Aberystwyth Bound — Part 7.

So, um, yeah.  I think I should likely finish this account of my trip before I make the next one in June.  We’re nearing the end folks, bear with me.

Consider this a peek into how my OC brain works… I simply must finish this up before I allow myself to progress forward with new posts,  I have a lot to talk about, such as my hunt for a house of my own in Austin.  So, here we go.  Likely only one more post after this one.

Journal Entry — September 19th: Postcard-O-Rama

Wednesday we really did a good job of sleeping in.  We showered, bundled up and started out walk into town in the rain.  I optimistically brought out my travel umbrella, and ten minutes later folded it’s battered body back up and resigned myself to walking in the gentle rain.  Regular umbrellas, much less small travel ones, are not up to the task of surviving the Welsh wind.  Fortunately the rain wasn’t so bad the my jacket wasn’t enough to hold it off.

We made our way to Jackabouts, a pancake restaurant of sorts.  English pancakes are closer to crêpes in texture and thickness, and what I’m used to — American style — are sweeter, thicker ones.  The menu offered a Scotch breakfast — two Scotch pancakes (closer to the American variety of silver-dollar pancakes), scrambled eggs, a sausage patty and sautéed mushrooms.

After eating I sat and wrote out all of the postcards I had for everyone.  Damn, I hate writing longhand… which is why I spend so much time writing in this damned book.  Sweets, ever so polite, didn’t point out that she was bored out of her skull watching me.  After what seemed like an eternity, I finally wrapped up and we went to the post office for postage, and to drop them in the mail.

Returned home, relaxed and visited with everyone.  Ate dinner at home (shock!) and eventually we found our way to bed.

Journal Entry — September 20th: Devil’s Bridge

Thursday we planned a trip to Devil’s Bridge, a journey taken by steam train.  Walked to the station, stopping to pick up snack and sammich fixins for the trip.  The train, while smaller than I was originally expecting, was still pretty cool.  We climbed aboard and the trip began.

The train was bumpy, noisy, and utterly fantastic.  Lots of beautiful countryside and sheep (again… shock!) along the way.  After an hour we made it to Devil’s Bridge, disembarked and had an hour to go exploring.  Had a peek at the three generations of bridges built one on top of another, the oldest dating back to around 1200 AD.

My inner tourist came out again as we then started down the path.  It takes a lot of effort not to inadvertently kill yourself on the path, made mostly of stones and slate (or slate-like stone).  The hand rails were our friends!  Took pictures of the waterfall and valley along the way.

We stopped and turned around when we reached the steps that came with a disclaimer — basically “proceed at your own risk, moron”.  Yeah, very narrow and shallow treads with an amazingly tall riser height… and rails placed across the path every 60′ or so to stop the falling and tumbling idiots who lost their footing.  No thanks, I like my skull the shape it is right now.

Climbed back up the path (ugh!), sweating and puffing the entire way.  But we had ice-cream at the top, so there’s a happy trade-off!  Made the train with time to spare, and we started back home.  I managed to only nod off a few times — the bumping and swaying of the train was rocking me blissfully to sleep.

After returning to the station we started back home with a quick stop-off at the grocery to pick up dinner and provisions.  Made it home, relaxed and visited a bit, ate dinner and relaxed some more.  Played some Cell Damage on the X-Box… did horribly but had fun all the same.  We retired to the room and watched some Black Adder before bed.