From the middle of nowhere...to the Middle of Nowhere!

We spent the night in a small farmhouse not far from the beach. The weather during the night was stormy, and you could hear the wind and rain lashing the building. It was a solid, old stone farmhouse, so although you could hear and sense the strength of the storm outside, it was all calm within.


Alexander slept off his sickness, and woke as bright(and as cheeky!) as normal. We made breakfast (no cooked breakfast this morning - and no sticky toffee pudding for Nicole the previous evening, with Alexander being unwell!). After having gone through the storm, the day dawned reasonably calm, with lovely blue skies. The storm had blown itself out during the night.

We headed early to White Sands beach.



We spend a couple of hours there, walking on the paths, climbing out onto a spit of land (we could see the tide might be on its way back in which could cut off our retreat, so we quickly headed back to the mainland), walking up the beach, and a long play for the boys.


It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful, and apart from a few souls walking their dogs, we were the only ones there.


We dragged ourselves away from the beach and went to visit St David's. St David's is the smallest city in the UK, but it has the population of a village. It gets the classification of 'city' because it has an amazing Cathedral, it the "holiest site" in Wales, and has been a place of pilgrimage for over 1500 years. There was a monastery was founded here in the 6th century.



They have done a lot of work on the monestry and church,and it now has an excellent cafe, which we visited. The church cafe in the cloisters even has free WiFi access.



We spoke to a man on the beach in the morning who grew up in the area, and suggested we have a look at Strumble Head on the way up the coast.



We hit the road for another long haul. We stopped for lunch in Cardigan, where Nicole and a few other shoppers had a discussion with a 'queue jumper' in the supermarket. We walked up into town with our sandwiches,and sat overlooking the main street to eat them. We found a lovely little cafe for coffee and hot chocolates as we strolled around town, then got back underway to our final destination, Dongellau, at the base of Cader Idris.


The youth hostel was nowhere near the town - in fact we never even went into Dongellau! The Hostel was off a back-road, 1.5 km up a single lane track, at a place called Kings. It was remote, and beautiful. For the kids, there was a river right outside our door, and they promptly were in there building dams, throwing rocks, climbing about and having a great time! Alexander got his shoes completely soaked, but luckily we had bought him new school shoes, so he changed in to these and we stuck his sneakers on the heater whilst we went to dinner (a 5 mile drive to a lovely little pub on a local river).

The boys ate their ice-creams outside, then got back to the serious job of playing. We eventually made our way back to the hostel, which was very clean and comfortable for the evening. As the dusk settled, Phil sat outside with a beer and watched the kids play, until it was time for bed.

Camerons view: (Cameron wrote a diary for school, and he has given me permission to post his thoughts in the blog)

Today we left to the beach which was stony and sandy. We played at the beach for a long time and made castles with stones and sand. Then we left to a place called Cardigan. We had some yummy lunch and then we left again.
Finally we arrived at our hostel. It was so cool because there was a stream/river next to the hostel.

We played there until Alexander got his shoes absolutely soaking. We had a delicious dinner. I dont know where this was.

Caves, Castles, and a stormy night in St David

Before and after another cooked breakfast, the boys played again in the yard around the hostel. Their 'obstacle course' was quite a hit with some other kids and they all played beautifully for ages. We finally got ourselves organised and got on the road.

Our first stop was the The National Showcaves Centre for Wales at Dan-Yr-Ogof. Discovered by some local farmers in 1912, this cave complex extends for over 10 miles, and it is believed there is even more, but unreachable at this present time. The first few parts of the caves are open to the public, and they have built an 'attraction' over the top. The 'attraction' involves many fibreglass dinosaurs, a museum and (of course) a gift shop!




The first cave structure is known as the Dan-Yr-Ogof. It is a long winding cave with voiceovers by the brothers who found it. One is a bit daft, and asks lots of questions, whilst the other has all the answers (A Welsh farmer at the turn of the century with specialist knowledge in Geography, History, Palaentology....!) The caves were interesting to see, though. With lots of fabulous stalactites and stalagmites.


The second cave complex is known as 'Cathedral Cave'. It was simply magnificent. The waterfalls, the cavernous space. It only got a bit tacky at the end of the Cathedral, where there was a fenced off area for getting married.



The Third cave structure was the 'Bone Cave'. It had many animal and so far discovered 42 human skeletons from across history, including early civilisations, cave dwellers. Some of the bones date back to the Bronze Age (3000 years ago), and 7000 year old Deer bones. The Bone Cave has been used for shelter during many different periods of time, and pottery, coins bronze and silver items have been found here. Some of the artifacts date back to the time of the Roman Legions. Everyone had to wear a helmet - mainly for the covered walkway (which even Nicole bumped her head on!!!)


There is a interesting reconstruction of an Iron Age Village as well

We got back in the car and headed for the summit of Black Mountain. Phil, Alexander and Cameron braved the elements and went scrambling up to the summit - having a great time out in the fresh air.



We then continued our journey to Carreg Cennen Castle - an old ruin of a castle built high on a limestone crag (in the middle of nowhere).

We first had lunch at the base of the castle, and then strolled up the paths and looked around. It was really interesting, and the views were great. One of the 'highlights' was a deep, unlit cave. Of course, you could hire a torch and go for a look - but Cameron had a trust LED torch in his Lego bag and offered to be our guide.

Nicole turned back after about 10m (complete darkness underground is not her thing!) But the boys went on. Cameron was an excellent guide, letting Alexander and Phil see each of the obstacles in the way. The only one he didn't call out left Phil with a bleeding head when he bumped his head on a low hanging rock!




After the castle, we set out across country to our evening destination -St Davids.


As we drove down the motorway, it was obvious Alexander was feeling a bit poorly - runny nose, and a bit of a temperature. We got him some medicine at the Pharmacy in St David, and then tried to find our hostel.


It was not in St David, but about 2 km out of town. It was a farmhouse complex not far from white sands beach. We eventually found it, unloaded our stuff, made up the beds, put the heaters on (it was freezing!) and headed into town to find something for dinner.


We found a really nice pub for dinner, and we all had a great meal...except Alexander. He had a few peas, and then promptly bought them all back up! Green spew. Alexander did a brilliant job in getting to the toilets - and after this and some water, he was feeling a little better. Straight home to the hostel for some medicine and bed...and hoping he would be better in the morning!


Camerons view: (Cameron wrote a diary for school, and he has given me permission to post his thoughts in the blog)

Today was a very tiring day.

First we played outside on the rocks before breakfast. For breakfast there was : porridge, cornflakes, rice bubbles/crispies, weetabix, apple juice, orange juice, milk, croissants, bread, hoey and much much much more.

We climbed up a mountain and approximately 1 km in height. We also went to the castle and had a cheese toastie.

We went to 4 caves and one was a cave where you could get married.

We also went to a dinosaur park. I pretended that a dinosaur was ripping my arm off.

Much later we found our hotel IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.

Brecon

We set off from Cardiff after another cooked breakfast... this was an emerging theme of our travels!! The weather was grey, cool but not cold. We first drove back into Cardiff city so Nicole could go into the library - she had an assignment for her Uni course and needed to spend about 30 minutes there. After this we hit the highway North to Brecon, a small town less than an hour up into the hills.

We arrived at the hostel - it was out of the town and up a small farm lane. It was very 'rural' - perfect for us! We headed into town, where we went into the visitors centre and found a cafe for lunch. It was directly opposite a toy shop, so there was a bit browsing before we could move on.

The Visitors centre had recommended a walk at the far end of Lake Talybont, which would take in a series of waterfalls.

We drove through the countryside and some lovely small villages, past the lake and found a car park (surprisingly, this one was free!). The weather was still grey, but with jackets on, we were all fine. we walked up the trail and found the first waterfall

We then worked our way up the banks of the river, past several small waterfalls.

The boys had a great time, clambering, throwing rocks, building bridges and dams.

How wet would you guess their shoes were by the end? Thank goodness for heaters in the hostel rooms!

Back at the hostel, we relaxed in the lounge. Phil build a cracking fire and the room was really toasty. The boys played outside in the garden for a while (building an obstacle course). They eventually came in when it got a bit cold, and then joined us - reading and playing some Nintendo, Phil was reading and Nicole...you guessed it, knitting!

We ate dinner in the local pub - and this was where Nicole began the second tradition of the holiday - Sticky toffee pudding and ice cream for her dessert!

Camerons view: (Cameron wrote a diary for school, and he has given me permission to post his thoughts in the blog)

Today we left at 8.15am from Cardiff to Brecon.

We were in the car for a long time playing Nintendo, looking at sheep, hearing Mum call lambs 'baby lambs' and Alexander calling lambs 'calves'!***

When we got to the hostel Alexander and I played this game called 'destroy logs and collect the bark'. It was fun throwing logs all different shapes and sizes at other logs to collect the bark.

***We also went for a big adventure jumping up rocks over the waterfall, getting wet and having lots of fun. We threw stones and sticks into the water ans I found an amazing pinecone.

Cardiff

From our guest house, (after a cooked English breakfast) we set off on foot into Cardiff. We had seen that there was a Dr Who exhibition, and we thought it would be a great surprise to take the kids there. We had said nothing to them, had no brochures and had given nothing away. However, when we said we were taking the boys somewhere special, Alexander asked if it was to something to do with Dr Who?!! He remembered that the characters once visited Cardiff...

We all loved the display. It reflected mainly the current doctor, David Tennant. A lot of the Dr Who episodes are filmed in Cardiff.

The Tardis

The dreaded Dalek's...the boy's favourite quote

"You have no purpose, you must be exterminated"

Above a Cyberman

Below K-9

After enjoying this display, we went for a walk along the prominade.
This is Roald Dahl Plass, an open air performance area. Roald Dahl was born in Cardiff.
The stainless steel water sculpture...in the Plass

Then went to the 'Techniquest' science museum. It is a for-kids hands on Science museum, and the boys had several hours of fun here.




We walked up into town and had lunch,
We took a walk in the park behind the Cardiff Castle.

The animal wall bridge goes over the River Taff, lots of different animals on the bridge.

The boys spent some time climbing the Magnolia trees, and Cameron chased a squirrel, but he wasn't quick enough (or even as fast as the dog from the other day!)

We made our way back to the hotel, had a rest, then headed out to the local for dinner.

Camerons view: (Cameron wrote a diary for school, and he has given me permission to post his thoughts in the blog)

Today was amazing. We went to the Doctor Who museum and saw: Cybermen, Daleks, Adipose, The Lazarus Machine, The TARDIS and so much more!

Next we went to a science museum and saw all of these coof stuff like, A rubbing pot which made noise. First you had to wet your hands,then you rubbed your hands o the pot and it made a cool noise.

We had a ham and cheese toastie for lunch.**

We saw a castle and climbed the trees, chased squirrels and killed flowers.*

We bought lots of cadbury chocolate (well at least Alexander and Mum did)

*It was fun

**Then we had a McFlurry at McDonalds.