, and several of the caravan parks Heather has contacted are closed because the ground is too boggy for vehicles to get in and out.

We drove a long way on the Motorway - it seemed a VERY long way but wasn’t as far as it seemed. We stopped for fuel (and personal sustenance) along the way and drove around the western outskirts of Cardiff to a place Heather found for us to have lunch. It was called Barry Island, and we naively imagined that we could park within sight of the sea to eat our sangers. How silly! It was a hideously rowdy collection of amusement parks, arcade game hangouts, and pleasure palaces, crowded beyond reason, and with not a single parking spot within kilometres. It was a nightmare getting out again and we eventually ate lunch beside the kerb in a busy city street. There seems to be nothing in the UK comparable with the everyday luxuries we take for granted in Oz.

Heather tried to book a couple more caravan parks after lunch but after struggling with multiple apps and making numerous frustrating and unsuccessful phone calls, she gave up after a few tears of angst after an hour or so. By then, it was basically a late run for our caravan park booked for tonight and tomorrow. It was obvious that we wouldn’t arrive until later than advised, so she tried ringing the park a couple of times to let them know. She was never able to speak with anyone or leave a message, but we eventually arrived a little after dark, only to find the place closed and nobody around. She tried calling a couple more times but all to no avail.

(One additional thing that caused me a bit of angst on the day was crossing the River Severn - the gateway from lovely Wales into awful England. It was the highest bridge I have ever encountered - way higher than the Westgate, and it was several kilometres long. With my abhorrence (fear) of heights, it was a big challenge that simply had to be endured but it was certainly frightful for me.)

There was a small patch of hard-standing between two houses not far from the park gate and we decided that we would have to park there overnight, despite the local prohibition on such things - and probable complaints from the neighbours - but we could see no alternative. We were just getting set up when the guy from the caravan park came over and let us in. He said all the phone calls were a bit garbled so he hadn’t been able to understand them. Anyway, we were glad to be safe and secure with electricity, water, toilets and showers at last. It had been a long and extremely frustrating day.

Day 49 Monday

We ran out of gas while boiling the billy last night so went looking for a gas bottle refill after breakfast and passed a couple in the local village (Ilfracombe) and ended up in the next village, Combe Martin – ‘combe’ means ‘valley’ in this area and attaches to a lot of place names. I went to a servo there, but they don’t sell gas, so we returned to the local servo and bought it there at more than double the price at home - 28 GBP for a 3.9-pound cylinder.

We then went for a bit of a drive further on, firstly to Woolacombe Beach where we looked out over the sea from a high expensive parking area, and down onto quite a lot of silly people surfing and swimming in the cold, cold water. There are a lot of crazy people over here.

We retraced our steps/wheel tracks and went to Barnstaple where it was quite busy and, as is normal for England, we couldn’t get within miles of the water. The traffic, the convoluted road system, and the crazy drivers, sent us scurrying back to our caravan park via some back roads as quickly as we could. We only drove 48 miles for the round trip, but I was at the end of my rope by the time we got back for lunch. The manual transmission on the campervan has seen better days/decades and it often simply won’t go into gear – not good when you are leading a horde of impatient drivers and can’t get the vehicle moving. First and reverse are often problematic, but fifth and sixth are the only reliable gears - and I usually go straight from fourth to sixth because there as virtually no difference between fifth and sixth anyway, and you lose too much momentum wasting time with fifth. We often start off in third because it won’t go into first or second and changing down is a real lottery (with no winners). It is the worst vehicle I have ever driven, and it makes even a short drive a nightmare. It is underpowered, makes plenty of mysterious noises, and has the turning circle of a twelve horse dray. But somehow, we manage.

We spent the afternoon writing and preparing text and photos for our blogs, but there is no internet here at all so we can’t post anything. Heather’s SIM allows her to make phone calls, but we have zero data access here. The park has three free Wi-Fi networks but none of them work, so we feel very isolated. But we move on again tomorrow and live in hope that we will have at least some internet access at the new park. For me, it may still be problematic because I use my PC for everything, and it can very rarely connect to the internet - no idea why but it has forever been thus. It is more than a week since I have been able to connect my PC to the internet.

Day 50 Tuesday

We moved from Ilfracombe to Lizard today, about 150 miles. We rang Deanne before breakfast to see how her chemo was impacting her and to wish her a happy birthday for tomorrow. It is tough being on the other side of the world when any of your children are suffering.

We got a lot of rain overnight and Heather got soaked in a sudden downpour returning from the showers after breakfast. When it rains here, it seems to hit instantly and in bucketfuls, and ten minutes later, we see the sun again. But it rained most of the day, often quite torrentially, except for an hour or two of weak sunshine in the afternoon.

We may have squashed a squirrel yesterday (I hope he didn’t run under our wheel, but I am not sure) and one ran out in front of us today. I managed to brake very sharply, to the annoyance of the following cars, but at least the cute little beasty managed to avoid getting killed today. Maybe tomorrow, if he doesn’t comply with the road rules.

We called into a couple of coastal villages, including Bude and Boscastle, but it was impossible to stop anywhere so we drove on - and on and on. We are television fans of Rick Stein and wanted to see his seafood restaurant in Padstow, We even contemplated fish and chips there, but the whole area was chaotic with people and vehicles everywhere, spilling right across the roads and wandering aimlessly between the cars. We drove past the Rick Stein cafe, bursting at the seams, and Heather saw his main restaurant a couple of hundred metres further on, but I missed that due to the insane jumble of cars and strolling idiots all across the street. Everyone has a dog (or two or three or four) and they rule the roads and footpaths, running amok wherever they want. They are allowed in all the shops and restaurants and are a menace. They are treated as gods and have far greater rights and privileges than people. At a guess, I would say that one in three people we see is associated with a dog or dogs, usually at least two, often more, and dogs outnumber people on the streets of any town or village.

The end result of course is that our excursion to Padstow was about as frustrating as Bude and Boscastle. As a consequence, we ate our lunch in a small layby beside a busy road with cars and trucks roaring past a metre or two away. There is a lot of huge farm equipment on the roads down here but the farmers tend to try to share the roads fairly well, unlike the truckers who are always on our side of the road and barreling through - just get out of my way or wear it!

We went to a small Tesco on the outskirts of Padstow and bought a couple of things, but they didn’t have a lot of choice so we went to a bigger one in Helston and got what we needed. We then headed for our digs via an old pub we had seen not far away. We were having a quiet calming drink when we found that they had a good WiFi signal, so I went out to the car and brought my PC in and it connected straight away. It is well over a week since I have been able to get it online so I did quite a few things in quick time to enable me to get much better organised. I didn’t post anything to my blog but was able to get a lot of data onto my PC that should enable me to do a bit more in the next few days.

We had an early dinner and set off to find a local pub where there was supposed to be some Cornish music but we got lost on the way and ended up back at our camp quite disgusted. (Next morning we retraced our steps to see where we should have gone but still couldn’t find it. There was place where we could have walked down to the village but there was no place to park anyway. We also tried to access the village from an alternative main road route, but gave up on that too after our efforts were thwarted.)

I had a horrible experience later that night. I went to the loo a hundred or so metres away in intense darkness and took my phone with me to use as a torch. On the way back, the torch failed and I only had the fairly weak screen light and wandered into the wrong paddock. (You would have to see this place to understand but it was pretty easily done.) I knew something wasn’t right but I wandered around in the pitch dark, shoes and socks squelching through the soaked muddy grass, calling out to Heather. In the meantime, she was panicking because I hadn’t returned and was preparing to look for me. I retraced my steps half a dozen times but still kept ending up in the wrong paddock. I eventually decided to go up to the owner’s house and ask for a stronger light but stumbled into the right paddock on the way. Was I ever relieved! It reminded me of a somewhat analogous experience I had as a young child and it was really quite awful.

The place we are staying is like a farm and they have quite a few animals, including some turkeys. The male is quite aggressive and we have had to ward it off quite vigorously a few times - and the farmer has rescued us twice. The turkeys have a big chick but the mature birds are called George and Mildred. Very British, what?

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