Tewkesbury and Bath

 Aren't they just about the most English place names you've ever heard? The names are only rivaled by the history and architecture, let me tell you.

The morning started with a delightful breakfast spread and Rhys and Louise's. Full on B&B treatment - so unexpected and so sweet! Then we followed Rhys' walking directions along the Avon River to the Tewkesbury Abbey. While that sounds like something easy and not worth mentioning, it isn't. You see, I typically can't take in verbal directions and teachings. I'm a visual learner and struggle to remember anything verbally presented. But as established in the last post, Rhys and I are similar enough as humans that he speaks a language I understand. Directions complete with landmarks and visual cues for making turns! I could paint a picture in my mind as he talked and had no issues recollecting it and leading us there. Was this my Catholic Miracle fresh from St Winifride's Well???  You can't rule it out!

More baby birds! Signets no less. Delightful.

Tewkesbury Cathedral is like 1000+ years old and one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Britain. (Romanesque style is before the Gothic period and the architecture features thick walls, rounded arches vs pointed, symmetrical design with sturdy pillars and barrel vaults).

It has a long and interesting history - not devoid of bloodshed - but these days seems to play host to events featuring art and craft, theatre and games, childrens fun and more... something for the whole community to partake in. Honestly, it was a breath of fresh air as I had gotten used to the usual Catholic experience with strong smells of incense and mustiness, quiet and cool cathedrals that are empty and grounds that lack life and love ... and scream "find the money to maintain me better!"

A walk through Tewkesbury with it's beautiful and crooked Tudor style buildings would not be complete without coffee and cake. And a quick stop to pick out a silver charm for my bracelet!

By lunch time we were headed to Bath. I thought Mark would enjoy something super British and Roman, yet different from the other sights I had navigated us to all week. The baths of Bath!

Incredibly touristy but worth the stop. We meandered while listening to the audio guide. Took pictures and learned a crazy amount too. 

Call me crazy, but I was EXCITED to find a nice hotel near Heathrow and have some downtime. Repacking, refueling and relaxing before tomorrows flight seemed the perfect way to end the day - the week - the whole trip. 

Mentally, I was ready to go home. The call of the fur-babies was strong!

And then... the fun began... 

Leaving Wales

 Spoiler alert... the end of today was one of the hands-down highlights of my entire Wales trip. I'll get there, but first a rundown on how we spent the last day in Wales.

An early start from Beddgelert as we headed for the 'hills' of Snowdonia in search of colorful morning light, pictures of the peaks and the lakes with views to take your breath away.  It was a crap shoot and we were just guessing where the sun would hit - a plan that also relied on clouds parting. While the weather was super pleasant, it was nothing close to clear skies and the pics I have are nice but not 'wow'. As usual my greatest joy did come from the sheep on road and photogenic birds!

Egg salad sandwiches eaten in a parking lot overlooking Welsh mountains was not the worst idea I'd ever had. We were hungry early (as usual) and had long since worked out that coffee shops and breakfast places dont serve until 8-10am here. 

Pen-Y-Pass twice was quite lovely and the little stop in Llanberis was also well earned. We nixed the idea of taking a little train to the top of Mt Snowdon upon realizing the top was still thickly enshrouded with cloud. 

Ok, last Welsh bucket item was a waterfall. You might remember it from a planning post I wrote:

Pistyll Rhaeadr

It became sooo apparent that 30 miles taking well over an hour to drive was accurate as we got closer. Waterfall Rd is about 3 miles long and terminates at Pistyll Rhaeadr - rumored to have a cafe and all. 

The lane was tight. Our car plus a couple of inches each side! No more than a bump-out infrequently spaced and MAYBE able to let two cars squeeze by each other. Brambles, road drop-offs and rock walls defined the edges. Our DS car was midsized but to be fair we were not the biggest thing on the road and some unlucky oncoming cars had to navigate past a camper! WTF!?

There was a point at which 4 cars (us included) had to pass 4 oncoming cars. The road looked like a real-life dicey hand-held game where you have to move one car a few inches, to move another, then another gets repositioned etc. The only reason 8 cars ever got out of there is that one fantastic Brit lady got out and directed traffic. During these tense moments (too tense to remember to film it!) Mark and I kissed goodbye any attachment to our £2000 deductible and actually lamented not doing it sooner given the style of roads I had navigated through this week. I took a video going back down, but it was relatively smooth and in no way reflects the trauma experienced on the way up. 

The waterfall. Well first you have to squish yourself into something resembling an insanely crowded parking lot...or just park along the road before you get there and hike up. That's what we did! All this would have been hilarious if it wasn't the messy situation we also had to get out of a bit later. 

If it wasn't clear already, we were not the only ones visiting this famous-in-Wales waterfall. But despite the little crowd, Pistyll Rhaeadr did not disappoint. It was worthy of 100 pictures and it almost goes without saying that I took way more than that.

I know... it does seem like the waterfall and driving experience that went with it, was the highlight of today but actually we were in for a surprise. 

Back story: In 2010 while traveling solo in India, I had the good fortune to meet another solo traveler named Rhys. We were traveling in the same direction with the same things on our bucket list and both reading the book "Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus". What are the chances? For the next week we took in the sights, festivals and camel safari joys in and round Jaisalmer and the Thar Desert.

Check it out - could we be more similar?!

 We stayed Facebook  friends but with him in the UK and me in the US, we had never met in person again. 

When planning the UK trip, I reached out and we made a plan to meet. I was going to finally meet his beautiful Louise. (Stole this pic from FB... sorry, but not sorry!)

Ok, so following 10 amazing days of sights and sounds, new experiences and weather that exceeded expectations, I can still say the best was yet to come. 

We enjoyed a truly special evening with friends new and old. Louise and Rhys made us dinner and dessert, we chatted and laughed for hours and then Mark and I fell into a deliciously comfortable bed, exhausted. It was the best evening and the greatest way to end the trip!!! 

My favorite part of the trip turned out to be, not the aqueduct, but the reunion and human connection.