After Scotland, a brief respite before mine and Dan's first holiday together - Camping in Wales. We both had mixed feelings about this before heading off for different reasons. Danielle, a lover of all the details of a trip away was being kept in the dark about all but the fact the location would be somewhere in Wales and that at least part of it involved the rather alien concept of camping. To confound this, the forecast for our week away was far from rosy. Wales threatened to live up to it's famous wet weather by tipping it down for the whole week after a month of sunny splendour. As well as having the task of finding us plenty to do while we were out there, I'd also have the secret fear of whether Mavis would last the journey and get us there and back without breaking down!
The two or three days before were rather frantic, booking up the last few venues and activities and trying to remember all the things needed for a camping jaunt. Yes we'd have all the mod cons of toilet blocks and hot showers to look forward to but we'd still be spending the night in a tent, with the added bonus of planned downpours for the duration. The day eventually came to set off and Dan had brought just about everything she could think of cloth and bedding wise (luckily so as I can't stand sleeping bags, still can't find one big enough to fit yours truly :-S After picking Dan up Mavis was loaded and ready to go, the weather at this point was gravy enough and an easy drive down meant we'd be getting there in the day time to pitch up. Our destination was Abergavenny where we'd be spending a lot of the time down there, The tent went up on the third attempt (it's a been a while!) and everything we needed was piled into our portable home. Bliss I thought, I'm in my favourite country in the world with the girl I love and all is well. Queue the rain. I love camping, I really do. When it's dry, and still. Camping in the wind and/or rain has the potential of being as enjoyable as watching an episode of Jeremy Kyle or Mama Mia whilst sober. The strong winds down in Brighton and the heavy rain up around the Pennine Way had pushed my love for this simple pursuit to the limits and the Welsh weather was threatening to do the same as Danielle's fears over camping were coming to fruition. I was still confident though as I'd already confidently stated I'd never been washed out of a tent. After an hour or so a few drips were starting to make there way through, I'm not sure if it was me blanking them out or the super human senses of my beloved that picked them up first but it was soon clear we'd have to do something to sort it out. It was either get in the car, camp out in the disabled loo or get out and sort it so on went the water proofs (well, closest I've got) and out came the black bin liners covering the top of the tent. I'm not a religious man but I was praying they'd do the job, at least until morning...
Success! Despite looking a right state the next morning they'd done their job and we'd stayed dry. Aside from the showers with the kid who wouldn't stop singing in them and another dampish morning we were still more than happy enough. We made a decision to avoid a second night in a row outdoors, favouring a hotel for night 2. It was Sunday, and Dani's time to do the organising. I'd deliberately kept a couple of free days to see what there was to do down there and DM stepped up to make the day a bloody good one. It started off pretty nervy as the weather closed in again. We made our way to the Dan Yr Ogof caves and at one point on one of the main roads when the rain really started pummeling it down I don't mind admitting I have never felt so frightened in a car. Visibility was shocking, Mavis was feeling underpowered due to her emcumberment and the wind was making everyone sway to and fro. Dan was trying to book the hotel for the evening on her phone during the journey. She was keeping me in the loop throughout with the progress, blissfully unaware just how terrified I was feeling. Once the booking was made and the weather started to clear I think the penny dropped ;) The sun was now out and the scenery was looking gorgeous. Outside of the main towns and cities there are few areas of Wales not blessed with such beauty. We stopped off a mile or so out the caves at a breakfast van run by a lush couple, the guy from Wales and his wife from the south of England. The place was so nice the couple said the people who worked at the caves we were going to usually have their breakfasts there despite having their own café. We stayed there for a while drying ourselves off, had an epic breakfast bap and fish finger sandwiches then found the caves. They were a mixture of dinosaur models and caves, and wasn't as tacky as it sounded! The weather was being pretty generous even though we knew we'd be inside for most of it. For starters it was the biggest cave, Dan Yr Ogof, in terms of time it took to walk through it. I remember how cold it was when first walking in, water dripping throughout from the odd drip here and there to torrents of water. The cave was full of stalagmites and tites and those ones that join together. The voiceover guy being played throughout sounded just like Sabine from Fable III (move on all you non-RPG fans..) After that was the biggest cave in height, the cathedral cave. As soon as we walked in we heard classical music playing in the background and the sound of a waterfall, as we ventured further in we were greeted by it's true beauty. The fall started high up with walk ways taking you close enough to experience the spray as you walked past. At the end was a bit sectioned off which was obviously used for weddings, and apparently still is! For the quirky minded couple, you can get married in this delightful area of randomness and if my lovely lady chooses to spend the rest of her life with me the Cathedral cave in Dan Yr Ogof showcaves is right up there on my list of venues x The final cave was memorable only as to the effort needed to reach it. After borderline altitude sickness for the two of us in the climb needed to reach it, we were then faced with a jaunt along what must be the lowest walkway in existence. On went the hard hats as we walked up hill and bent over to the entrance to the cave. The tour of that took all of 10 seconds before the delightful return journey!
After that we decided to have an hour or so in one of the local towns, followed by rescuing the tent in whatever state we'd find it before making our way to the hotel. The town was lush enough, nothing ink worthy aside from delightfully cheap parking prices, a slightly soggy seat in a nice wooded section and an oriental girl surveying us on a transport thingy. Back at the campsite from the night before and the tent had stayed (reasonably) dry. A dude was close to packing it away for us in case it blew away bless him. He also had the strongest accent of anyone I'd heard so far so was loving that! He put a few sprays of some sealant he'd got on him, which was nice. I divulge, moving on...
The Rat Trap, nice little place that Dan had found for us to spend the night in, run single handed it looked initially by a batman loving dude. After flirting slightly with Dan we had a chat over a pint of Ale and lemonade (at least I had the excuse of being the driver for the week this time...). When we got to our room we were greeted with such luxuries as a roof, bed, warm towels, shower, mattress and carpet. We didn't even use the telly in the end as we bathed in the tranquillity of indoors-ness. Camping outside in good weather is a joy to behold but sleeping indoors after a night out in the rain is heaven sent.
After brekkie, served by our bat tat, and once again, batman t-shirt wearing host, it was onward to another day's frivolity. The ultimate destination involved Danielle's love of cheese but on the way there we were on full 'spot the brown sign' mode. Success, a sign for a hedge maze. Wide eyed we shot off the main road in pursuit of this promise of variety. We'd scampered back over the border into Hereford and found a quirky place offering a garden centre, butterfly place, mini golf course, paintball thingy and hedge maze. We were slightly early so rocked up to the garden centre for a gander, walking away with some campervan memorabilia (which I WILL be putting in a real VW one day...). Next was the butterfly place, a chance to see them up close in their own version of paradise. The heat was turned up for them so it was time to layer down. As soon as we walked in one of the Owl eye ones landed on Dan's bag, obviously the more confident of species as it was mainly them being the more curious of the lot. There were loads of them on show from the non-stop randy blue ones to the delicate looking see through ones. Loved it. After that was mini golf, a very close game claimed only on the last hole by yours truly by a shot. And ahhhh yes the hedge maze, the star of the show and reason for our initial detour. A first for me, Hampton court it may not have been but the camp attendant welcomed us nonetheless into a cracking maze which bamboozled me for long enough and proving no trouble at all for a future genius of a small boy and his Mum who followed us in. Me and Dan decided to split up to see who reached the middle first, I was miles away for most of it, mockingly cheered on by Dani who started chuckling each time my voice ventured closer then ended up further away. I eventually made it to the middle to a lush stone seat and metal structure which did a delightful job of framing the ever photogenic DM. We left the maze and made our way up to the viewing platform, seeing various groups of people making the same mistakes we'd just done. Anything other than turning left at the entrance meant an eternity of dead ends and saying hello to yourself repeatedly.
We left our delightfully random find and journeyed on to the cheese place at Monkland Cheese dairy. Despite my famous lack of directional prowess and the saga of the exploding curry sauce we eventually rocked up to where Dan had been looking forward to seeing since first finding out about it. Danielle in a cheese dairy is up there with me in a tea plantation, as close to heaven as it gets getting your taste buds favourite entity straight from the source. We were just in time for the tour which saw us chewing some curds (or was it whey, always get them mixed up) and chucking one of them on the floor to hear it squelch. Lots of fun, even if the first bit tasted bloody horrible! To this day I still don't know which mould is good on cheese but the stuff we saw was covered in the stuff which is apparently a good thing (think i'll stick to my tea. One rule - Mould is BAAAD!). Lunch was lush as it included the best of both our worlds, cheese and tea. A whacking great slice of cheese, tea served in porcelain and probably the best tomato and basil soup I've ever had. After downing that lot and buying some nice black coloured jam stuff it was off to the evening's accommodation. Before leaving for Wales i'd promised Dan two nights there were not going to be in a tent. She'd already guessed the hotel to be stayed in after the weeks most physical activity (patience, you'll read about it eventually) but it wasn't until the lunch at the cheese place she'd wriggled out of me the semi details of where we'd be. When we reached the place I knew instantly I was going to love it. Hollybush Inn and campsite - home to chicken's with feathers on their feet, a sunken trampoline in the ground under a fruit tree, a lush river for canoeing, fishing or simply gazing at, a Nepalese / Thai restaurant and stars of the show, a group of gorgeous looking tipis in woodland. I booked ourselves in, grabbed the firewood and kindling (trying not to look like a woos as the logs were bloody heavy!) and had a chat with the woman who owned the place with another dude about the rules of the camp. She was just about as chilled out as is humanly possible without being drunk or high. The whole place seemed to have a hippyish feel to it in a way, anywhere that has chicken with furry feet roaming around and a friendly cat always has my vote :) We were the first people at the tipis which seemed to go in our favour. Barbara the owner radioed Colin who showed us the ropes once we'd driven down closer to the camp. He was just as chilled out. Despite the fact there was just the two of us he picked us out the biggest tipi in the corner so we could have some privacy. I couldn't get over how much room was inside and took a while to get used to standing up straight having been used to the confines of the tent! We had a walk around the site and popped down by the river. You can forget how quickly it gets cold, even in August when you're outside so we got the fire going before having a few games of Rummikub. After a spot of trampoling to see who could pick the highest fruit from the fruit tree we ot some grub from the Nepalese place, played some more games with our headtorches on and toasted some marshmallows. Never has a foodstuff tasted so good after it's been in the fire for a few seconds, gorgeous gooey goodness :). Unfortunately the night's sleep was far from great. Despite the curfew put in place there were a few people who just wouldn't stop talking. At one point one bloke was terribly British in asking them politely if they'd keep the noise down. It didn't help that much but he at least gained a few sarcastic claps from yours truly who at this point was far from amused. Horseplay and Find the bridge part one all over again!
Come the morning and aarrrggghhh, panic! Some trebuchet had jumped a load of wood chippings part blocking the way out. The only way out would require going over a big bump of over a mini crevice but even scarier, both would involve reversing! :-S Knowing i'd be a bit nervy at this point Dan wisely went off to wash up the plates and cutlery we'd used the night before, any excuse to avoid seeing how i'd work my way out of this little ditty. I'm often awkward in my methods which baffles all and sundry and can only apply 'bloke logic' to half of what I do, the rest makes sense only in my head. This time though I was quite chuffed with my efforts. First off, grab one of the canoe oars, shovel a load of the stuff to the side ad check to make sure the space between the mound and the parked Mercedes was big enough. Secondly, perform an elaborate 8 point turn or whatever it was to face the right way, then drive monster truck stylee over the mound and off to safety. Success! Off we trundled, destination Swansea for an activity which brought us both excitement and trepidation in spades - Gorge Scrambling. This was the only thing Dani knew for sure we'd be doing as she had to pack correctly for it. Swimwear plus (weirdly enough) a pair of shorts to be worn over the wetsuit we'd have. First shock of the day was the venue. Upon reaching the building up the gravelly road we found out the actual venue of said scrambling of the Gorge was a bit of a hike back up he road we'd just come. Fearful for my Mavis, this wasn't great news but we were relieved to have a great couple of people who were the first we met there, Kevin and Sally. Sally was an ex lifeguard which instantly made Dan feel better and Kev, was just a really lovely bloke :) After getting all our gear we set off in an Italian job meets Convoy line up on the way to the scramble or 'Gully Bashing' as it was now known as. When I booked it I had no idea what to call it, the bloke on the phone asked me if I meant Gorge Scrambling and I said as long as it's the one in water that'll do me.We pulled up and got ourselves into our wetsuits, hardly the most glamorous of things but needless to say DM pulled it off in style (if you find yourself reaching for the sick bucket at times like this then tough, i'm in love peeps x). Our guide got himself kitted up as well and the dude with him put on something which looked like one of those flying suit thingies but is basically a wetsuit with loads of zips in it. Off we all marched to the start of the scramble, the odd nervous laugh here and there the closer we got. We reached the edge of the water and there was a group in front of us. They told us it probably wasn't a great idea watching them go in because of their reactions to the cold water. My one fear throughout was the joke on the way there, how's it going to be for the tall guy, will the water be deep enough?! Ha de ha indeed but yep, was bricking it thinking about it. The group in front eventually all made it into the water. They asked for volunteers and Kev just beat me to it. I'm rarely the most confident in a group but am always up for going first. In he jumped without too much fuss other than generic 'ooh, it's a bit nippy'. Dani was due to go next, then me then Sally. The brief was to just jump in so the cold didn't put you off. All well in theory but this didn't work out great for Dan. For someone who hates cold water and having their head submerged under it you can have an educated guess as to how she found it. I can't remember seeing anyone looked more shocked and terrified in my life, how the words "What have you done to me?!" or something much ruder didn't pass her lips I will never know, must have been the shock of it all. All thoughts of how cold the water would be and if i'd break my legs on the way in went out the window as all thoughts were to get to Dan to help her out. Kev and Sally did a great job of calming her down as well, Sally especially stayed with her throughout as she was used to this sort of thing. After a couple of minutes Dan got used to the water, the wetsuits were doing their job of regulating the temperature of the water inside the suit to keep warm. We climbed out of the water and scrambled across a rocky bit following the stream. The rest of the group joined us, the others consisting of a bloke with his teenage son and another bloke with his daughters. Further up we had to take our life jackets off ready for the big squeeze, and my worst bit. We had to crawl through a tight gap, work our way onto a ledge then pull ourselves up to get back to wear we'd un-lifejacketed. Despite Dani 'lovingly advising' I was that flustered and bricking it I have to admit I was close to replying in a most ungentlemanly way. Eventually I made my way to the top, decorum was restored and all was well with the world. Life jackets back on and off we went upstream. We reached another plunge bit but this felt much gentler as we knew what to expect. We went through various scrambling bits, shimmying across walls and my favourite, climbing up through the rapids. The weather changed every few minutes from warm and sunny through to torrential rain but we cared not a jot as were we wetsuited up to the nines. Dani chose to face her big fear at one point by dipping her head under a cascading waterfall, it shocked quite a few people with how cold it was but Dan coped great with it. The old one wouldn't have fared that well though I reckon if he was there ;) Straight after that though came the limit for Dan who had reached the limit. It was a climb up a vertical wall with water coming down it. Fatigue and no upper body strength to speak of had taken it's toll so Dan and the guy with the two daughters had to sit that one out. The climb had taken the rest of us up to the bit I was dreading the most, the waterfall jumps. This was confounded by someone from the group before being a bit too girly and not wanting to jump and the route up which involved crawling across a narrow ledge with a torrent of cold water pouring over you. After i'd done that bit though, a wave of call it what you will came over me and I had the sudden urge to jump. The jump itself wasn't all that and i'd avoided breaking my legs until this point so I thought 'sod it', and in I jumped. WOW! What a feeling! I felt like I'd swallowed a bag of haribo then as I was so full of adrenalin and ready for the next jump. I looked over at Dan who was looking a bit gutted at this point at not being able to make the climb. All thoughts of jumping were a nono but the climb had put a dampener on proceedings. I was still buzzing at this point and after the first few of our group had jumped of the next bit it was my turn. "Aim for the green bit" was the advice, so I aimed for said green bit and blow me I jumped! The drop down seemed to last a while and the landing taught me in future to hold my nose to stop all the water going up it. Ow! GREAT feeling though, hard to put into words what it felt like (minus the nose full of water bit). At that point though i'd reached my limit as the next bit was a jump at least double if not triple the one we'd just done. I wasn't alone in calling it a day with that one, Kev had done the same despite the ever awesome Sally jumping repeatedly. I've never understood my reputation as an adrenalin junkie, not when people like Sally exist. I crave randomness and would happily forego a bungee jump or roller coaster ride in favour of a spot of duck herding. We'd reached the end of the day's frivolities and it was time to get changed, not easy when it's pouring with rain with a changing room with no roof and no other forms of shelter. Dani got changed in Mavis and I braved it outside getting dry when the rain eased.
We left the others and made our way towards the coast towards our hotel for the evening, a lovely little place called the Crescent. I'll remember this place for the nice little touches like the honestly jar if you wanted a drink, the first time we'd turned on the TV since crossing the border and the shower which didn't scold, even though I couldn't stand up straight in it, warranting a none too flattering photo op from DM! We were knackered when we arrived after the Gorge Scrambling so we collapsed into a pub to have lunch there. I was hungry like the wolf as neither of us had eaten since the night before so everything was polished off. The following morning at the Crescent, after the full breakfast works downstairs from the two lovely owners, we spent having a look around the area. A walk along the beach, then further along to a couple of museums, one with the industrial past of Wales and servers of some pretty lush citrusy welsh cakes and the other with a bit of everything thrown in from World War I to Egyptian mummies and a spooky looking model of an ancient celtic dude which freaked Dan out. We finished off at Joe's ice cream place, home to some cracking ice cream for those with a sweet tooth which seemed to have a weird effect on Dani. Eventually it was time to make our way to what we thought would be our penultimate venue, a campsite a few minutes drive away from the next day's events and right next door to the campsite which we'd spent our first night in. The drive down included a very hyper Dani bouncing around the car, now very high on sugar even though she's ended up with a smaller offering and I had the all singing all dancing beast of a vanilla and chocolate epicness of a sundae. Our campsite was at Wernddu golf cub where the weather started to ominously turn the second we rolled up in the car. At this point we were already looking at back up plans in case it started to pour and the tent started to leak. After putting the tent up the weather started to clear so we went for a walk in the local fields. The signs for the footpath seemed to disappear so we wandered back through the field of shocked and slightly disgruntled looking sheep and back towards the tent, just in time for the weather to start playing up again. At this point we both cracked up as by now we'd both been at the fed up stage when the bad weather came, the comedy timing just made it. The weather didn't last though and we had a largely trouble free night and perfect morning. The views over the sugar mountain were great with the colours of the sky, moments when silence is all that's needed and was granted.
The morning brought with it my surprise day. It would be a double activity day at the same venue but still a mystery to my Missy. It was to be a 5 minute journey in the car, or it would have been if Mavis hadn't decided not to start. My one fear for the week had been realised, lucky only that of all the times to let us down this was the least severe as we were so close to the desired venue. Out we walked and i'm afraid to say thanks again to my infamous lack of direction we ended up walking on the path of an A road. Dan was not amused. mainly it turned out due to my habit of sticking my head out towards oncoming traffic to see what was coming. Can't think why... ;) After climbing down the embankment through a wooden fence then down a steep bit we were on the right road and i'd been forgiven. We trekked up the new, quieter road, looking for a place that looked like it would do what we'd be doing, archery and falconry. Despite neither activity qualifying for the PB as i'd done falconry years ago and archery a few times, i'd loved them both and Dan had experienced neither. We eventually found the place, waited in the nice little café which sold local crafts and waited for our bird and bow man to show up. It was only me and Dan taking part this day, the group doing the Gully Bashing were great but now it was nice just to have the two of us doing something with our friendly teacher. First up after the tea and biscuits in his giant shed were the birds. We got to see three beautiful birds and handle two of them. One of which, a temperamental bugger did as our instructor said at one point and gave me a token whack with his wing when I turned my back to him by mistake. We each had a leather glove and each took turns to have the birds fly up to us. It reminded me how graceful the birds are, so easy love a carnivore as they are so much prettier than the thing they're hunting. The birds were put back in the van and it was out with the bows and arrows. The recurve bows were smaller than i'd used before so it was weird to hold it at first. I soon got my eye in and was hitting the yellows, I'd love to take it up as a hobby, ever since I tried it again for my Rossifer-tieth. Dan was her usual competitive self and after the odd bit of telling off from our chappie, soon found a way of lining herself up with one of the trees and hitting the middle of the target. We finished on a shootoff with three arrows each. Funny how the pressure of competition can affect you, we've already got that competitiveness in us to try and beat each other. In the end we both bottled it on a couple of shots with yours truly doing the double and edging it again by just one point as with the mini golf. Although the previous day had been an epic one this one was a true winner as we were both in our comfort zone with no white knuckle rides to speak of. At this point though I faced a problem. On the way back to Mavis I was a) praying that she'd start and b) thinking if she does, do I want to risk another night outside and the thought of her not starting again. In the car, a quick prayer and a turn of the key, she started. Dani has set aside the last day to do a bit of souvenir shopping but the decision was made to race to the border and home while she was working. A final day shopping in Abergavenny was instead swapped with a gaming day back home intertwined with unpacking and a shed load of washing. Success! I'd taken the love of my life camping to my favourite country on this earth and got the pictures to prove it. So many great people and places and weird little memories. The broad accented guy with the waterproof sealant, the amount of things we ended up doing and seeing yet never seeming to rush our time out there. Going through various conditions and coming out, more sure than ever, about my feelings towards Dan. Far from deterring me, spending 24 hours a day for just under a week with Dani had cemented my love for her and made me adamant I would happily spend the rest of my days with her. DM, Je' Taime. 
Rossifer x
Next up, the Bath to Reading walk and the as yet un-named 26.2 miler jobbie
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