Adventures in Wales..Part 1

Last weekend we decided to go off and have an adventure…We visited Wales. Home of some of Great Britains most amazing Castles, Waterfalls and history. We were heading off thanks to Visit Wales for a weekend of exploration, fun and adventure. I had visited once before back when I was a Geology student one very cold January. It was spent mainly down dark  mines looking at seam lines but one of the things which stands in my memory almost twenty years on was the breath taking views from up in the Brecons. So of course that’s where I had to take the boys.

We headed across the Severn Bridge and headed off the main road up to the mountains and to the town of Brecon. We had arranged a narrow boat trip down the beautiful man made canal which runs through the mountains and is older than many of the roads and railway lines.  

 

As soon as we got there we decided it might be a good idea to go and have lunch and discovered he most gorgeous little café – Café Bijou. A little gem of a place which wouldn’t have been out of place in the cobble streets of Surrey or down the lanes in Brighton. The boys dived up in to Houmous sandwiches and tortilla crisps and I indulged in a cosy soup. I can honestly say hand on heart we were tempted to go back this weekend just for the food!  Despite being in the middle of Wales we found plenty of places I could eat. The Bijou Café had plenty of allergy free food and we also stumbled across a gluten free Chinese that evening too! Amazing!

The boys couldn’t wait to get on board the canal cruise so that was our next stop. We were both a little worried when we were told the trip was two and half hours and thought how on earth were we going to keep the boys amused for such a length of time. I shouldn’t have even worried, they are currently planning on taking us on holiday on one next year for a week or if they ever win the lottery on buying one.

The gentleman who ran the Dragonfly Canal Cruises was a natural child tamer and had them both up with him within minutes.  The cruise starts with a little history talk about the Canal and how it was created. We sipped down our coffee and munched on chocolate as we drifted out of the town and headed out.

The boys adored the trip and had to rush down from the driver’s station at the back to the front to watch the lock lower us down the hill. We did have to have a strong grip as they were a little too fascinated and wanted a closer look at one point.

At the half way point you head over the Aqueduct  which carrys the canal over the River Usk and at this point you can get out and stretch your legs and race the boat down the path just before it turns round.

We had chosen a later afternoon cruise and by this time the light had start to change and the boys were handed crayons and paper to colour in and between that and dashing up to tell the driver what they had just past (bears in trees – honestly!) it went far too quickly!

Dressed for dinner!

After a fascinating afternoon we headed to the country lodge that we were staying at and booked into our rooms. Gliffaes Hotel is also  set along the River Usk it makes the perfect stop for walkers, fishers and anyone who adores the outside and enjoys damn building too! The boys read that we needed to dress for dinner and the youngest was very chuffed that he had insisted on bring his R2D2 outfit! We headed out to Chinese in the end and the boys finished a fabulous day watching the sun set between the mountains and planning on what they were going to do the next day….Part 2 coming up soon!