#102. 2022 October 8-14. Nomad Diary. Scenic Wales Bus Ride Bangor to Aberystwyth. Two Nights by the Irish Sea. Carmarthen. Bridgend. Housesit with Shih Tzu Roxy.

  

On the bus with our two suitcases and 2 backpacks.

Looking out of the bus.

Views from the bus.

Back of gentleman on the bus who rode 2 hours on the bus with us. He would turn around and tell us when a notable feature was coming so we could get our cameras ready! We learned that he was a route trainer for bus drivers.

Closer to our destination

View of the Irish Sea from our beautiful apartment!

Street in Aberystwyth

Setting our table for dinner. Premade soups, fresh bread with olive oil spice dip, olive and hot tea.

Call with Owen, Eric and Erin’s one year old! 

Darrell in the yellow hoodie walking along the ½ mile beach front. The hill ahead has a small incline railroad. We chose to walk up the steep hill twice during our stay.

Sunset looking toward the castle ruins.

Sunset with birds.

Sunset at the castle ruins.

Saturday. 8. On this morning we pack up our suitcases and backpacks to travel by bus from Conwy to Aberystwyth. We have a few check out items to tend to at this property: putting linens and towels in the bathroom for the maid, taking out the trash and doing the dishes. We get everything finished and on this sunny day we walk 5 minutes to the bus stop. The bus is there and we get on, tell the bus driver that we want to go to Bangor bus station “single” (which means one way). We sit and ride the 40 minutes to Bangor through a scenic drive that is all new Sto us. Once we arrive, the driver shows us where our next bus stand is just up a few bus spaces and to the left at the corner. We go over there and see that the bus is listed and ontime. We have over an hour to sit and wait somewhere. We go up the hill a little ways and find a Nero coffee shop to get a drink and wifi. While we are relaxing and enjoying our cappuccinos, we plan to get a sub sandwich before we get on the next bus because it is a 3 hour bus ride to Aberystwyth. Our host from Conwy contacts Darrell and we discover that I left my therapy tools in the drawer next to the bed. Ouch! I’m so sorry for giving Allison and Darrell extra work to get my things mailed to us within the UK. Darrell and Allison got that all settled over the next day, and I am determined to check drawers always before leaving a property! We get our subs and get on our bus for twelve pounds for both of us! We arrive Aberystwyth and walk to the hotel to get our key and directions to our apartment. We walk on to our apartment from bus to hotel to apartment is less than a mile and the weather is nice and sunny. We arrive and move in to a beautiful and clean and roomy apartment. It feels wonderful and has a large window staring right out at the Irish Sea! We are loving this place and our nice view. We go shopping for dinner at the closest small grocery. We also get items to make breakfast for Sunday and Monday morning. Saturday evening we walk along the promenade down to one end and then back to the other. Our apartment is about right in the middle. We have soup, cheese and crackers for dinner. We are relaxed and rest well.

Week’s Activities.

Up the hill looking down the funicular (an incline railway)

Darrell ahead of me in conquering this hill!

Beautiful view and sky.

The path coming down the back of the sea hill.

Sunday. 9. We have decided to worship online at 3pm with our Alabama church today. After breakfast we take off on a walk to the end of the promenade and up a steep hill that has an incline funicular. We walk up the hill quickly and then have beautiful long views of the sea. We walk past some sheep in a field and then follow the path down the hill and through a wooded drive back down into town. Later in the day we do this walk again. Once we are in town we walk down a couple of streets heads back toward our apartment. I see a Hungarian restaurant and walk to it to look at the menu. It looks all homemade and opens in about 10 minutes. We go to our place and leave the backpack and take a little break. Then we go back to the Hungarian place for lunch. Darrell has boar stew! I have a paprika fish soup. Then we have some delicious dessert and coffee. We go back to our place for 3pm worship online while looking out toward the Irish Sea. After our worship, we go do the hill walk again and then come back to have dinner at our place. I cook broccoli and we have some garlic with olive oil and italian spices with bread and olives and cheese. It is a lovely and simple meal. We watch some tv and talk a little about our bus ride tomorrow.

Fancy French Toast in our apartment!

Our luggage in the bus.

Nice room in Pub/Hotel.

My excellent Pub lunch is loads of salad with homemade balsamic dressing and wild mushrooms on sourdough! 

Darrell enjoyed his Pub lunch, a chicken and leek pie, veggies and mashed potatoes with gravy.

Self-guided Castle at Carmarthen

Town History Marking Ferrar as a Martyr and the naming of this Square for Englishman, Nott.

Monday. 10. We wake up without an alarm like most days now in retirement. We do our daily exercise routine and fix breakfast and clean it up. This stay is like a hotel so we don’t have to empty the trash or do any house-keeping. We pack up our bags and leave out the two large bath towels that we bought second-hand in Lancaster. As we walk to the bus station we stop by a thrift store and I hand them to the woman in charge who thanks me. There are so many fabulous thrift stores here in the UK. Most of these stores are related to a charity and that makes it really nice to do business there. Most that we have seen are very well managed and very clean. Getting rid of these two towels lightened our load by about 5 pounds! We are at the bus stop early and go into Wetherspoons to have a cup of coffee. Wetherspoons are in many towns in old buildings and they all serve the same thing at very economical prices. It’s the McDonald’s of England! Today we have have a 2 ½ hour scenic bus ride to Carmarthen the oldest town in Wales. We arrive to the small town with sunshine. As we ride the bus through town we are watching for landmarks and which stop we may want to ring the bell for the driver to let us off. There are several people on our bus and others are ringing the bus to stop at each possible stop. We pass the train station and a bus station then driving up the next street we see our hotel right beside the next bus stop! We unload our luggage and we are right here where we are to check in. It was good to get off the bus at this stop because it looked like 20 people were wanting to get on this bus! That’s more than we usually see. We go into our Pub/Hotel and ask at the bar about our check-in or holding our luggage. The host checks us right in and shows us to our room while telling us about breakfast and food hours at the restaurant. The room is quiet and large with an entry room that holds a twin bed. I set up my suitcase here. We go downstairs to the restaurant and have a delicious lunch. Next we go out for a long walk along the river, then return to town and explore the castle ruins and other monuments as we wind our way through the streets and market areas. There is a martyr story in one small square that is named for someone else with a less remarkable story. The English conquered the Welsh and they weren’t happy about it back then. There were problems and clashes with the cultures, the languages, and the religious views. It was harsh and the stories are carried on. Once we get back to our room we have a snack dinner in our room of our cheese and olives that we have carried with us. We finish off our perishable snacks with some hot tea, read and watch a tv show or two. One of my favorite shows here is Antiques Road Trip. I’m sure Darrell is more bored with it than I am! Well, we each have our favorite things! Lol.

The Old Bridge: Built in 1425. Repaired in 1775. Restored in 2005.

Waterway through town.

Tuesday. 11. We have an excellent breakfast at our Pub Hotel! Today we are back on the train headed for Bridgend. We arrive around noon to a sunny town and walk about 3 blocks to our hotel for the night. Our first stay at a Wetherspoons Wyndham Arms Hotel. We get through some security doors with speakers from the desk upstairs. We get to the desk and ask for our luggage to be held until check-in. Meanwhile we leave the building to find some lunch. We walk a block in the small town to a Spanish place and again have an excellent lunch! We check into our room which is clean and quiet with a poor internet connection which is a very small issue.  We take off for a walk and eventually get to a grocery and purchase a bag of dry pantry items to take with us to our weeklong housesit tomorrow. Tuesday night online Bible Study with the Tunbridge Wells church we met back in July.

Darrell outside our housesit.

Roxy. Our hostess. Lol.

Our Guestroom.

Super Nice Soaking Tub.

Wednesday. 12. Exercises in our hotel room and breakfast downstairs at the Wetherspoons restaurant. Susan comes and gets us at 10 am and drives us to her house a couple of miles out to her housing estate. We get to know each other and arrive to meet her Shih Tzu, Roxy. She’s sweet 2 year old dog who has lived here with Susan her whole life. Susan is leaving in the afternoon for the airport and a week in Spain! She loves to go off traveling with some of her sisters. We are benefitting with getting to stay in her house and caring for Roxy thanks to learning about Trustedhousesitters.com from many people on our cruise in June. Susan shows us all we need to know about her house and about Roxy. She has a guest room prepared for us on the top floor of her spotless tri-level 4 bedroom home. She offers to take me grocery shopping, and I say ‘yes’! It takes me at least 20-30 minutes to race through the store and find the items on my prepared grocery list. We return to the house and visit some more before Darrell and I make salad for lunch, then take Roxy for a walk. Susan leaves around 2 pm and unfortunately for her gets delayed at the airport by 10 hours! We are doing well keeping Roxy and relaxing at her house. I call my good friend Laura who lives in Tennessee, watch a tv show, do the dog walk and enjoy a pre-bedtime soak in the luxury soaking tub at Susan’s! I have missed my soaking tub most from the house we sold in September 2020! 

Walking down a beautiful South Wales lane on a beautiful day!

Sheep of course!

Posing by a Big Fantastic Tree!

Loads of Thatch Roofs here.

Darrell Crossing these Picturesque Stepping Stones with Roxy at Ogmore Castle.

Making my way across.

Ogmore Castle Ruins

A Convenient Pub where we have lunch.

Horses looking back towards Ogmore.

2 year old Quinn on a Call to Us! So Sweet!!

Thursday. 13. Darrell makes us pancakes with fresh berries. We walk with Roxy to Ogmore Castle ruins and have a pub lunch next to the site. This castle has a picturesque stepping stone feature across a river. The day is beautiful and walk well over 6 miles and are tired on our return to the house. Roxy is quite wet, muddy, and sandy. I give her a bath in the garden and try to get her as clean and dry as possible before letting her have run of the house again. We get a call from daughter-in-law Andrea and it is Quinn our 2 year old grandson who brings us big smiles! Salad for dinner.

Anniversary Celebration.

View from our 3rd Story Bedroom over the neighborhood.

Friday. 14. Today we exercise, take the dog for an early walk even before exercising! Then we get to the kitchen and fix eggs, bacon and sourdough toast. I have avocado with mine. About the time we are settling down to eat and discussing how we have to look to see what the date is and the day of the week, we realize that this is our 39th wedding anniversary! We laugh at ourselves and begin to think about how we can celebrate our day. I do laundry today! Such a simple pleasure and not a bother after all these years! We decide to go out to lunch without the dog today for our anniversary date. I eat small enough to enjoy a cappuccino and share a slice of carrot cake for dessert!  I make chicken soup for dinner and call my friend Sharon in Texas in the evening.

Nomad Notes. This week I have been aware of being tired in a way that has a perspective on traveling outside the US. I feel tired with the differences. I feel as though I am constantly looking for a comparison to what I have known in my ‘normal’ life in the US. I am still content to be here in the UK. The weeks away from the US are pushing me to learn and experience so many new things: ways of travel without a car, by bus and by train; new friendships; short-term stays with moving on; new scenery everyday.

Our 1 week “Dry Pantry” grocery list:

Baking Soda (travel with)

Bread, Sourdough

Cinnamon (travel with)

Coffee (carried from last stay.)

Cookies

Crackers, Fancy

Crushed Red Pepper (finally got some! Been missing hot stuff in England! lol)

Flour (a small bag for making pancakes)

Granola

Italian Seasoning (travel with)

Jam

Kalamata Olives

Maple Syrup, real (carried in my backpack from last stay.)

Microwave Popcorn

Oil, Extra Virgin Olive (carried in my backpack from last stay.)

Red Wine Vinegar 

Salt and Pepper Shaker (carried from last stay.)

Tea (carried from last stay.)

Unsalted nuts

Our 1 week stay “Fresh Foods” grocery list:

Avocado

Bacon

Bananas

Carrots and Soup Vegetables

Cheeses, fancy

Chicken for soup

Cucumber

Eggs, pastured

Fresh Garlic

Lemon

Lettuce

Milk, pint

Mushrooms

Onions, green

Radishes

Spinach

Tomatoes

Yogurt (for pancakes)