The Two Lost Weeks

Day One ------ A very early start to proceedings and our great adventure 'cause we had to be down at the Sea Terminal in Douglas in plenty of time to catch the seven thirty ferry to Liverpool. No, for accuracy purposes make that a very, very, very early start because first of all I had to pack the car not only with the cases required for mine and Mrs Mannanan's time off the island but also SD2's entire worldly belongings for her stay at college. No mean feat I can tell you as I'm sure other parents who have experienced similar teenager evacuation will testify. I think the only thing she left behind was the sink 'cause being a teenager there's no use for such a thing is there?.............Anyway once all was forced into every available inch of space, leaving me just enough room to get behind the wheel we made our way to Douglas and after a short wait were soon on board the latest addition to the Steam-Racket fleet........Manannan........

....Which I must add is a most beautiful vessel. she really is, with plenty of room and top class facilities. Okay a breakfast might break the bank at around eight quid a time, which in my opinion is daylight robbery and as you might guess something I didn't partake in but all in all a very pleasant experience.......

....And so within no time at all we we'd docked in Liverpool and with the help of "Sally-Sat-Nav" kindly loaned to us by friends we were down the motorway and settled into our hotel not far from the college campus by around three thirty exhausted though not too exhausted to trawl the local shopping mall......arggghhhhhhhh........As I'm sure you can guess not something that would be top of my list for things to do but I had to tag along just in case the experience overwhelmed either G or SD2 and of course to ensure that the wallet didn't take too much of a hammering............And so after a hectic day and tour of all the shops we returned to our hotel for a meal and a good nights sleep to rejuvenate our batteries for the following day.......................................

Day Two ------ What a day.....No piccies I'm afraid as we spent the entire day sorting out SD2 and getting her settled into her new home. Easier said than done especially seeing as London was experiencing record temperatures and it is rather difficult trying to take photographs with tears in ones eyes. Still all went well, though my plans for the following day had to be changed rapidly when SD2 reminded us of a number of things we had forgotten.......

Day Three ------ And already my holiday master-plan was in tatters…….After the debacle of Dublin two years ago when I didn’t have a clue as to where I was going I have made every effort to improve things each and every time we’ve ventured off island since and so I have tried to plan each day so as no surprises can jump up and bite me on the bum. To this end I’d planned this very important journey down to the very last detail ensuring that all the I’s were dotted and the T’s were crossed…or so I had thought…..Things had started to go awry as soon as we got to the college on day one for the enrolment when we were sent from pillar to post as the powers to be seemed not to know where we were supposed to be never mind what we were supposed to be doing from one minute to the next and so we spent most of the day on campus trying to sort things out instead of getting in the half day planned shopping so I had to change everything for today. I wouldn’t have minded but today I had planned to spend visiting the sights of London and taking a trip on the London Eye instead of which we visited numerous supermarkets and shopping establishments in and around Hemmel Hempstead, which as you can imagine brought tears of immense joy to my eyes, and experienced the delights on the aforementioned city’s inner ring road system, which brought even more tears, more of which will come later. This was to get last minute bits and bobs, including groceries for SD2 which we had completely forgotten about, as well as sorting out various mobile phone sim cards and internet connections so we were kept quite busy in the very hot sunshine. This, though very welcome, was rather uncomfortable as we had packed clothes thinking that the weather would be more of a normal cool September instead of being hotter than July. Anyway we got there in the end and said our final goodbyes to SD2 a day later than planned which I suppose was an added bonus and we did however, despite all the setbacks manage to squeeze in a very short visit to the fantastic St Albans Cathedral so all touristy things weren’t lost........

.............I don’t know about you but I just love visiting awe inspiring buildings like this and wonder how on earth they could produce something of such beauty and precision with such primitive tooling. I’m sure even with today’s high tech design software and tools, work of this nature just couldn’t be achieved and on the subject of high tech, I’m not sure that the tools available to today’s planners has helped if what I came upon when entering Hemel Hempstead on the ring road is anything to go by.....Not knowing the area at all I used Sally-Sat-Nav all the time and she did sterling work never sending us wrong the entire time we were away, and we covered a total of 1271 miles, but I’m sure I heard her pause and stutter when coming upon the junction of all junctions which had me bemused just looking at the sign and once negotiating it I was a trembling wreck. Well that’s not quite the right word to use to describe how I felt though it does a good impression ‘cause jelly would be more appropriate in the circumstances….Yes things were that bad I was shaking, Sally-Sat-Nav was stuttering and G had closed her eyes and I’m sure took up the brace position in anticipation of at the least a slight bump and at worse a bone crunching crash....... You see the thing that had struck terror in all of us was a rather large traffic island. Nothing odd in that I can hear you all say but there was. You see dotted around the island were numerous smaller, mini roundabouts. !!!!!!!!!!.................As you can imagine I was bewildered seeing as traffic could in fact go anti-clockwise around the island as well as the usual clockwise so I did what all good drivers do.......joined G andclosed my eyes, put the car into drive and went for it..........And survived.......I didn't really. All I did was went as slowly as I could, stopping and starting and hoped for the best. As it turned out I didn't encounter much in the way of traffic but ensured that on the way out of the towm I went another way............Anyway the cathedral wasn't the only touristy thing we tried to see......When I was doing all the preparations before leaving the island I visited various sites including this one and thought that it would be a great place to visit but decided on the London Eye instead so with that knocked on the head and once we had finished at the cathedral we went in search of some Roman ruins..........If I had had my thinking head on I would have just checked Sally-Sat-Navs giant list of Places Of Interest (POI) but though I'd just use the brown POI road signs that you see all over the place......This proved fruitless. Well no that's not entirely true as instead of ending up at a roman ruin full of history we ended up in a pub full of history and had a long cool, ice laden drink of lemonade to cool us down and sat in the window watching cars, the modern day equivalent I suppose of roman chariots trying to negotiate a very busy traffic island, (no not the same large one mentioned earlier) on the old roman road Watling Street......

........Not a bad way to while away some time.........Drinks finished we then returned to our hotel and packed our cases ready for the morning departure the next day and went out for a meal at a local restaurant before returning for a well earned sleep..........

Day Four ------ And we arose early and booked out of our hotel and had a much easier job of packing the car as we were one person and loads of luggage less, set Sally-Nat-Nav and we were soon on our way to our second destination of our vacation heading along the M4 motorway in the direction of Wales.......which of course means crossing over the Severn estuary......................

.....Not having crossed the river for a number of years I wanted to use the new bridge which is known as the Second Severn Crossing (I think) but I over ruled Sally thinking she was sending me the wrong way and ended up on the original bridge.......

.......And before you think I've done some sterling work taking photos as good as these as well as driving at the same time you would be wrong as I handed over my pride and joy to the other pride of joy of my life, G and instructed her on which buttons to press........

.......and a cracking job she's done too......So within a few minutes we had crossed into another country having had my wallet emptied of £5.40 for the priviledge which was certainly worth it as we were now in a most beautiful part of the world and only a short drive from our destination, the industrial heartlands of the South Wales Valleys, Blaenavon.....

.......which as you can see from the great sign positioned on one of the many decorative lamp posts is a World Heritage Site encompassing a myriad of attractions all of which, well all those which I visited being superb................

Day Five ------ No ordinary day this, firstly we woke up to another glorious sunny morning in a strange bed. Nothing out of the ordinary in that I hear you say seeing as we are on holiday but you would be wrong. You see the people who’s bed it was were downstairs having slept the night on the sofa bed in the lounge…….Let me explain…..D & G who had kindly said we could have the use of their cottage for the week had to stay over in the town unexpectedly and wouldn’t hear a thing about kicking us out of the bed as it was our holiday so they slept downstairs whilst we had the luxury of the bedroom. What kind and generous friends we have........There was also a second reason as to why this was no ordinary day.......It was my birthday……. and I’d planned to celebrate in style.....so after a slap up breakfast of bucks fizz and caviar…errrrrrr I mean toast, Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Flakes and a cup of tea we said our goodbyes to D & G and headed off to a place where they had taken us the previous night when we took them out for a meal as a way of thanking them......Now I must change tack here for a minute or two to tell you about this pub we visited where we had the meal......As the crow flies I’d say The Goose and Cuckoo, the name by which this great little country pub goes by, can be no further than a mile and a half. However by road it is a hell of a lot further as you have to first of all drive up a very steep mountainside before proceeding to fall off the edge of the world and descending down into the abyss of the other side then doing it all again only this time in a different direction and all the time on very narrow winding country lanes as are the norm in this part of the world until there in the middle of nowhere is this oasis of a licensed premises.......Now changing tack again.......what is it with the road mileage in Wales?.......Each of their miles seem to be quite a bit longer than those I’m used to and everywhere seems that bit longer in time to get to, or is that just me? Anyway I digress as usual now back to the Goose…..As you enter you pass through an outer door laden with stickers advertising the fact that it has been in the good pub guide for many a year, a good sign. Also there is another notice, a very pleasing one I must add, which states that all mobile phones are banned!.....but that wasn’t the best ‘cause that was to come when we opened the inner door and entered into the bar itself and the smell of home cooked food attacked our senses……..It was to say the least divine and I had trouble choosing what to have ‘cause there was so much choice but in the end I decided to go with the home made faggots, which D & G chose as well whilst G went for the lamb shank........All came served with mountains of freshly cooked, locally grown vegetables and lakes of gravy which I struggled to finish. Not so the other three ‘cause they went on to sample the home made ice cream which accompanied the home made pies, tarts and crumbles…A veritable feast if I say so myself but enough of the food and The Goose ‘cause I’ll be waffling on about both again at a later date and so more about my birthday.......As I mentioned earlier before I digressed we made our way after breakfast, to a place right at the top of the valley called Keepers Pond where the views are stunning. We parked the car and enjoying the peace and quiet opened my cards and presents which G had packed without my knowing.....

...A perfect start to a perfect day.......But we had places to visit so we ended our tranquil gazing, set Sally up and headed on our way out down the valley because by complete coincidence one of G’s oldest friends, E, and by that I mean in length of time known and not in age, was staying near to Cardiff for the weekend so we arranged to meet in the village of Raglan which was roughly the same distance away for each of us for dinner after which G and I went for a leisurely look and stroll around the nearby castle which was started to be built in 1431 and enjoys the distinction of being the last true medieval castle built in Great Britain. It has been ravaged over the years by not only the weather but differing peoples but what remains is awesome and just oozes character as the following photos show......

.....We both had a great time absorbing everything there, each I think visualising what it must have been like when it was first built and being used as the residence of very important people and wishing that a time machine had been invented so we could, at the push of a button be whisked back to another time for a quick skeet around before flicking the switch to take us back to the future…..Our time there was helped by the weather which was glorious warm sunshine, which was so unlike these parts and time of year, but we weren’t complaining ‘cause we were having a brilliant day and the thing was it hadn’t finished yet, there was still more to come..........Back in the car and leaving Raglan behind we programmed Sally to take us to our next destination, Brecon which she did with ease, (you know something these gadgets are the best thing since sliced bread they really are and I want one of my own because it doesn’t matter if you take the wrong turning as they automatically get you back on the right road in an instant.........I should know as I tested it out deliberately at the next island taking the wrong exit, well that was my excuse anyway. Not that I’ll admit to not understanding the difference between take the second exit and take the third exit because I do...........honestly..........it was just a wayward moment........OOOPS..............)............We’d driven to Brecon as this is the start / ending of the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal system because you know me and canals............

..........It’s a dream of mine that some day soon I’ll get to have a holiday on one of the narrow boats on any of the canals in the UK tootling along at 4mph and stopping off at local hostelries for a meal and a pint.........but not today as we’d only come to have a skeet and anyway we didn’t have the time for anything more as we wanted to get back to Blaenavon before the shops closed for the day.....................................

.............We had one particular shop in mind.........The Blaenavon Cheddar Cheese Company in fact where we wanted to buy some of their special, rather tasty cheese for tea. We made it back with time to spare, parked the car in the small car park at the top of the main street and had a slow walk down to the shop a chose a couple for tea which we had with fresh bread, cucumber and lovely sweet tomatoes....with of course as in my case a pint of cool lager and in G's a nice glass of wine and just relaxed for the rest of the evening....mmmmmmmmm....Totally and utterly sated.........God I am a very lucky man.....................

Day Six ------ And believe it or not the weather was even better than previous days which was pretty amazing and the entertainment that I had planned for the day far exceeded anything that I could have ever hoped for…. in a nutshell it was BRILL……Before the holiday I’ll be honest with you I’d never heard of Blaenavon never mind knowing why it was so famous, after all it is a World Heritage site, so to give me some idea I was given a set of books to read by D & G written by the author Alexander Cordell. In this trilogy the author tells the story of a family from this area struggling to live in the early days of the industrial revolution. Well, this set the scene and with what I had gleaned from visiting various sites on the internet I was looking forward to our visit to the local ironworks ...............

.........especially as when we drove past the entrance the previous day it advertised a special Alexander Cordell open weekend with numerous added attractions with people dressed in period costume….We got there early and we weren’t the only ones with the same idea ‘cause the car park was full to overflowing so we had to park a few streets away and walk to the entrance where we found that the entrance fee was zero…….Yes you read right….apparently all museum attractions like this throughout Wales have free admission so you can imagine I was feeling pretty good by this time……and we were just about to be made feel even better when immediately entering the site we were invited to a showing of the worlds shortest opera in the worlds smallest opera house..........Sounds bizarre I know, and I suppose it was but it was such good fun. Basically we were ushered into a wooden box half the size of a lorry container which had chairs to seat about a dozen people including those in the Royal Box, an organ, the stage, which was really a hole in the wall with a curtain across it, and the two performers, one male the other female..................

..................The story was based very loosely on the first of Cordell’s books, Rape of The Fair Country, interspersed with bits from Carmen with the added interest of some random pieces of music by Mozart and some others whose names I’ve totally forgotten. It lasted all of eight minutes and each of those minutes were filled with side splittingly funny antics either by the male tenor or the female soprano, who could, joking apart, hold a tune as they say in the business…..Well they were both locals so no surprise there really as this part of the world is known for producing singers of note ‘cause I do believe that Sir Tom Jones and Dame Shirley Bassey lived not too far away, but as normal I digress…..So……on exiting the box…..err of course that should be opera house, we made our way first to an information point where we were given a map of the area and an itinerary of the days events and then armed with all this info we made our way to the casting halls passing on the way numerous stalls selling local wares and produce, one of which was the Blaenavon Cheese company where all their many varieties of cheeses were there for the tasting. So never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, nor free cheese for that matter I obliged by sampling them all, the ginger and whiskey variety being a favourite…..It would have been a nice touch if the next stall had the same idea of giving away free samples but I suppose it was too much to ask seeing as they were selling locally produced ciders and wines but heh you can’t have it always can you ?……..Anyway despite this minor setback we carried on our way to the halls stopping off to admire the handicrafts of one of the chaps....

...........who was dressed in period costume and who was gathering a crowd around him as he produced many things made from rope, string and sticks of willow............Once in the large hall it took a while for our eyes to adjust to the darkness after the brilliant sunshine outside but when they did we were given a display by a local craftsman........

.............in the art of being a smithy. This sort of work used to be carried out on this site in an adjacent hall whereas the hall we were in was where the molten iron was tapped from the furnace into channels made in sand, called sows, which branched off into what were called pigs, hence pig iron……..How do I know all this?...Well all of this info was available in audio at a strategic point in the hall at the touch of a button just as it was at all the other main points of interest around the site...........

........The next point of call for us was the houses where the workers eked a living which have been done out in various styles..............

.....................which were, when we visited been checked over for subversives by a regiment of the English Army….It was small details like this which made the whole place come alive making it so memorable...........

..................Anyway we carried on with the tour climbing the hill to where children as young as seven toiled for twelve hours a day or even nights helping to load the ever hungry blast furnaces below with the coke, ore and lime the main ingredients for iron................................

.............From here it was only a short walk to the top of the tower where the heavy trucks were lowered / raised to the floor by the clever use of water.............Such ingenuity…and such nerve to work at such heights…I was sweating buckets even yards away from the edge but I steeled myself and managed to walk across the vertigo inducing grille shaking like a jelly on speed.............

........This act of bravado was spurred by the fact that close by there were a father and daughter, the latter who was even more terrified than myself and the father was saying to her that it was nothing and that he had worked in more precarious places than that and that she shouldn't be afraid............Recovered from the shakes it was then back down the hill meeting up again with the dreaded redcoats...............

................who were out on patrol this time giving a salute to mark the time at one o’clock........Not only did they look the part all in the very picturesque uniforms of red and white............

..........but they were really acting the part as well even down to the way they spoke to each other and how the orders from the captain in charge were given out.......

....Who, I might add took some time out to check his watch and have a chat to his cook regarding what time dinner was and she went away returning soon with what looked like to me pretty authentic fare......

...........In the meantime his subordinates carried on with the one o'clock volley. The noise of which was quite deafening and woke up not only the people who were sitting idly nearby but all the birds, mainly jackdaws that frequent this site.......

.......Whilst the soldiers marched off to their encampment we carried on touring the houses and breathing in the whole of the atmosphere. It was as if we were living in those times and hats off to all those involved who made it feel like this.......
.........Anyway we'd been on site nearly three hours and had exhausted all the places to see so we returned to the car for a quick drive to our next port of call..........The Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway..............

.........where they were having one of their many open days.......Now this bit of history and nostalgia I could relate to first hand as when I were a mere lad, not so long ago, I spent many a happy hour on trains like these and as soon as we boarded the memories flooded back.................

........These carriages with separate compartments were my favourite and it was my job, along with my two sisters, to board the train at differing doors as quickly as the train came to a halt and run along the corridors in an attempt to find an empty one so the whole family could sit together. Most of the time we were successful but on the occasions we weren't we did have to share with others, mostly, if my memory serves me well, with the odd priest or nun going back home to Ireland but that could be just a figment of my over worked imagination....The only criticism I had of this part of our day was that the ride was way too short. Early days I know for this steam company but I know they are working hard to bring more track on line as soon as possible and the enthusiasm is certainly there............WOW....another brilliant day of doing things was nearly over so we went home more than satisfied with the days outcome and tucked into more of the gorgeous cheese for tea and of course imbibed yet more chilled beer and wine......Well we are on holiday......

Day Seven ------ Six days down eight more to go and we are both very happily contentedly knackered if there is such a feeling one can suffer with, which I suppose is better than being unhappily knackered as is the norm, anyway today we were in for yet another treat………..We had heard off a number of people that if we got the time, a visit to The Museum of Welsh National History at St Fagan’s would be worth it as it’s a brilliant whole day out, so as not to disappoint we were up early and off out ‘cause we had a long drive ahead of us. What, it must have been all of twenty five miles away on the other side of Cardiff but Sally coped with her normal consummate ease and we arrived in an already overflowing car park in glorious sunshine…..I tell you what the Gods were certainly looking down on us weather-wise so far as it couldn’t be faulted at all and today looked as if it was going to be a cracker.......Entering the reception area and being welcomed by the very friendly staff we purchased a guide and were soon on our way discovering the delights of the history of Wales through various buildings from many different periods which have been gathered from all across the country and re-built in this most wonderful of settings….The variety of buildings ranged from pig sties to elaborate churches, gatehouses to school rooms, tailors to post war prefabricated houses. Just about every conceivable dwelling was there and they were all, without exception excellent.........I tell you there's so much to see and do that by the time we were flagging fast we hadn't seen it all so decided to call it a day to return later in the week. Anyway I've done far too much nattering this week so today I'll let the images do the talking...........

........A most amazing place, it really is but that's not it all by a long shot 'cause I took loads more photos when we returned later in the week to see the rest of the place and these I'll post then.........

Day Eight ------ Well how do you follow that?....Quite easy as a matter of fact 'cause we were off to somewhere rather unique Castell Coch...........A Victorian castle built on the shell of a Norman castle with, and I am understating this, exquisite decor and design..........My wafflings just couldn't do justice to this stunning place so again I'll let the pictures do the talking...........

........With the tour of the castle only taking about two hours we were left with time on our hands and so when driving back we decided to take a detour and visit the capital city Cardiff as neither of us had ever been there before and we are both so glad that we did because again and I know I keep on using this word with reference to places visited on this holiday but Cardiff is really fantastic and well worth a visit............

.........The gorgeous old brick building on the left is I think an old customs house or something belonging to the port authority. What I do know however is that it was designed and built by the same chappie that you have to thank for Castell Coch.....The rather new building on the right is the new Welsh Assembly building where the national legislature meet.....A Welsh house of commons so to speak and we were lucky enough to be able to go and have a skeet around......

.......But before we did I took some images of this boat / head which is, believe it or not a memorial for all the merchant seamen who gave their lives in the last war.............Anyway back to the stunningly modern assembly building which is all glass, slate and wood..........

.......Even down to the air intakes which reminded me a lot of The Pompidou centre in Paris which like this is ultra modern. The MP's weren't sitting when we visited but when they are you can get a real good view of them from the public gallery which is state of the art..........Back outside we took a stroll over a s well as under the boardwalks.......And though it was a Monday dinner time and the sun had decided to go in for a while the whole place was buzzing........

.......This old light ship below is a restraunt which is berthed in the inner harbour. It would have been nice to visit for a meal but seeing as I had just treated Mrs Mannanan to a packet of salt and vinegar crisps and a swig of water from my bottle we declined.....Well we are watching our weight.............Then just around the corner on the quayside are a collection of wonderful statues..................

.......along with a rather odd looking building which resemble the wing of an oversized air plane which houses what I suppose could be called a Cardiff Tourist Information Office.........In here you can learn everything you want to know about this up and coming city even down to the fact that they aerate the waters of Cardiff bay each day to help the wildlife.......And then outside is this utterly brilliant statue....The Captain Scott Memorial...........

.................Wow what another great day....and the thing was ...it wasn't over as we went from here to.........Well that will just have to wait until tomorrow as I've posted quite a load of piccies today and I don't want to overdo things and you might get bored...... I hope you don't....... so come back tomorrow when you can read more about our great adventures.........

Day Eight Continued ------ Well we were a tad busy so here is the next instalment..........Once we'd left Cardiff behind and were well on our way home, having reached Pontypool I noticed one of those POI brown signs with a narrow boat on it so what else could I do but follow it...........to this very small marina on the Brecon & Monmouthshire canal.....

.......................We couldn't stop too long here as we had to get back to the cottage as we were expecting visitors.....Yes J&K (J being another crew member of the lifeboat) were coming to stay for a few days and we had to be back in Blaenavon for when they arrived......................And arrive they did and after a long chat it was soon time to eat so we went off in search of The Goose and Cuckoo and as luck would have it we managed to find it straight away but that was when the luck ended. It was closed.....So we made our way back to Blaenavon in search of a Chinese but on finding that, that was closed as well so we opted for fish and chips which we ate at home with a few beers catching up on all the skeet and talking about what was planned.......

Day Nine ------ I'd been looking forward to today since I'd started the planning of this whole trip 'cause we were going to visit Phwll Mawr as it's called in the local dialect or to us in English....The Big Pit........

.......Here, just on the other side of the valley across from the ironworks is the coal mine which has now been turned into a fantastic working museum where you actually go into the lift and down the shaft to the coal face and experience slightly what it must have been like.......

.....It was to say the least a tad dark and scary but at the same time awesome. The only down side was, because of the chance of explosion from gases cameras weren't allowed down the mine nor were phones or anything electrical so I've no piccies from the working bit but I do have loads more..........

......As well as going down to the coal face itself there were quite a few other places to visit including the shower block and a video controlled tour both of which were excellent but what made it for me was the artefact museum and the pictures of real people and their stories. We all spent ages reading these snippets of life here down the pit, real history come alive making it a truly a spectacular place to visit..............
........Still on a high, and as the weather was improving we then made our way back to the other side of the valley to the ironworks with G and I being J & K's guides..................

.....Both Mrs Mannanan and myself were surprised at the amount of stuff that we had missed the first time around but even more surprisingly the amount of details that we had remembered which J & K thought was great as we could miss out some of the boring stuff and go straight for the good stuff of which there is many..........By the time we'd finished here we had been out and on our feet all day and it was nearing tea time so we made our way home to change before driving to an open Goose and Cuckoo for another glorious evening meal.......

Day Ten ------ And it was in the car early as we had a rather long drive in front of us to a small town on the Welsh / England border called Haye-on-Wye which is world famous because nearly every shop in the town is a book shop......

.....G and I had visited this very picturesque town many years ago and were looking forward to trawling through all the shops once again though sorry to say the second time around just wasn't as good as the first which is a pity never-the-less we still enjoyed ourselves and had a great day.......

Day Eleven ------ Saw another early start 'cause we had yet another long drive this time returning to the Welsh Museum at St Fagan's which we so enjoyed a couple of day's previously but which J & K had still yet to visit. Once inside we split up and G and I went in search of the gardens and arboretum which we missed out on the first time whilst J & K started at the begining.....................

....Then after about three hours of walking we met up again and did another tour of the fantastic gardens before driving back along a grid locked motorway to Blaenavon to get ready for our last night at The Goose & Cuckoo where there was a live band performing......What a brilliant night we had......................

Day Twelve ------ And the Welsh part of our holiday was over and the Birmingham part was just beginning. The main reason apart from visiting family was that we had a family wedding to attend where all of G's extended family were going to attend whom she hadn't seen in years and once we'd settled in at Mum's I left G to catch up on things while I drove to another part of the city to meet up with my lot and to pick up my grand children from school, a job I adore 'cause I don't get to do it as often as I would like.......Anyway on the way there I made quite an emotional stop at where I used to work....The Rover Plant at Longbridge......Well made a stop at what is now left of what was once a massive engineering plant would be more exact.....And what is left is not a lot..... Just to give you some idea of the size when I first started working there way back in the late seventies there were 27,500 people employed there....yes it was quite big.......When I left ten years ago there were still some seven and a half thousand employees on site. The photo below shows where some of the offices were on the Birmingham Road. In fact the office where I worked was just behind the white board where it says Longbridge. These offices which were a minute part of the plant extended all the way down the road as far as you can see and then the same distance again...........

......and now.....nothing...........The image below shows what neglect can do. This is where I used to park my car before I started cycling in on my bike. It used to be jam packed with cars now all that is there are weeds.........A very sad reflection on the times we now live in.............

...And to finish it all the last photo of a young boy's dream.........This is the central reservation of the Birmingham Road which I used to look out upon from the office window. It used to be, many years ago where the trams used to run from the Lickey's right into the centre of Birmingham. It is every boys dream because each of the trees is a horse chestnut and at this time of year the place is covered in conkers...........Great how some things don't change........

THE END