Matt Wilkinson's Blog

My welsh weekender…

I last went to Wales when I was about 8. I probably stayed on a farm and spent my days in a museum, an adventure park or going on a little train through some dark cave with ice dripping from the ceiling. The mere suggestion from either of my parents that we went for a walk through the countryside was typically met with strong protest, a whine and the words ‘tsk… ugh… boring!!’.

So maybe it’s a sign of maturity (or my genes kicking in) that now I can’t think of anything better. This weekend I went with a group of mates to the Brecon Beacons. The idea was to go walking and talk rubbish in pubs (does that make me sound old?!). We ended up doing slightly less of the former (owing to the weather and getting lost!) and a lot more of the latter.

Wales is stunning, and the people we met were exceptionally friendly. It was almost a great weekend. I say almost because England lost in the rugby (made worse by a smug Scottish friend with us on the trip), Guiness makes your head hurt in the morning and people who sell train tickets to Wales like to give out conflicting information.

WARNING - Soap box moment!!

I’ll keep this short - no one likes people ranting but I kept my lid on on Friday night knowing I could vent my frustrations on this blog.

So I bought a ticket for the journey at the station. It was a saver ticket (a boring but important detail), I even checked with the man at the barrier if I could use the ticket OK? Everything was fine… Then the inspector on the train tells me that the ticket isn’t actually valid for the journey. I tried protesting but even when you know you’ve done everything by the book, you know their thinking that you’re lying. So it was either hand over another £20 or get off and wait in Bristol for TWO hours!!

So I spent the next 120 minutes sitting next to an Upper Crust café in the cold, with a wretched crossword that I couldn’t do (what is a word that means mouth of a river, 7 letters - - T - - - Y??).

So there’s no moral to this story really except that you have to visit Wales and maybe it would be better to drive…

See you from 7 this evening.

M x

Posted by Matt Wilkinson on March 10, 2008 at 18:06PM

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