9 & 10 June - Moving and exploring

9 June

It was overcast and chilly (are you seeing a pattern?). I packed, we tidied up, then walked along the seaside to the observatory restaurant. The hostess showed us where we could stash our bags and showed us to a table. We waited and waited and no one came to our table. As I was looking around to see if a waitress was going to materialize, I saw a tiny sign that said, "Order at the bar. Please note your table number." Okay. Well, that helped us kill some time. Check-out time was 11:00, our train left at 1:21, so we had time to spare. Bruce had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 12:45 for the 6 minute ride to the rail station. This might sound excessive, but there was a marathon going on in Swansea that morning and we wanted to be sure to allow ample time. We had a great breakfast, then walked to the pick up point. The taxi was, predictably, late and when he rounded the first corner, there was a line of cars at a dead standstill. To make a long and very frustrating story short, we made it to the station at 1:21. We watched our train chug off into the sunset or at least into the greyness of the early afternoon. I booked more tickets because, of course, the original tickets were non-refundable and Transport for Wales didn't consider getting caught in Marathon traffic an extenuating circumstance.

The hostess of our cat sit, Bobbie, picked up at the train station in Cardiff and brought us to our beautiful new digs in Wenvoe. She showed us around the house, gave us the lay of the land, introduced us to Pip, the cat, and made us feel very welcome. She made us an early-ish dinner because she had to leave at 3:00am. We really hit it off and found ourselves wishing we could spend more time with her.

June 10

We had a bit of a lie in, then got up to take a look at our lovely surroundings.

The sun was shining, it was cool but not cold, just a lovely day. I did some laundry, Bruce went off to find pubs. With everything hanging on the clothesline, I took a walk around Wenvoe. It's a lovely, quiet, tiny village with a primary school, a pub, and a combination convenience store and post office and all the signs are in both Welsh and English.

I walked to what I thought was going to be Wenvoe Castle but which turned out to be Wenvoe Castle Golf Course, which is on the land where Wenvoe Castle once stood. Okay.

I walked another mile or so passing fields but nothing more. When I reached the turnoff to Barry, I turned back and stopped at the Garden Center on the way back. No, I wasn't planning to do any gardening, there's also a restaurant and a little store that sells meats, cheeses, upmarket groceries, wine and liquor. They also stock a range of high-end frozen prepared meals, which seems to be a very popular thing in the UK. I picked up some local cheeses; an organic cheese with nettles and a mature Welsh cheddar with garlic and herbs. I also bought some Laverbread. I had heard that Laverbread is a Welsh delicacy. I asked a woman behind the counter what it was and what it tasted like. She admitted she'd never had it but that we should ask Julian, the manager, because he knows everything. He said that laverbread is cooked seaweed and is used in making breads and other things but that you can eat it as is, since it's already cooked. He said he eats it with cheese, so I got some to go with my Welsh cheeses. It has a very mild seaweed-y flavor and a sort of paste-y texture. Nothing to write home about, but not bad. I still haven't found the other Welsh delicacies on my list, but we're here for another week or so.

Tomorrow we'll start to explore the area in earnest.