England and Wales

After we arrived back in England, we managed to see a lot of friends and family over Christmas, but not everyone. So once the festivities were over, we went on a little tour to visit some more people we hadn't seen in a few years. 

Right after Christmas, we headed to the North by visiting Mitchell's mum for a few days. We took some lovely walks through the countryside and along the beach. One day we walked from Sutton on Sea to Chapel St Leonards to visit the North Sea Observatory. We walked through fields and followed the coastline all the way down. 

We also went to Donna Nook and saw some seals!

On New Year's Day, Mitchell and his mum went for a dip in the ocean!

Another day we did the Top of the Wolds trail, which was about 5 miles. We started in the little village of South Elkington, and about half way we stopped for lunch in Louth. At one point we could see all the way across the fields and back to Louth's church. 

We also did a day trip to Lincoln to see the streets and walk the walls of the castle. It was very cold and windy, but we enjoyed the views of Lincoln and learning about the history of the castle and the cathedral opposite.  

After Lincolnshire, we took the train over to  Nottingham for a day to visit some friends there. We managed to meet a lot of people and had a fun 24 hours.

The next week, we were off on the road again (or the train tracks I guess) off to Chippenham to see Mitchell's Gran, Aunty and cousins. We spent a couple of very pleasant nights with his family and also did a day trip to Bath while we were there. 

Bath was very pretty, and we visited the Roman Baths, touring the buildings and trying the water. Mitchell described the flavour as "like I've licked a stone" and he wasn't wrong. It was also weird drinking it slightly warm. 

We also walked around the city and saw the circus and Royal Crescent houses, and walked over the Pulteney Bridge. 

As we had done all this by about 1pm, we wanted to visit Prior Park and see the National Trust property, but it was closed midweek. So instead, we went to Alexandra Park which had amazing views all over Bath. It was a very steep walk up, especially after a day on our feet, but it was worth it.

From Chippenham, we took the train to Bristol on Saturday morning to stay with some friends.

Saturday we spent exploring the city, seeing the museum, grabbing some lunch and visiting an indoor market. We also climbed Cabot Tower which gave us a great view of Bristol and beyond. We cooked dinner at home that night, and then in the morning we headed out for a day trip. 

We drove to Cheddar Gorge and walked the loop. We started on the ridge and followed it up. While we were walking we saw lots of goats and it started to snow! At the top, rather than taking the loop back on the opposite ridge, we walked back on the road. I think this was probably the best route, as it meant you could see the full height of the gorge and view it from a completely new angle. 

After the cold and wet walk, we went for early dinner in the pub where Gareth and Katja got married. We'd missed their wedding because we were away, so it was really lovely to share this with them. 

On Monday morning, we were off again, this time to Haverfordwest to see my cousin. We arrived in the evening and spent a fun night at home catching up. The next morning, while Nicki and Andrew worked, we went for a day out in Wales. We caught the bus up to Solva and did a walk along the rocky coastline. It was very pretty, but all the shops and cafes in the town were shut unfortunately. 

After our walk, we walked along to the next bus stop and caught the bus to St Davids. Here, we went to visit the Cathedral which was very impressive, and looked a lot older then the other we'd seen in city centres recently. There were still medieval remains standing and the rocks used to build it are naturally purple!

We had some Welsh cakes for lunch in the cafe and then went to see the Bishop's house behind the cathedral. We were the only people there the whole time, and even though it was a little rainy, we still really enjoyed it. There were lots of stairs to go up and down, and dark rooms at the bottom, and information panels scattered about. 

Once we were done here, it started to rain a lot, so we caught the bus back to Nicki's. We went out for dinner that night in a pub and wrapped up an excellent couple of days. 

Wednesday morning, we caught the train straight to Cardiff and dropped our bags off in a hotel. We were then off to Penarth to see Mitchell's great Aunt and tell her all about the wedding and our American adventures. 

In the evening we met with my friend for dinner in Cardiff and caught up with her and her partner. 

Thursday morning we had some time to explore Cardiff properly, so we went to go and see the castle. It was a lot more sturdy looking than the one in St David's, but still had its Roman keep and the rooms inside were decorated in the Victorian age with some very interesting themes. We also walked inside the walls and saw all the WWII bomb shelter information. 

We didn't walk on top of the walls as it had started to rain very heavily at this point. So we finished up and went to the station. We did stop at an indoor market which was very cute and had lots of independent shops and cafes. If I hadn't been  carrying everything on my back for the week I would have been very tempted to buy some trinkets. 

Our train that afternoon took us all the way to Southampton where we made our way to the house of a family we had met in California. They are French, but had moved to the UK for the next part of their adventure. We picked the kids up from school and then had dinner together. 

We had Friday to ourselves, so we went for a walk around the city of Southampton. We saw the common, the Roman walls, and the docks. We got some lunch and headed back in time to do the school run again. 

On Saturday we had a day out all together and went to do a walk in the New Forest. We caught the train to Brockenhurst and took a trail around the Royden Woods Nature centre. We saw ponies, bridges and lots and lots of mud! 

After our day out, we had to catch the train home to be back in time to see Callum in his panto the next day. We spent the night in Whittlesford Parkway as Kings Cross was closed that weekend, and in the morning saw lots more cousins and family at the show. 

What a week!