White House Hotel Swansea

... Lez for remembering the password from last year, how impressive is that, I'd forgotten even making the account, lol! Anyway, the user id is evansholiday, and the passwrord is evans1. Just don't forget to tell us who you are!

Right, back to synching my i pod.......

Next report from Vegas or Salt Lake City!

OK, here we go again, sat in Lyn's office trying to sort everything out. This year's trip has proved even more complicated to arrange, especially as we're flying out of Gatwick and back into Heathrow. We never like to do things the easy way! Also the dollar hasn ...

... west wales was what I was expecting!
We left the hotel and spent the day tidying, cleaning, dropping furniture off and generally doing stuff we could have done without. Then there was the packing... I hate packing at the best of times, but to be packing for a trip that I have no idea where we are going while totally wiped out is my idea of hell on legs! Simon gave me a few pointers. A jumper and a bikini! Not ...

... t comfortable signing off on us riding on the beach. But we could go for a hack through the woods. Figured that was better than nothing.

Man it was a miserable day...raining and cold all day. Pretty much from when we entered Wales, it was raining on us...maybe Scotland will be better? The forecast calls for no rain, but it's still supposed to be cold, so wish us luck

... of Wales and is about an hour and a half drive away from Cardiff. The drive from Swansea onwards if very scenic and can be a bit hair-raising as cars squeeze past each other on the country lanes and in some cases come face to face before deciding who has to reverse first. I think we lost the stare down every time and our little Corsa got very used to moving backwards.

Our base for the weekend was the most ...

... excavated as well as the museum which had some interesting things in it. I wouldn't want to stay in this town for a really long period of time as there is not really that much there. It was very cute and quaint though.

We then set off for London and arrived late afternoon where i said good bye to all my new friends and headed off to Fulham to stay with Jade for a few nights before setting off again.

... it. Traditionally the Welsh aren't very happy aboutthis dam as it doesn't supply them any water - instead the water is sent toBirmingham. However, as it flows pretty much as a river to get there it is animpressive engineering feat.

We then went to our stop for the night which was out in the middle of nowherein a funky hostel with a big welcome to mexico sign out the front. It waspretty funky and the owner cooked us mexican food for dinner which was reallynice.

Of course, the ideal way to pass the day after a 100km mountain bike ride is to walk up the highest peak in the Beacons, so after a lovely cooked breakfast at the Canal Bridge Café, we loaded up the car then parked at the bottom of Pen y Fan and set off to walk up. It's not that bad a walk, and the views are great: typically Beacons, with big, rolling, grassy hills.

Our ...

... Swansea is a real nice little place, mostly built in the 50s onwards because it was flattened in the war. Seeing a beach again was lovely, it did feel quite similar to NZ. I was soooo excited when we went out to dinner at Mumbles with some of Nik's friends and I could read the menu! Made a nice change to the last 2 months of guessing and hoping for the best. The next day Nik took me on one of his Welsh 'walks' in Rhossili on the Gower Peninsula. The views were spectacular but ...

... comes fro,m this and of a phoenix rising. There was brighton and the football and the pubs and nige and chrissie and dave and rachel and there was amy and laurie and all and there was a sense of finished. then there was the trip home to teaching in tulum then there was the acceptance of who i am now and a general liking of this person moving on up