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Alright so where I left off last time- big exciting adventure related to Batman. Okay…. Drum roll… I GOT TO GO TO THE BATCAVE. There is a huge waterfall in Wales with a cave behind it that they filmed none other than…. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. I got to go to the legitimate Batcave they used for Batman!!!! It was wayyy too awesome. Guess I’ll back up and tell the tale…
So two Monday’s ago now, Krista and I made our Wales trip happen. The National Express coach company was doing a “Remember, Remember £9 November” (I know, clever huh) so you could go anywhere (from a certain selection of places) for only £9.
As some of you know, this summer I was on the biggest waterfall kick and was obsessed with finding waterfalls. Well, this obsession isn’t just a phase… or if it is, it’s one I won’t be growing put of anytime soon. Not long after I got to England, I started exploring places here with waterfalls. That is when I found a National Park called Brecon Beacons in Wales. As I explored a bit more, I found that this national park was home to many astounding waterfalls. One of which, was the waterfall where they filmed part of Batman. Needless to say, when the opportunity to go waterfall hunting in Wales arose, jumped on that pretty fast.
Krista and I took the coach to Cardiff and decided to stay the night there before going up closer to the park the next day. Krista officially wins the award for finding the classiest place to stay. Through a site called ‘airbnb’, she found a very high class apartment right off the main street. The man who owns the apartment is an aspiring artist so, as one may assume, the rooms are filled with lots of unique artwork and lots of other artist-y things like The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and cacti, and those one pin-things you push your hand or whatever into one side, and the pins push out to form the shape of it on the other side. Definitely a cool place- even complete with a balcony with a view of the castle when you stepped out onto it! There was one other man staying there who was actually from Canada! He said he’d driven through Montana a couple times so that was nice to talk to someone who also appreciated that beautiful state.
We could have kept talking forever but Krista and I were hungry from a long day of traveling so we set out to find some food. We passed by a restaurant/ bar called Missoula!! It even had a buck on their logo! They had stopped serving food for the night or we definitely would have gone here. Instead, we found a little Irish pub (I know, I know, again with the Irish pubs not in Ireland…). There was a man playing who had a very Steve Miller Band sound and the restaurant had delicious looking burgers so we decided it was a good place. After a great dinner and music experience, we went to walk around the high street. We passed by a restaurant window and saw that a jazz band was playing! They turned when they saw us looking in and beckoned us to come inside. Of course we couldn’t refuse so we went in and enjoyed some good jazz over tiramisu and Bailey’s. Haven’t listened to jazz in a while… it made me miss On Broadway ):
The next morning, Krista and I locked back up the keys to the apartment and started making our way to the train station. Along the way, we passed by a little Welsh lovespoon shop and decided to pop in. While we were paroozing through these wooden spoons, the old shop owner approached us and asked if we would like to know the story behind them. He explained that the concept of ‘lovespoons’ originated in the 17th century and was a way for a man to say a specific ‘love’ message to a woman he ‘fancied’. Each of the spoons would have been personalized specifically to convey a particular message. For example, if the man wanted to illustrate that he would provide security and protection, this would be shown by a carved lock in the neck of the spoon. If the man wished to convey eternal love, there would be a twisted stem on the neck representing two lives coming together as one. A little more forward, if the man wanted to tell the woman how many children he wanted, there would be a ‘ball in cage’ design with the number of children he wanted represented in the number of sphere’s in the neck. The shop owner told us that today they are still heart-felt gifts between lovers but also between friends as well to just show one’s appreciation for the other. We thanked him for explaining and introduced ourselves. Bob, this Welsh lovespoons shop owner, didn’t only help us understand the significance of the spoons he also gave us a little good life lesson as well. He was telling us how he had been in and out of hospital for the past couple months so every day he ‘wakes up and has a pulse is a good day’. Bob was a good reminder that life really is a gift and to not take it for granted.
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The walk continued alongside the river through a very Lord-of-the-Rings-looking forest to the next town. When we reached the town full of paint-ball-marked sheep, we stumbled upon a very quaint little inn. Think White Christmas status. Cuuuute-est little inn complete with charming innkeepers. They very graciously welcomed us in and showed us to a very cozy Welsh-country-side room. We cleaned up a bit (the walk was very muddy) and then went to the dining room for a beyond amazing ‘Christmas dinner’ although we dubbed it our Thanksgiving dinner because it was turkey and mashed potatoes (plus it was Thanksgiving in a few days and we wouldn’t be having our traditional big meal). We did wrap it up with ‘Christmas pudding’ though and not the pumpkin pie but nevertheless, a very enjoyable dinner.
Besides the amazing hospitality shown to us, what Krista and I liked best about the Abercrave Inn was that they didn’t have wi-fi! It felt like we were really on ‘holiday’ because not only were we secluded from society out in the Welsh country side but we were also away from that constant technology cling. Was really good to not only slow down but also quiet down. Hasn’t really happened at all since we got off the plane…
The next morning, we had a delightful breakfast looking out at the inn’s lovely landscaped beer-garden area with a little waterfall of their own. We were sad to say our goodbyes to our kind-hearted innkeepers but it was a new day and we had a pulse, so it was time for more living.
We made our way through Neath, another welcoming little town. After walking through their market, we stopped into another legit-looking Welsh shop. This time we were greeted by a younger man about our age. Hearing our accents, he asked where we were from. Turns out he had done the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail. Look it up if you don’t know what it is. Annnnd then put it on your bucketlist too ;) Megan- I knew you’d be excited. I told him we were gonna do it one day ;) )!!! In addition to talking about the great North West, he old us a little more about Wales. He told us how the actual Welsh language was kind of dying out because the majority of young people don’t speak it at all let alone know it. As strange as the language sounds, I hope they keep it alive because it does give Wales its own personality and character. The boy taught us how to say “Merry Christmas” in Welsh so even if that is the only thing people say, at least that’ll sound cool ;)
When we left the shop, we asked someone on the street to point us in the right direction to the train station. Turns out all the cool Welsh kids go to America at some point in their lives because this person had been to the states too! He actually studied in Colorado and even dated a girl from “the Mormon state” for a while. Very cool to see how small the world really is.
After Neath, we went over to Newport to catch our bus back to London. To be honest, we weren’t huge fans of Newport. It just felt less Welsh-ey even though that’s kind of ambiguous… So, after I played “Newport Living” by Cute is What We Aim For (just for you, Mariah), we headed to the bus to begin the trek back to Canterbury.
Ahhh seriously, guys, I know I keep saying this every time I tell you about another place, but Wales really was incredible. The fact we were by a National Park really made my Montana-self happy, and it was honestly just like a fairy-tale. I know that sounds cheesy and cliché buuuut really, Welsh country sides… mmmmhhh-mmmhhhh.
Very solid adventure. I’ve decided Krista is an excellent travelling partner. We had some really good, deep talks and even more laughs. I’m excited she’s only in Seattle so we can still hang out when we both get back to the states.
Yay Wales! Okay, Imma write the next blog update, thanks for reading!!
Keep Calm You’re in THEE Batcave.
Cheers!
Elyse
PS- if you don’t believe me, read all about it ;) #legiiiiittttt
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/local-to-you/wales/things-to-see-and-do/coast-and-countryside/article-1355772227044/
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/batman-returns-brecon-beacons-1818499