crystal palace
With the UK conquered and Spain awaiting, we spent a few days relaxing with two friends from Australia who’ve recently moved to Crystal Palace, about 20 minutes out of London.
Garry and Jesse’s flat is tiny, so we’ve had to kip on the floor. But It’s been great just chilling out, watching TV. Haven’t done alot else, save a day out in London town showing Sian the sights.
Leaving for Zaragoza and stage two of our journey Monday morning, early… very, very early…
haunted hostel in wales
Wales has done nothing but rain since we got here, so we haven't had the chance to climb Snowdonia Mountain. Shame, but I wasn't too keen on getting soaked to the skin for the second time in as many weeks.
We did, however, stumble across this spooky old hostel in the middle of the Welsh Valleys.
Now owned by an American guy, the place used to be a YMCA hostel back in the 50's, so it's all old and creepy looking.
The creepiness was compounded by the fact that we were the only guests and the horrible weather.
If we survive the night we'll be heading for Bristol and then onto London in the next few days, in preparation for the Spanish league of the journey.
creeping even further up north
After avoiding savage rains and devastating floods in the Lake District by a matter of hours, we forged our way into Scotland, and yesterday arrived in Inverness, our northern-most mark of the trip.
We were attempting to make it to John-o-Groats, the absolute top of Great Britain, but time constraints make that impossible. Plus there’s apparently not alot there. Not that there is alot in Inverness; the place really feels pretty damn isolated. Quite nice though, if you can get past the druggies.
We also stayed a couple of nights in Glen Coe (pictured) on the way up, a place best described as simply stunning.
Not much in the way of photographic material though, pretty landscapes aside.
Tomorrow we head back down into Wales to pay homage to Sian’s Family heritage and more mountains. Then it’s back to London for a few days staying with friends while we prepare for the Spanish league of our journey.
creeping up north
When you think you've seen enough scenery, you find yourself somewhere that makes you want more.
Arriving in Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales, we rekindle our love for greenery and rusting leaves as we take an atmospheric hike in the damp and muddy hills towering over the tiny, quaint town of Bwlch (yes, that's right. No vowels here).
The cameras come back out.
Despite experiencing a grueling 5 hour hike in ankle deep mud and flooded plains, we were sad to leave Wales, but had to duck out to visit old friends further north.
We shall soon return.
We do look forward to Spain and Africa as our CF cards become crammed with countless images of mountain after mountain, cottage after cottage, forest after forest, castle after castle....
We look forward to adding some deserts and slums into the mix.
cardiff doldrums
With the UK road trip firmly underway, today we arrived in Cardiff, Wales. The rain was there to greet us.
Frankly I don't really like what little I've seen of Cardiff; to me the place has British big city problems without British big city cool, which leaves me to ask the question, what's the point? Hostel's pretty nice though.
Tomorrow we head for the Brecon Beacons, apparently a beautiful example of Welsh countryside. However after Cornwall and North Devon I'm getting pretty over the whole breathtaking-cliffs-meets-wild-seas-while-quaint-villages-nestle-in-serene-valleys motif. At least the Beacons aren't near the ocean i spose.
And perhaps I'm just in a negative mood at the moment and nothing can please me. Sounds more accurate than everything being crap except my opinions anyway.
west country
We arrived in the UK a while back now, and haven't done much else aside from meeting old friends and going to the pub. But what else do you do in England?
Today we head for Cornwall, the place where I was born. For me, this contains a degree of sentimentality: I've never really explored the place where I was born and lived until I was about 5. Suffice to say I'm pretty excited about the next league of the trip.
