As we re-entered England, the only real change was the placenames. It was peak-hour as we made our way through the suburbs of Cheltenham. This blog post is very short as we were only in Cheltenham for a couple of days.
We stayed with Ruth Martin, an old friend of Candice's mum who has a lovely cottage in the centre of town. Ruth works for British Intelligence so she couldn't tell us too much...or she might have had to kill us! ;)
Cheltenham is a large town of about 100,000 people in Gloucertershire. It has been known as a holiday spa town since the discovery of mineral springs here in 1716 (not that we saw any or even knew this when we arrived).
Cheltenham (and the neighbouring village of Winchcombe) was where Candice's mum spent most of her teenage years, so this time it was Candice's turn to trace her English roots.
Holding up a Maccas takeaway bag in Cheltenham
The centre of Cheltenham. The statue is of Edward Adrian Wilson, a famous Antarctic explorer. The municipal offices are in the background.
"The Minotaur and the Hare", a bronze sculpture in the Promenade
Ruth's a bit of a fitness fanatic (not a bad thing) - recently she did the "End to End" walk which involved 3 months of walking from the Southernmost point of England to the Northernmost point of Scotland. No busses, no cars, no cheating. Now that's hardcore.
To show we weren't lightweights, we joined Ruth for a run with her running club - a superb way to get the blood pumping and to sample some of the countryside around Cheltenham. We met up with the rest of the runners behind a golf club in the hills overlooking Cheltenham.
As we gather for the run
The countryside
Candice made jogging with a camera look easy
Ruth and I (Nat) jog 
Cheltenham as viewed from the hills
Candice and Ruth
As it turned out, the bloke leading our run that day was a bit of a character. He's a retired army officer who claims to survive on only 4000 pounds a year. He joined us for a meal at The Plaisterers Arms in the village of Winchcombe after our run and didn't really shut up. He was a fountain of knowledge on how to make ends meet... and on pretty much everything else - much akin to David Brent from "The Office.
Good grub at the pub
We bid Cheltenham farewell and drove a "whopping" 40 minutes to Birmingham, the United Kingdom's second largest city. People here think that's far.
For more photos of our stay in Cheltenham, visit http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48380&l=6db0b&id=681501850
Back to England - Cheltenham
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Driving around Wales and tracing Nat's Welsh roots
Aside from the obvious sporting rivalry, certain locals from Wales and Scotland love to "hate" the English, but when it comes down to it, they are really all the same! Everyone loves their football, their rugby and a good pint of British beer. Not to mention that people move around and everyone is mixed these days anyway! Everybody has a bit of Celt, a bit of Norman, a bit of Angle, a bit of Saxon and even a bit of Scandinavian in them. How could they possibly not? The British Isles have seen migration, conquest, intermarriage and mingling for thousands of years! When it comes down to it, even the English were originally Celtic! So I (Nat) say, stop the bickering and learn to concentrate on what you have in common - there's a heck of a lot of it!
We began our journey to the Westernmost point of Wales, the city of St David's. St David's is located in Southern Pembrookeshire, which is known as "Little England Beyond Wales" owing to the fact this area has been English in culture and language for centuries.
St Davids has the honour of being the smallest city in Britain. In reality its merely a town of less than 2000 people however the fact that it has a cathedral automatically makes it a city.
The view from Solva, on the way to St David's
Britains smallest city
St David's Cathedral, built in 1181 and still in active use over 800 years later!
The ruins of the Bishops Palace at St David's
The interior of the cathedral
Supposedly St David's (the patron saint of Wales) bones lie in this box
Many ancient tombs lie in the cathedral. This one is of a great Welsh knight who died in the 1200s
We had a very interesting night in the town of Fishguard. What began as a search for cheap pub food ended with us being shouted beers and having a good old yarn with some Welsh locals. Apparently Fishguard is one of the top places in the UK to be during New Year's (don't ask me why). The pubs even have photos of the festivities on the wall. We finally left the pub (to the disappointment of the locals who were quite enjoying meeting a couple of out-of-town Australians), making vague promises to return for New Year's 2009. Whether we make good our pledge remains to be seen.
The pub in Fishguard
After another restful night in our car just on the outskirts of Machynlleth in the county of Powys, we started our next day early. This is because we had agreed to do a little driving off the beaten track in order to "trace my Welsh roots".
My mum is Australian and her bloodline is primarily Scottish and Welsh. Her maiden name is Pugh, which is Welsh in origin. Years ago my grandfather had done some research on the family tree and traced the first Pugh migrant to Australia in the 1800s, Hugh Pugh (my great great great grandfather) to a little village called Llanfihangel-y-Pennant. Since he had visited the village in the 1980s, he was able to give me directions. Just as well because we could hardly see it on the map!
After driving for ages on small roads between breathtakingly beautiful hills out to the middle of nowhere, we finally found it!
Llanfihangel-y-Pennant means "Church of the Archangel by the Little River" in Welsh
Today the village consists of about 8 families. The ancient church of St Michael is still used today. Most of the graves in the churchyard are people with the surnames Pugh and Jones.
The grave of John Pugh, my great great great great grandfather. The tomb of his wife and another Pugh relative lie next to his. John Pugh was the father of Hugh Pugh, who migrated to Australia in the 1800s.
As I (Nat) stroll among the tombstones
We pose amid the beautiful Welsh mountains
Did my great (x3) grand daddy build this house? His uncle probably did. There were a few Hugh Pughs around then. Apparently it was a popular name.
The monument of Mary Jones in Llanfihangel-y-Pennant who walked barefoot 25 miles to buy a Welsh Bible in 1800 for which she had saved for 6 years.
Checking out the monument and ruins of her house
A Welsh stream
We were suprised to see that the sheep in Wales have tails!
Our journey back to civilisation
A Welsh lake
After my little family reunion, we drove back down to Aberystwyth, a famous Welsh university town and then due East across mid Wales back towards England. This particular day involved a lot of driving, and so Candice had to share the load even though technically she wasn't on the insurance for the car. Naughty, naughty.
Candice gets some Welsh-English driving experience
For more photos of Wales, visit
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48366&l=f6ad0&id=681501850
Cardiff and its surrounding Castles
After days of living in our car, we crossed the massive bridge that spans the Severn river into Wales. The toll was expensive but it saved us the trouble of travelling up to a land crossing.
The longest bridge we've ever been on
Just around the corner was Wales's bustling capital city, Cardiff. Cardiff only has a population of about 300,000 but is by far the largest city in Wales. Its fairly recent rise to prominence as a major city is mostly due to the boom of the coal industry in the 1800s. Cardiff was only made a city in 1905 and only became the capital of Wales in 1955. Considering the age of everything else in Britain, this makes Cardiff seem almost "new".
Wales has recently enjoyed a revival of interest in the Welsh language. From being in danger of dying out as late as the 1960s, Welsh is now spoken by about 21% of the population of Wales. As such, most road signs have both English and Welsh translations (which seems a bit silly when a place-name is the same in both languages).
Despite our searching, it turns out that almost nobody in Cardiff can speak Welsh - it seems to be confined to the North.
Cardiff in both English and Welsh (Caerdydd)
A busy street in central Cardiff
We were lucky enough to be able to stay with Gaz, one of Candice's friends. Gaz is a doctor and was just about to be transferred to Bristol. As it happened, this was also his last weekend in Cardiff - lucky for us!
Our first night out in Cardiff
Wales is famous for its castles. Almost every town boasts a castle or ruins of some sort. Gaz took us to see some castles around the countryside surrounding Cardiff.
Raglan Castle in Raglan
The moat
View from a castle window out into the surrounding the surrounding countryside
View from the tower
Raglan Castle dates back to the 12th Century and was used by nobels up until 1646 when it was besieged during the English Civil War. It was the last bastion to hold out against Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarans.
We were lucky enough to be there for a re-enactment of the battle. Actors would speak to us in character and fired real muskets
Gaz and I pose with a soldier
We had a lovely lunch in the town of Abergavenny
Caerphilly Castle
Back in Cardiff, we realised we had picked the best weekend to visit. The Cardiff Festival was on! Summer in the UK is the best time to catch some of the world's best music festivals. Although we didn't make it to Reading, Glastonbury or Leeds this year (which cost an arm and a leg), this festival was free and right in the centre of town.
Prince Buster, one of the founding fathers of ska (who must be at least 70) busts a move
Ash belts out "Girl From Mars". 
Gaz and us at Cardiff Festival
Taking our time to walk around Cardiff, we soon discover it's a beautiful city.
A slug we met in the park
I conquer a pig in the park
Candice pats the pig
Cardiff Castle
Queen Street
Maccas in Wales
Millenium Stadium, the Welsh love their rugby
Bangers and mash, traditional British pub food. Yum yum!
Even my "Brunch Burger" had sausages in it
We left Cardiff to explore more of Wales, feeling well-fed and happy. Back into the car!
For more photos of Cardiff, visit http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48359&l=11dab&id=681501850
