- 22/4: Dun Laoghaire - Cardiff:
...or catastrophe day.
I'll try to make the story as short as possible. Due to Google Earth not being updated and the Stena Line website not having a map explaining where their ferries departed from I was sent to Dun Laoghaire (inexplicably pronounced “Dunleary”), an outskirt of Dublin from where the ferry to Wales departed during more than one century. Unfortunately that had changed just one year ago and now it departs from a place by the generic name of "Dublin Port". When I read "Dublin Port" I assumed Dublin's port when it comes to passengers ferries was Dun Laoghaire, as it had always been. Wrong. Stena Line's terminal at Dun Laoghaire was deserted when I went early in the morning. As a result I missed my ferry (I had paid extra money for a cabin so I could go sleeping) and even missed another ship operated by Irish Ferries by just two minutes. It was 8:50 and the next thing I could take was another ferry at 14:30 which meant after taking the train I'd arrive to Cardiff at 23:00, five hours later of the time agreed with Uno to start our night tour of Wales' capital city.
I told the story to Vlog by WhatsApp and she helped me but there were no flights availabe either. To make matters worse I knew Uno had some appointments the next day. So what? I would be traveling 14 hours to Cardiff and miss out on the chance of getting to meet the one and only Unomusette? That was a depressing perspective, but I could only wait.
So the hours went by in a complete boredom, in the afternoon I took the ferry and got some sleep on a seat at the expense of some considerable neck pain. Better than nothing. Oh, and not wi-fi on the ferry so I had to entirely rely on Vlog to tell Uno about the disaster and that I wouldn’t be able to meet her at the agreed time.
I arrived in Holyhead in the evening, took a walk around and my hopes of getting some wi-fi on the train were crushed by the very gentle welshman in charge of checking the tickets: “
wi-fi? No, this is not Virgin Trains. These are shitty trains” he explained to me. Great, no means of getting in contact with the world for another 5:30 hours. I still knew nothing about Uno.
I didn't take many pictures that day -I wasn't feeling in the mood- but this one is from a bridge in HolyheadAt least I could finally get something good out from this day when the train went through some beautiful landscapes in the north of Wales, where many fields are covered by a growing with a yellow flower (rapeseed?). The railway goes by the impressive Conwy castle (I would have liked to get down there and visit), and I also got a look at a incredible scene: at one or two kilometres from the shore, the sea was packed with massive windmills, dozens and dozens of them which formed the largest windpark I have seen and a stunning view. Unfortunately they were far so they wouldn’t come out in photos. Then I also caught a glimpse of Wrexham, the largest city in the North of Wales.
I changed trains in Shrewsbury and after an exhausting full day traveling arrived in Cardiff at 23:00, eager to have news from Uno. I got them sooner than I expected. I checked in at the Sleeperz hotel (no,
BSJ , not the “Slipper’s hotel”) and got a bag from the receptionist where Uno had left me a letter and a surprising amount of gifts: Welsh cakes, bara brith, 3 pairs of socks with Wales’ motifs, a Welsh inflatable dragon and the toy cat who had enjoyed a brief yet glorious appearance in our song “We are being attacked” (check out at 1:08):
Ha! How good was that? These clever presents together with the fact that Uno’s letter said that they (her and Mr. Musette) would be meeting me the next day changed my mood. I talked to her on the phone from the hotel and she told me that in the future I would look back at the incident and have a laugh. She was right, but at that moment I was pretty pissed.
Well, I was thinking about ending this insanely hectic and accidented day and going to bed, but then I thought how many times I would be at Cardiff on a Friday night and in spite of everything I took a bath and decided to go out (that’s the good thing about the UK, at least in April: no matter how sleepy or tired you are, once you are out the cold wakes you up). I didn’t regret it. I couldn’t see naked people on St. Mary Street as Uno had promised (just a few with far less clothing than the weather was calling for), but went for beers to a couple of bars and in one of them I ended up playing semi-drunk ping-pong with a Welsh girl. The level of play was not exactly professional, as you can imagine.
- 23/04: Cardiff – Bourton-on-the-Water:
I woke up after a good night of rest (the Sleeperz hotel was one of the best ones in that aspect) and met up with
unomusette and her husband B. (aka Mr. Musette) at the reception of the hotel. I thanked them for their presents and we went out for a walk.
The Musettes are fantastic people, very warm, smart and fun. Uno is a rock n’ roll girl, that stands out clearly. Even if I couldn’t tell exactly why, you can immediately realize that that a lot of rock has gone through those ears and that she's very cultured on that genre. You could say a similar thing about Mr. Musette, although in his case the cause was easier to identify for me as he was wearing a t-shirt from a familiar band (see picture... best presentation card possible in my eyes). We understood ourselves in a great way and in spite of how much the Irish had warned me about the Welsh accent it was surprising how I had no trouble at all in understanding what they said. When I commented this to Uno she told me it was because they (Mr. Musette and her) have a very neutral accent.
Mr. and Mrs. Musette at the ArcadesSt. Mary StreetUno and me at the streets of Cardiff, with the Castle tower in the backgroundThey took me on a walking tour through many of Cardiff’s attractions: the Castle and it’s wall full of animals, the huge Millenium Stadium, the Arcades and their shops (I had to gently refuse an offer from Mr. Musette to take me a photo beside some plastic genitalia in exposure at a showcase), the Criminal Courts, a bridge over the Taff river, a really old records store and some iconic bars (including one which was plainly luxurious... help me Uno with it’s name). Then once again I enjoyed the advantages of having powerful friends in the UK as Uno’s credentials allowed her to get me into the majestic City Hall, an awesome building made of marble in a good extent which is full of pictures and statues inside. Outside the Castle we tried this new thing of the selfies to see if we could compete with
Horacewimp , but our attempt provoked the laughter of some Japanese girls passing by.
At the Millenium Stadium. Apparently on this photo I had decided to pay tribute to the Street Next Door's song about somnambulistsIn Wales dragons might come out of anywhereWhat a team!Next Mr. Musette asked me if I would like to have some brains. Just as I was about to start a self-justifying speech related to how you only got what nature gives you and that it’s not your fault if you are not too intelligent, he explained to me that Brains was a Welsh brand of beers so I answered “
Aaaahhhm! OK! Yes, I’d sure like to have some!”.
So we sat down and enjoyed our Brains (something still sounds weird about saying that, haha...) while we chatted about life in Cardiff, internet forums, ELO, my accidented previous day and Uno’s up and coming singing career. The variety of the drink we had was one called “Skull Attack”.
That moment when your concept about what bitter brains or dark brains are changes dramatically
I don’t know how long we were together, not that much; maybe 3 or 4 hours but we did lots of things and talked about lots of subjects in that time. When it was time for the Musettes to go we said goodbye and they took the train back to their place.
Dorothy's famous curry shop, or Dirty Dot's, as Uno told me they called it"ELO are OK, but Muse are number one, understand??? Number one!!!"
The three of us, I can't remember whereSomeone saw the surprise photo coming, someone didn't But I couldn’t leave Cardiff just like that knowing there was a hop-on hop-off bus which I hadn’t ridden, so I bought a ticket and hopped on. It went by several of the attractions, including the studios where Dr. Who was filmed (they meant nothing to me but many people got down there) and some beautiful parks. Despite Uno claiming Caerdydd is not as glamorous as she deserves (she might be right at that), it struck me as a very neat and tidy city and the cleanest of all the ones I’ve seen. And all of the time the sun shone in spectacular fashion, which proves that the weather in Cardiff is fantastic and that Uno complains just for the sake of complaining.
The Sleeperz Hotel in Cardiff, where I stayed at. My room was one of those in the corner with the big windows. Nothing seems strange about the picture, until we get a closer look...No, that wasn't my room! Seriously! And yes I had an inflatable dummy but it was just the dragon that Uno had gifted me! Swear!
Whoever did this deserves the biggest of my respects. Genius!
As the bus was about to complete the loop it hit a ridiculous traffic jam almost ala China, something which I thought was out of proportions having in mind Cardiff is not that big. It took 40 minutes to make the last 3 blocks before my hotel (and the driver wouldn't let us down) so I ended up not being that far from missing my train.
So I said goodbye to the land of dragons, took my train to Cheltenham Spa (no massages or mud treatments are to be found there as it's just the name of the Cheltenham station) and then the 801 bus through the pretty Cotswolds and up to Bourton-on-the-Water, the village I had chosen to stay at to visit this region. I arrived around 19 hs. and still had time for a reconaissance walk through the village and surrounding areas before it was dark.