Ships, castles and spas – passing through southern England and Wales COMPLETED - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Now that Photobucket is finally playing ball I can get this trip report started....
Wednesday 10 June – part one: I’m not sure this is any quicker…
We were both at work today, and on the way home, I was listening to the travel news. There were issues around the country, but not on our route. That set my mind thinking…
When I got home, Mark was already there, so I suggested we get moving as soon as we could. We were planning to wait until 6:00pm, when the rush hour would’ve died down a bit, but I figured we might as well chance it. Before we did, we made sure the garden was well watered, as we’d be away for four days. That done, we loaded up the car, and off we went.
At first, everything was very nice and quiet on the roads…
You don’t usually see the M25 around London this quiet, trust me! Annoyingly, all the herds alongside the M25 weren’t near the road, so this was the best I managed to snag…
There was one section of the M25 that was bad, so our GPS took us off, although I have to say the route was pretty torturous, with lots of roadworks, slow moving traffic as a result, and queues for traffic lights and roundabouts.
We eventually got back on to the motorway, this time the M4, which runs from outer London down to South Wales.
Sadly, although we speeded up for a time, we then slowed down again. It was so frustrating, as it added a lot of extra time to our journey. Sure, there were roadworks, but what the actual problem was, goodness only knows. Suddenly, without warning, we were moving again. I hate it when that happens…
At least while we were stationary at one point, I was able to snag these photos, which I thought were pretty cool.
Finally, we were moving again, and saw some very nice countryside:
I will say that we got to one particular point of the motorway, and then we met the real speed junkies. Some of these guys must’ve been doing about 100 miles an hour! Just in case you’re wondering, our national speed limit is 70 miles an hour.
It was about this time that we were trying to figure out where to eat. Every service station we went past, it was either KFC or Burger King, neither of which are great for a non-meat eater. I was looking to see if there was a McDonald’s anywhere on my phone, and as I did, wouldn’t you know it, we passed a series of fields with my friends in there. I eventually managed to snag one half decent shot…
Soon we were heading rapidly towards Wales, and the Severn Bridge. This is a toll bridge, but only going into Wales, not leaving. A bit odd, I know…
It is a beautiful, and very long, bridge. It takes drivers over the River Severn that divides England and Wales at this point. Further along the border, it’s land.
Then finally we were into Wales…
We stopped off at the next services, as they had a McDonald’s. I dread to think how you pronounce the Welsh for services…
We parked up, and headed inside, and this was the sight that greeted us – all the typical stereotypes of Wales, sheep, leeks (their national symbol) and daffodils (the national flower).
We got our meals at McDonald’s, after some hunting around on their part to check if the mango and pineapple smoothie was made with apple juice. It wasn’t, but one of the ingredients was pear, which I’m also allergic to, so I passed and tried their strawberry lemonade, which was Ok, but a bit odd, as it had the sweetness of the strawberry, but the bitterness of the lemonade.
It’s been a lot of years since I was last in this part of Wales. We went to North Wales a couple of weeks earlier with my parents to visit a National Trust property, but it’s probably about 15 years since we last headed for Cardiff. As you can see, it was a beautiful evening as we drove along:
We were soon making our way into Cardiff itself:
We found our hotel easily enough:
… but our GPS took us on a wild goose chase, and we went round the houses, getting nowhere fast, although we did get to see the Millennium Centre, which I know very well from Doctor Who!
Finally we retraced our route, and found our way to the hotel through the neighbouring leisure park…
We both figured it may have been something else originally, as the corridors were wider than I’ve ever seen in any hotel before:
The room was massive, and very nicely furnished:
We settled down to watch a new drama on the BBC, before heading to bed. We were here, and could enjoy exploring Cardiff all day tomorrow.
The weather today was sunny, but chilly, with temperatures in the mid 50s. The best thing today was travelling over the Severn Bridge in such beautiful evening sunshine. The worst thing today was all the roadworks, and traffic delays on the way. The funniest thing today was all the stereotypical Welsh things in the service station! Today we tried staying at the Future Inn And the result was it’s a nice place, just a bit hard to get ot. The most magical moment today was seeing the Millennium Centre.
Next: why is the Queen on the front page of that newspaper?
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Glad you arrived in Cardiff with few problems with the exception of the traffic! Loved the photos of the sun coming through the Severn Bridge! I guess Wales would be quite known for getting a good potato leek soup! One of my favorite soups for sure!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Glad you arrived in Cardiff with few problems with the exception of the traffic! Loved the photos of the sun coming through the Severn Bridge! I guess Wales would be quite known for getting a good potato leek soup! One of my favorite soups for sure!
I'm sure they probably are, although with where we ate, we never came across that option, as you'll see...
Thursday 11 June – part one: why is the Queen on the front page of that newspaper?
I couldn’t believe it when I surfaced and discovered it was 7:30am. I never ususally sleep in that late. Before I got up, and looked at the clock, I was convinced that it was closer to 6:00am, as that’s the usual time we get up at home. Result!
We got moving pretty quickly, as we were going out for breakfast, and soon we were on the road…
It was a bit painful getting into the centre of Cardiff, mainly due to a a set of traffic lights that were badly synchronised. We found our way easily enough to the St. David’s Centre car park, and went up and up, and round and round, and up and up, and round and round. You get the idea! Finally, we got to the first level of parking, and given the early hour, we had plenty of spaces on offer there.
We headed down into the centre, which is quite something:
I was reading last night in the book in our hotel room about this development. It was something like £625 million. My goodness, it’s made a huge difference to the whole area though. I had read somewhere that if you hadn’t been to Cardiff in the last five years, you wouldn’t recognise the place, and I’d agree with that, as the whole city felt brand new to us. It’s amazing the difference in it.
We made our way over to Bill’s.
This is a chain I didn’t even know existed a week or so ago, but I went for lunch with friends there on Saturday, and I was so impressed by it, I looked them up online, and discovered that there was one in the centre of Cardiff, so I figured we’d go there for breakfast, and then Mark could sample it. It’s a lot bigger than the one we have in our home town…
We first got our tea…
…. then our Bill’s bread basket, made up of toasted bloomer, mini croissant, and pain au chocolat with Bill’s jams and marmalades turned up:
I was so glad we got this, as everything tasted so good. I was especially impressed by the pain au chocolat, as it had so much chocolate inside it. Over here, the amount of times we buy those from the local supermarket, and then there’s barely any chocolate inside it.
Mark went for the Bill’s breakfast, made up of Cumberland sausage, fried free range eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, smoked streaky bacon and toast with baked beans – and look at the beautiful presentation of it!
I got the eggs royale, poached eggs served over smoked salmon, hollandaise, pumpkin seeds and toasted English muffin. I really enjoyed it, apart from the pumpkin seeds, which to me overwhelmed the rest of the dish a bit.
We had a lovely leisurely breakfast there, and I was just as impressed with Bill’s the second time round as I had been on my first time at the weekend.
As we were in there, I noticed more and more people walking past or coming in who appeared to be glammed up – i.e. not dressed for work, but dressed more for a special occasion. As I came back down from the restrooms upstairs, I noticed that there was a local newspaper, and there was a photo of the Queen, with something about Wales ready to give her a royal welcome. Ok, what the heck?
A quick Google search revealed that she was coming to the Millennium Stadium that’s usually home to sports events and pop concerts, as she would be handing out the colours to various soldiers from the local regiment. It was the next bit that worried me. The soldiers would first be meeting at Cardiff Castle. Ok, so does that mean it’s going to be closed to the public then? There was no warning on their website, so the only way to find out was to head up that way…
As we walked, we again commented that we just couldn’t recognise the Cardiff from our last visit all those years ago. It has changed so much and definitely for the better.
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Mark does like his traditional breakfast, doesn't he?! I think that's so cute!
Glad to hear Cardiff changed for the better. It's always nice to see cities improve.
I'm so excited to hear about the run-in (or no run-in?) with the queen!! She should have consulted with you first though. The nerve.
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Tanya
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What lovely photos of the scenery! Makes driving much more interesting.
I love strawberry lemonade! It's kind of an odd combination, but I like that it's sweet and tart at the same time.
Breakfast looked delicious!
What lovely photos of the scenery! Makes driving much more interesting.
I love strawberry lemonade! It's kind of an odd combination, but I like that it's sweet and tart at the same time.
Having tried it, I now know what you mean when you say that.
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I can get this trip report started.... 
Annoyingly, all the herds alongside the M25 weren’t near the road, so this was the best I managed to snag… 
Just in case you’re wondering, our national speed limit is 70 miles an hour. 
I dread to think how you pronounce the Welsh for services… 
Loved the photos of the sun coming through the Severn Bridge! 
Ok, so does that mean it’s going to be closed to the public then? There was no warning on their website, so the only way to find out was to head up that way… 
Holly: 
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