Friday, September 27, 2013 Tonight we have a Wales of a tale

Friday, September 27, 2013  Tonight we have a Wales of a tale

We got up and left about 10 this morning with Wales as our goal.   We also wanted to see Painwick which has been described as a “Chocolate Box of Quaintness”.  Since it was sort of on the way to Wales, that was our first destination.  Everything went well until I missed another turn on another roundabout!!  Those things are a little tricky even though I really like them a lot.  We just ended up getting off the main road and going a beautiful back road through the forest.  It was a wonderful little meandering road through deeply shadowed woods and it was much more picturesque than any main road. 

We arrived in town on High Street, of course, and rode through town.  We drove past the church and decided we needed a closer look so I turned into a parking lot. We thought we could get back to the church on minor roads and so turned opposite to the way we had come in.  Wrong move.  We went down a very twisty, narrow street that was only a residential areas.  We were able to turn around and go back on High Street to Church Street.  Wouldn’t you know – it was even more narrow and twisty than the first road we tried, but we did find a parking spot right at the gate to the church.   We sent Sue in to take photos so we didn’t have to all climb out of the car.  The unique thing about this church is the steeple, which most churches here do not have.

 Also, in the church yard there were many cedar trees and bushes that had been trimmed to within an inch of their lives and some of them even had tunnels cut through them so people could walk through them.  This is a feature we have not seen before.

We headed on out of town – it was a really nice town, but I don’t know that it’s my favorite.  We got back on main roads and then drove through Stroud which is a city that has little charm.  I did turn off a roundabout too early in Stroud and we toured the parking lot of a Tesco Superstore before going back to the roundabout and onwards.

We left Stoud and got on M5 – a major road that we had traveled to Penzance.  We didn’t go nearly as far this time since we soon went west toward Wales.  We had to pay a high toll (6 pounds 20 pence) to cross the bridge over the Severn River and entire Wales.  It was a really fancy bridge and it crossed what seemed to me to be a really wide river.   

Looking at the map, you can tell that the river continues to widens as it flows westerly so there could not have been many more bridges on it between England and Wales.  

The road just after the bridge was so nice and smooth and the conversation in the back seat was so interesting that I ignored Myrtle and just skipped the first exit – the one we were supposed to take!!  I don’t usually miss so many turns in the USA but I will claim that I’m just not used to things over here yet.  I’m sure that as soon as I get used to them, it will be time to leave!  Regardless, Myrtle didn’t complain too much, she just found a new route.  We were headed to Tintern Abbey south of Chepstow.  We had signs we followed instead of listening to Myrtle since we had not programmed the Abbey.  We were awed when we first came into view of the Abbey because it was right beside the road just as we exited a shadowy forest of trees.  I immediately pulled to a stop in a parking lot across the road from it just because I wanted to look at it and not drive at the same time.  

 I soon turned around and we drove into the parking lot of the abbey, got out and proceeded to tour the abbey.  It was amazing to think that people so long ago could build something so magnificent with the tools and skills they had at the time.  Pictures will not do it just but we tried anyway.  We took a lot.  We also really enriched the economy of Wales today with the gift shops we went into!!!

I found it interesting that all the signs in Wales are in England and in Welsh.  

 

 While we were there, I spoke with a husband and wife who were standing beside their car – a Morgan.  It’s the same kind that Ducky on NCIS drives but I had no idea they were so nice.  This one was a really soft green and it had one piece of leather luggage strapped to the spare tire on the back of the car.  It’s only a two seater and it rides very low to the grown.  They were on their way to a show of Morgans (at least a thousand will be there) but they have driven the car all over Europe.  He said it handles very well on sharp curves because it is so low to the grown – I’m not sure I could down into it, but I feel certain I would never be able to get back up out of it.  They are hand built in a factory in Wales and there are only about 750 made each year.  This one was 20 years old and it looked beautiful.  I want one.  Maybe I could sell my house and borrow some money to be able to afford it.

 

We asked directions at the gift shop to help us get to Chepstow Castle.  Myrtle had said the Castle was located on Bridge Street in Chepstow and I just didn’t think a castle would be on a street in a city so I thought I had finally found her making a mistake.  The gift shop lady gave directions which included about 6 left turns (and no right turns).  I followed her directions and listened to Myrtle and they were both right.  Evidently the town was built right up to the castle which is bordered on the other side by a river.  

 The castle is a ruin but Sarah toured it and said it was very nice inside – no furnishings but the rooms themselves were well preserved.  She also took a photo of what they claim are the oldest castle doors in Wales.  They look pretty good to me.

 After more shopping and sitting in the nice brisk air waiting for Sarah, we went to have lunch at the Three Tuns which is located on Bridge Street right next to the castle.  

 The sign said it had been there since 1620!!!  That’s a long time.  We had very nice sandwiches and tea and then went across the street to do more shopping!!!

We had hoped to leave Wales about 2:30 to make sure we avoided Friday rush hour on the main roads and nearby larger cities, but we left about 3:30 instead.  Our schedule is almost always very flexible – at least when shopping and lunch are involved. 

We came straight home with not detours and were involved in NO real traffic delays at all.  What a change from our previous trip that way.  We got home about 5 and planned to go to the Mousetrap Inn for dinner.  I tried calling for reservations but there was no answer.  I emailed them and they replied that they are closed from 3 until 6 and they are only open at mealtimes.  They could not give us a table until 8:30 and that was just too late for us, so we made reservations there for 6:30 tomorrow night.  It only took about twelve emails to make that happen.  David - the fella answering my emails said “Yippee” when we finally agreed on what to do.  I expect he was a little tired of me by then.  Instead, we walked back to the Kingsbridge Inn on the river to the place we ate at the first lunch we had here in the village.   We had beef and Guinness pie, shrimp, fish and chicken/ham pie.  They were all good.  We also had desserts and they were wonderful.  We then waddled home cause we were full!!  

We have figured out what all we are going to do and see in the next few days before we leave for London and tomorrow is the only day we will not be going somewhere new.  We enjoyed Snowshill  and Stanton so much we are going back there tomorrow and have lunch at that wonderful pub from the other day.  Some of us are also going to take some of our ‘loot’ to the post office and mail it home so our suitcases will not be so waited down on the way home.

The girls and I have really enjoyed the comments some of you have sent us about our travels.  My advice to you is to travel, if at all possible, and go see something you’ve never seen before!!!