19. Croeso I Gymru (Welcome to Wales)

 We left Cornwall early Monday morning around 8:00 a.m. Of course it was time for all of the school-age kids to head off to their respective schools. Almost everyone walks to school so it was a bit deja-vu to see so many children headed off with their parents and walking. The kids were all dressed in their British school uniforms. 

Bye bye, Cornwall.  

It was a relatively seamless drive of about 5 hours from Cornwall to our stay near Tenby, Wales. To make the transition from Cornwall to Wales we had to cross the Bristol Channel via the Prince of Wales Bridge. It was a very nice-looking bridge from an architectural perspective and quite comfortable to drive across. It was only about 3 miles long, with three sections. 

All through the United Kingdom there seem to be roadside service stops with all the amenities one might need including a McDonalds, a Costa Coffee Shop, a W.H. Smith bookshop, toilets, and other little shops. They are really well-used by tourists and travellers. It’s nice to know there’s always that clean, dependable option for stops while travelling. 

We had read about the signage in Wales and how there’s so much wording on each sign. You quickly realize that you only need to take-in half of the sign as everything is written in both Welsh and English. It’s nice that so far most things have been well-signed. We are not led to believe that is always the case and anticipate a lot of dependence on the navigation system for some of our upcoming drives. It’s always interesting when we take a wrong turn, almost always in a town, and the narrow roads we have to drive to get us re-routed back to the proper route. 

Our accommodation for tonight has a view of a golf course and then a water view which I believe is the Bristol Channel. There’s also a very small two car train that goes by frequently as we look out the window. It’s quite cute. It has been raining and blowing fiercely here and through most of our drive so we will just stay tucked in our room for the afternoon and evening tonight. The weather didn’t stop the golfers though. Amazing. The hotel has been very accommodating for my food sensitivities here so we’ve booked a spot in the restaurant for dinner. We are staying in an old abbey tonight that has been renovated. 

Over the last hour the rain has started to abate so we can see a little more out the window with a view. The colour green here has so many different shades and is so bright due to all of the rain. The rolling hills and countryside dotted with sheep and cows is always a welcome pastoral scene.