21 August 2009

going crazy in cardiff ...

what a surreal night ... lying on the couch in the Nomad hostel in cardiff and listening to the U2 gig from Sheffield, being broadcast live, eyes firmly closed and all the places I have been to during the past two months, came flying by, it was a very moving night.

The day was great too .... got up nice and early to make my way to Myrthyl Tidfill with the train, then on towards Brecon with the bus, for some proper hill walking. First I had to wait for the bus to Brecon for one hour, I made my way to the shopping mall that was close by, thinking this was smart, making the tourist wait for some time, so they go and spend money in town ..

little did I know that I was gonna have a blast finding these great walking shoes, for 25 pounds, instead of the usual 70 .... they were great, water proof and they felt as if I had had them for years .... this was what I needed if I was seriously gonna go up the hills ... instead of the skate shoes that I was wearing .... I did not bring my proper hiking boots as they were too heavy and big for my bagpack .. I only tpook my handluggage on the plane ... being a cheaper way to fly these days ... so walking on these new shoes .. with a huge grin on my face ... now I was ready ...

Got off the bus right besides Penn Y Fan .. after Snowden, the second highest hill in Wales, and despite the bad weather decided to go for it .... It was very very windy, and cloudy too.. some rain showers were droping down, and as I was making my first steps on the hill .. the rain came down in such great drops that I decided to take out my wee brolly and duck underneath for 10 minutes ... Which was a great idea as it actually saved me from getting my pants wet .... with such a long way to go and these winds, it would have been far from comfortable to have wet pants .... literally, that would have been pants .... SO, the heavy rain stopped and I made my way up, the skies opened up sometimes, giving me incredible views of teh Brecon mountains and sometimes I literally was in the clouds .... especially as I was approaching the top ... luckily I had some great clear moments before all hell broke loose ... I was on top of Corn Du, right next to the top of Penn Y Fan when I could see this black cloud approaching, decided it was time to duck for cover ... made my way down a bit, hid behind a huge rock, out of the wind and held on to my wee brolly again, which means .. small umbrella .. Man, really all hell broke loose ... and pretty soon small waterfalls came thundering down the hill .... here I was, in my waterproof jacket, and freshly bought waterproof shoes, trying to keep my pants dry by hiding underneath my umbrella .... it did work but after a while, the umbrella gave up, started leaking and I was hoping it would stop raining ...

And yes, it did ... even though the clouds kept sweeping over the hill, without the rain, it was ok ... I moved towards the other hill, met two people who were wet as if they had been diving underwater .. I tell you ... they looked like drowned cats ... we had a l;augh together, and they went down ... for a few seconds I thought about making my way to the top of Penn Y Fan, only few meters away, but soon decided I was gonna say goodbye to that hill, and visit it again next year, I was gonna make my way down, and so I did .... not soon after that the rain was back ... within seconds giving me my wet pants I had so dreaded ... I decided to up the tempo and soon passed the couple I met earlier on ... not soon after that , it stopped raining again .... man, that hill was very angry that day ... with the wind in my face, drying my pants on teh way down .... it was then a nice walk down .... the skies cleared again, making me wonder for a wee moment if I should go back up ... naaaaa no way .... it was all ok ! I had had my moment of surrender I guess ....

Once I got all the way down, in the valley, with some waterfalls and green fields it was peacefull as anything, the sun was shining and I sat down and had a nice snickers ... I was totally amazed to see families making their way up the hill, with only shorts, and a light rain jacket, they had NO idea what it was like up there .... ah well ... they would soon find out I thought . When the couple came down that I had met on the top I decied to ask them if they were going to Myrthyll Tydfill by any chance, cause the bus would be another 1 hours wait ... and they decided it was only a small detour for them, and they kindly dropped my off at the train station .. yeah .... nice one !

Made my way back to Cardiff, and decided to go into town before going back to the hostel ... ended up in one of the many sportshops, as there are loads of these in the UK ... I remembered from my two years in scotland, that these shops allways have great sales for comfy shorts or trousers ... found myself a great pair of swimming pants and some other great pants, for very very little .... stil used my credit card ... yeah .... on you go ...

Then went to the hostel, had a great bath and shower, made some nice pasta, filled up my tummy and then settled behind the pc, on the sofa, feet up offcourse ... actually fell asleep during Mysterious Ways .... with three songs to go .... ah well ... you cant have it all I guess.

Tomorrow I will have a lazy day in the sauna and do some exploring at the coast of cardiff .. think of a way to get rid of my bag on the concert day ... I do have this hostel booked for the 22nd but plan to get at the Millennium Stadium early in the morning, before I can check in ... so .... ah well ... it wil get sorted ...
Bedtime for now .... off to the l;and of the little fairies .. welsh fairies ..

No comments: