Beautiful Bath

On the 4^th April we decided to go to Bath. Thankfully it was an absolutely beautiful day, despite the worrying weather forecasts during the week.

We booked rail tickets, but due to track work ended up being bussed from Cardiff to Bristol. Lovely at 7.30am. We got on to the train at Bristol Parkway, but ended up sitting backwards! Ah well.

We got in to Bath on time, about mid-morning. Once we sorted out where we were going to go, we were off! Our plan was to go to the Baths first, but we got distracted by a park – what you imagine a typical civic garden to look like.

Then we saw the Abbey.

Oh. My. Goodness. It is such a beautiful building! It's just stunning.

Kathy outside Bath Abbey

If Matt had a tail, it would have been wagging. It was just gorgeous from the outside,

but when we went inside we were just blown away. The fan ceiling is simply beautiful, and we can understand why it's got the reputation of being the best in England, if not in Europe. It looks so delicate, which belies the strength of the design. The stained glass windows are the best ones we've ever seen. A couple of them were so emotive. The old tombstones on the floor were really interesting, especially as people used to be buried underneath the Abbey, and the tombstones were incorporated in to the Abbey when it was renovated during Victorian times. Just as interesting were the plaques on the walls. There was one for Arthur Phillip, who as most Aussies will know was the Commander of the First Fleet and the first Governor of Australia. When we walked in to the Abbey the organist was practising. It was just incredible.

While we were at the Abbey we also visited the Abbey Museum, which went back to the earliest monastic period with the Saxons, through to the 16^th century, the dissolution of the monasteries and the intervention of Elizabeth 1 to stop the Abbey being totally destroyed, right through to the Georgian hey-day of the city. It was pretty interesting, and included bits from the old Abbey buildings. There were bits of masonry from the old monastic buildings which had the remains of the paint which would have been on them in the Saxon and Norman times.

Next we headed over to the Roman Baths, but not before we watched a comedy duo who also did acrobatics (it was the first weekend of the Bath Comedy Festival). Oh my, they were fit – and strong – and buff. They were doing their routine in little more than speedos. Brrr.... There was 1 part of their act when one bloke sat on the other's back. Then the other one did a handstand – with his partner still sitting on his back!

Due to Kathy's excellent forward planning, and First Great Western's timely advertising email, our entry to the Baths was 2-for-1, saving us several squids. While we'd both been to the Baths in our younger days, we certainly didn't mind visiting it again. The Baths had undergone significant work over the last few years and were a lot more interactive than they used to be. We took advantage of the audio guides, but abandoned them after a while.

When we entered there was a mallard swimming around the large pool, which would have been quite warm on his legs.

Because it was such a beautiful day we took lots of photos outside (as you do) before going down in to the rest of the baths.

Roman Baths and Bath Abbey

Matt at the Roman Baths

Reflection in the pool

It was incredible to see the way in which the lime from the water had accumulated over the millennia on the outflows. Things we particularly were impressed about were the gorgon face with the snakes in his beard, like Medusa's hair,

some ring gems which had been found in a drainage channel which had been carved with scenes, animal figures, or images of gods (they weren't sure if they'd fallen out of rings or had been thrown away for luck), and steps up to where a temple had been. It was pretty amazing. Kathy was a little disappointed that the old Georgian pump room had been turned in to a restaurant, and as it was around lunch time we didn't bother to go in. The Baths were just amazing – we spent a fabulous couple of hours there.

After leaving the Baths we saw a busker, dressed in a bright pink suit. He was playing a violin. He was playing Beethoven's 5th! And was playing it well. It was very impressive.

After lunch at a place called the Landed Lion (where we had Landlord ale and Kathy had a local cider) we walked up to Royal Avenue, along Royal Circuit

curve of the buildings on Royal Circuit

Kathy walking along Royal Circuit

and around the Circus.

The Circus

It is such a beautiful area – the houses are just incredible. It was really lovely walking around looking at the buildings and enjoying the fine day. And the fine cars. And checking out the different way people have decorated their houses. The area has really lovely parks, and they are planted out in bright annuals.

On our way up to Royal Avenue we passed another busker. A harpist, playing a full sized harp.

You don't see that every day. Must be a bit tricky to get about with, though.

As we were walking around the Circus we were approached by a 1-legged beggar asking for 50p to buy a packet of crisps. So Matt gave him 50p. Then he hit us up again on the other side of the Circus! Dude – at least try to remember who you have and hadn't hit up. Kathy had seen him earlier hitting up people sitting outside some cafes which were nearby.

By this time we decided that we have to come back, so we also decided that discretion was the better part of evil, and found ourselves a pub to have a bit of a rest. We tried a place called Porters, and had a Barnstormer. Meh. After that we found a little place called the Big and Whistle – and discovered it was a rugby pub. Huzzah! On the TV was Bath v Harlequins, so we sat and watched for a while. We had a couple of drinks as well – Tunnel Vision, and Sly Fox. Just after half time we had to head off, to make sure we had enough time to get to the railway station for our trip home. But just above the gardens we passed earlier in the day we saw a crowd looking over the river – and hear a familiar sounding roar of a crowd. Just over the river, within sight of the Abbey was the rugby match!

So we stood and watched the game for a little while, before heading back to the railway station. To be honest, we couldn't see much – pretty much only from the 22 to the goal. Still, it was pretty cool.

Final view of Bath Abbey

The trip home was pretty much a replay of the trip out. Until we got to Bristol. There weren't enough buses to meet the train, so we had to wait for what felt like quite a while outside the most charming Bristol rail station. There were quite a few cranky people, but we were amused by a bunch of mildly pissed lads wanting to get to Bridgend. They were mixing vodka with orange juice, but had put in too much vodka (they were emptying out a bottle) – it was fairly undrinkable, but they were drinking it anyway. The bus took us as far as Newport, where we changed to another train. As we were going through the station there was a group of young chaps who were eyeing off Matt, and were itching for a fight – in fact they were going in to Cardiff just to do that. Why?!?!?

Anyway, we had a fantastic day, and will most definitely be going back!

March – let's spring in to it

March started off with St. David's Day, which is the day to commemorate the Welsh National Saint, Dewi Sant. There wasn't much on in Cardiff. We went to the Riverside Markets, and bought up large on the last lot of a cave aged cheddar, which we'd had before. It was so tasty that we bought up 1 ½ rounds - £15 worth! With any luck it should last us for a while. Mmmmm, cheese.

There are daffodils out everywhere, in huge swathes.

Huge amount of daffodils near the Taff

Matt with the Daffs

It was a a lovely sunny day, when it wasn't windy. Because it was sunny there were people out everywhere – lots of families and dogs all out playing. Pretty cool.

We spent a lot of the month watching, or preparing to watch rugby. Because it was the middle of the 6 Nations, pubs around the place had rugby-themed beers on tap. Mmmm, yummy.

On the 15^th we bought some yummy bits and pieces from the market and had a picnic in Bute Park.

Kathy reading in the sun

It was just beautiful. There were so many people out and about enjoying the sun, with their dogs and kids. There was even a little terrier playing football. It was so beautiful. There were lots of cherry trees in flower,

and when Matt was having a bit of a wander around he found a tree stump which had been carved to be a man sitting on an eagle.

Kinda cool. After the picnic we went to the Halfway and watched the England v France game. What twilight zone did that team come from?!? Who would have thought that England could play that well? Part way though the game a group of families came in. The boys had just been playing rugby at Llandaff Field. The boys disagreed with something the ref did. The Dad's said “ The ref is always right. We don't care if you know him, and we don't care what he did. The ref is always right.” Cool. It's good to see kids learning the important lessons early.

The weekend of the last round of the 6 Nations was upon us. We'd tried to organise our first UK party, with very little success. The chicken heartedness from the Newport lot was amazing. They didn't want to come in to Cardiff on match day, and they didn't want to then come and they didn't want to risk getting home to Newport afterwards. Cowards. After inviting 10 people, we ended up with only 2 coming. Sigh – what a pair of Nigels we are. Anyway, they missed out on a great day. The weather was fantastic. We started the day with our usual breakfast at Cibo,

Kathy having coffee at Cibo

and were tempted to join the pair of 50-somethings having snifters of something yummy looking with their espresso, or the pair of lads having beers at breakfast, but felt that discretion was the better part of whatever, and didn't. After breakfast we headed in to town. It was buzzing. As we were walking past the bus park at Sophia Gardens we passed a coach load of Frenchmen. They'd set up a trestle table and had covered it with charcuterie, bread, cheese, wine and bottled water.

Are they... yes, they're opening up the wine! And having lunch! Gotta love that attitude towards food. We met up with Pam and Glen at The Cottage, and had a really good time. Poor Pam was outnumbered – 3 Aussies to 1 Walian. (is that actually a word?). Anyway. We went over, after a while, to 33 Windsor, to catch up with Tim Clode. We didn't stay for more than 1 beer – mind you, though, it took Matt 20 minutes to get served!! It was as though he was standing in some sort of invisibility spot. After our drinks we headed back to our place. The crowds were starting to increase, and outside the Castle were 2 guys dressed up like knights – 1 playing Wales, 1 playing Ireland, which was fairly fun.

Pity about the result with the rugby. Never mind, we had a good time.

Pam, Glen and Kathy

The next day was Mother's Day, and it was another beautifully sunny spring day. We went for a walk and saw more daffodils than we could poke a stick at, and lots flowering trees.

Flowering cherry trees on Cathedral Road

Kathy in Bute Park

We also watched a swan taking off and landing on the Taff, and a camera-shy robin in a tree.

The last weekend in the month saw a cold snap. It also saw us mark 12 months in the UK. We booked in to Cibo, our favourite place to eat, and had a lovely long lunch. There was prosecco, campari and soda, red wine, fabulous food, and great coffee. What more could we want? It was great.

The last day of the month saw the start of daylight saving. Humph. Dark mornings again. On the bright side, we caught up with Linda and Phil, and one of their sons Matt. We had a really great time, but Matt said the calzone wasn't as good as the one that Cibo does. Young Matt is off to New Zealand in May to go to a film making course in Auckland. He should have a fantastic time. We hadn't seem them since before Christmas, so it was really great to see them. We also made plans for future catch ups, including possibly a trip away. On the way to the restaurant, we walked past the back of SWALEC Stadium, which is where the Ashes will be played in only a few months. A whole chunk of seating has been removed.

What the...?!? We also noticed that squirrels are becoming a lot more active. In fact, Matt got bested by one when he tried to take a photo of it! He ended up chasing it around, and around a tree. “You win this round, squirrel!” Kathy hadn't laughed so hard for a long time.

Food and drink things this month:

Roast venison, served with a tasty montepulciano

Yummy calzone at Cibo, filled with spicy Italian sausage and spinach

Beers for the month:

Grand Slammer tasted quite smoky, a bit like lapsang souchong tea.

Native Storm, which was quite hoppy.

Pride of the River

6 Nations (SA Brains)

HSB Superb

February – let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

February started out with a rush. We were preparing for a leisurely walk to the railway station when Kathy's parents rang, so we had to rush to catch our train to Bristol. As a result, Kathy left her warm top at home. Anyway, we caught the train to go to Bristol to meet up with Liz, one of Pat's cousins (Pat being Matt's Mum). On the train were a bunch of goths who were talking about getting 'lightsabers' and jedi gowns. Sad... Anyway, we were met by Liz at Bristol Parkway, then went back to her place for a really good chat and to look at photos.

Kathy and Liz

After lunch Liz took us to Blaise House. It's a big house which has been obtained by Bristol City and has been turned in to a museum. The Museum was a bit odd, as it seemed to focus on toilets, baths and the like. Bit odd and disturbing. Attached to Blaise House are a set of cottages, which originally were provided for the pensioners from the estate.

Blaise Cottages

People still live in them, and they were really pretty. There's a green in the middle of the grouping, which is open to the public. Must be a bit of a hassle living in the cottages, though – constantly having people peering at and in to your houses. Still, they'd be pretty amazing to live in....

Roof of one of the cottages - complete with thatching

When we got back to Liz's place her daughter Cathryn had got home from her shift at the hospital (she's a nurse). We enjoyed talking with her, and had a lovely meal with Liz and Cathryn before we were dropped back at the railway station. It was a great day, although cold and really windy.

The day after, it snowed. The snow started falling gently on Monday night, kind of like solid snow. It fell quietly and gently, but constantly. When we got up everything was covered in snow – it was beautiful.

View out the spare bedroom window

View out the bedroom window

Kathy wiping snow off the letterbox

Matt was working from home that day, so he got out for a walk and took some photos.

The view up Cathedral Road from Dogo Street

End of Dogo Street, right by Sophia Gardens Caravan Park

There were dogs going nuts in the snow with excitement,

Dog in the snow

bright sun was breaking through the clouds,

Pontcanna Field, looking towards Cardiff

Pontcanna Field

and little snowmen had been made.

Little snowman, sans carrot nose and coal eyes

His feet squeaked when he walked. Kathy walked to work,slip sliding as she went down Cathedral Road until she decided to stop walking on the slates then and to walk on the bricks instead. She was the only one taking photos until she got closer to the Taff. The river

River Taff looking back towards Sophia Gardens

and Castle looked really pretty.

Cardiff Castle

The Norman Keep, through the gate of Cardiff Castle

The sun came out in the afternoon and there was beautiful blue sky, but the snow melted and was nearly all gone by 4pm. It snowed again on Wednesday on the way to work, and sleet fell on Friday. We weren't as badly hit as the rest of the UK, but people at work were disrupted because the 'couldn't' get out of their driveways, or their kids schools were closed.

That weekend, on the 7^th, it was a beautiful day. So we went to Roath Park. There was a heavy frost that day, and there were some lovely ice formations in the ice. There were dogs playing on ice over puddles and getting surprised when the ice broke. We had some problems locating Roath Park on maps and on Google, because it turns out it's actually called Roath Botanical Gardens. We even managed to get lost on the way there, because street signs were only on 1 side of the road. Never mind, we had a lovely walk. When we finally got there we sat in the sun in an empty rose garden and had our picnic breakfast while we watched the dog walkers. After breakfast we headed off to the lake.

The lake at Roath Park

There were lots of swans

The swans on Roath Lake

and geese,

one of the geese at Roath Park

and people could buy feed for them. The swans were really, really big!

Matt with some of the swans

More swans

We even played pooh sticks, and decided that we needed bigger sticks to make it work. Especially if we were playing 'extreme pooh sticks' down waterfalls. At one end of the lake was an ice cream van, and it was placed to look out over the lake – towards the hills which were still covered in snow. There were kids buying ice creams and they were wrapped up like Nanook of the north.

Sunny - must eat ice cream

“It's sunny – we must have ice cream!” Nuts. Near that was a Scott Memorial.

which looked like a lighthouse, but had a clock at the top. We also saw swans running along the water to take off, crocuses and snowdrops – the first signs of spring! There was still fairly thick ice on the lake – well, thick enough for gulls and swans to stand on. After our walk, we caught a bus back in to town, had lunch, then went to the Halfway to watch the opening round of the 6 Nations.

The next weekend, we were in the pub having just watched the Italy v Ireland match. Dave, the butcher, came up to Matt and said 'Matt, you like rugby don't you? There's someone I'd like you to meet – you may have heard of him'. Matt said 'It's not Barry John is it?' - and it was! For those who don't know who he is (like Kathy), here's his wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_John

Our big expedition for the month was to Raglan Castle.

Raglan Castle

We caught the train to Newport, then a bus to Raglan. The bus trip was fantastic – it wound around and along B roads and through villages and picture-book countryside full of rolling hills and small paddocks with sheep in them.

Brilliant! Raglan Castle was very cool.

Matt on the road up to Raglan Castle

It's mostly damaged,

and was abandoned after the Civil War – some of the towers were mined in efforts to topple them and destroy the castle.

The crenelations and gargoyles at the top of towers were really amazing.

We were able to climb to the top of a tower and look out over the countryside.

It was brilliant. In the castle were huge kitchen fireplaces,

Matt standing in one of the kitchen fireplaces

which made you think about the numbers the kitchens prepared meals for. Many of the towers were square rather than round,

even though it started life as a Norman castle. The last owners of the castle were the Beauforts.

Beaufort family crest

Matt at Raglan Castle

Just making sure you know which country you're in

After walking around the castle we sat in the sun and had a picnic lunch. We also sat in the sun waiting for the bus back in to Newport, which was just lovely. We were sitting opposite a pub which had been there since the 16^th century. Oddly enough, we didn't go in. On the way back Kathy saw a cock pheasant in a field.

The last weekend of the month saw St. David's Day nearly upon us. On the Friday night we caught up with some of the folks from Matt' work. We had a meal out – Terry joked that he could see it now, a family in India sitting down to a meal of Chicken Tikka with a side salad containing Spanish onions!

On Saturday we decided to head in to town and check out a 'Welsh Food Festival' – again a bit of a lame event, but did eat mussels and daffodils. On the way there we came across a squirrel eating a banana skin!

Mmmmm, banana...

He was so intent on his treat that he completely ignored us. Anyway, after going to the food thing we went to the trooping of the colour for the Royal Welsh regiment.

On duty outside the Castle

What we saw was brilliant – they marched up High Street led by a band and the Goat Major.

Goat Major leading the parade

Parade crossing Castle Street by the Goat Major pub

Just fantastic.

Big food and drink things for the month:

• Tribute Ale

• Roast chicken with chorizo stuffing

• 6 Nations ale

• Grand Slam

Can't remember if we tried this one, but the theme was right