Day 19: To Cardiff via Ludlow

The sun shone brightly again! We cannot believe the luck we have had with the weather. Our route today took us back and forth across the Welsh/English border and the sun shone on both sides even though Wales is meant to be rainy

Welsh Marches

The Welsh Marches is a term used to describe those parts of the English counties which lie along the border with Wales, particularly Shropshire and Herefordshire. They were the medieval frontier or borderland between the English shires and unsubdued Welsh kingdoms.

During the medieval period, the Marches were a frontier society. Hundreds of small castles were built in the border area in the 12th and 13th centuries, predominantly by Norman lords as assertions of power as well as defences against Welsh raiders and rebels. The area still contains Britain’s densest concentration of motte-and-bailey castles.

Ludlow 
A town in the Midlands also called the Black Country during the Industrial Revolution. 

Ludlow is a Medieval market town and there is still a market in the square every day. Today it was an antique market. It was Sunday so we were able to stroll and browse all the wares with the sound of the church bells chiming. They went for quite some time.

Ludlow Castle

Castle Lodge
Otherwise known as the ‘Creepy house’ according to Darren, our guide. It’s not administered by national trust and a strange man resides in the front room (I could see his bed!) to let visitors in. You have to ring the bell to alert him, he takes your money and let’s you wander around the house. The sign out front says its ‘One of England’s Thousand Best Houses’😂

It was a weird mix of genuine medieval glass, wood paneling and roofing alongside modern couches, plastic flowers and an odd stuffed bear in the scary as hell ‘Children’s room’.

It was in this lovely town that I got so sick of Harry’s attitude that I told him to nick off (in much stronger words than that) and leave me alone. What he did was hide and follow me around. Before you get all sanctimummy, at all times Harry knows the name of where we are, where we are staying and also on stops like this one, he knows where the coach will be and the time we are leaving. When we revealed ourselves to each other, we ate a Toastie in front of the castle and then headed to the coach.

And in case you don’t believe it:

Cardiff

Time to meet in real life a friend who I met at Liquid Online Church 8 years ago! Kyle and his girlfriend Kirsty arranged to catch up with us at Cardiff Castle. After a big hello and a quick look at the Castle’s Norman tower, 

we decided instead to visit the MilleniumStadium (now called Principality Stadium) and take a tour. I think this ended up being much more fun.

Millennium Stadium (currently named the Principality Stadium for sponsorship purposes), is the national stadium of Wales, located in Cardiff. It is the home of the Wales national rugby union team and has also staged games of the Wales national football team. 

The stadium was first used for a major event on 26 June 1999, when Wales played South Africa in a rugby union friendly match before a test crowd of 29,000. Wales won the match 29–19: the first time they had ever beaten the Springboks. The stadium is also used for concerts and other sporting events.

We toured the change rooms, press conference room, corporate boxes and the royal box (I sat where the queen sits!)

The grass was only 3 weeks old and was being mowed by two blokes with a push mower.

Afterwards we had a pint in a pub and bid them farewell. It was great to finally meet Kyle and catch up, though we both found each other hard to understand at times! 

We also bid our driver Dee Dee farewell as he has done his driving quota for the trip. He has been an excellent driver and made us feel very safe.

Our hotel is a flash one. There’s a divider between our bed and Harry’s. They must have known we needed the break!

We walked to dinner, passing the Palace of Justice and Cardiff University.

Hogwurst for a fancy hot dog dinner: