Wales Part 1: Cardigan

Hello all!

I'm back. I'm in the midst of writing finals so I'm kind of pre-occupied. I have 3 more to go!

So spring break. We had 2 weeks (!) of spring break, starting Easter weekend. I stayed here the 1st week to get some school work done (I had an essay due right after spring break). The 2nd week, I went on a coastal trip to Wales to do some hiking. I really wanted to do the Ceredigion Coastal Path Tour in its entirety, but it cost way too much money. So I decided to hit up 3 main places on the tour and walk to coastal path each day from the town. The first town I went to was Cardigan, Wales.

I took a plane from Glasgow to London, then a bus from London to Cardiff (capital city of Wales). From there I planned to take a train to a little town and then catch the local bus to Cardigan. But no, Europe would NEVER let my travel plans run so smoothly. The bus that I took from London to Cardiff side swiped something (I was asleep) and took out its side mirror. The two (rather incompetent) bus drivers took about an hour and a half to figure out how to tape it so it would stay up, so we were late pulling into Cardiff. My train had already left. I got on the phone with my Dad, since I had zero internet connection and no help from the bus station folks. He went on a journey planning site and found a train that I could take to a different small town and then catch the same local bus I planned to catch in the first place from there. So off I went, on a jam-packed train sitting next to 2 sets of teenaged parents and their 4 toddlers that they had zero control over. So far, not so relaxing of a spring break.

Anyways, I get to Cardigan around 7pm and find my B&B. I was just so happy to have a room to myself, with my own bathroom and shower! I fell asleep almost immediately.

My B&B room.

Downtown Cardigan

Mount Zion Church. On the Sunday I walked by there and the doors were open and you could hear all the people singing. It was pretty cool.

The next morning, I rose early, went down to the dining room and had a full English breakfast. Well not exactly full. I don't eat about half of the items included in an English breakfast, like tomatoes, beans, hasbrowns, or mushrooms. But I had bacon, sausage, eggs and toast. Yum. Then I was off to explore the town and its surrounding areas.

I walked to the River Teifi that bordered the town and found a trail that went around a marshland.

River Teifi

The marsh kind of looked like Saskatchewan

Wildlife!

They had these hideouts all over where you were suppose to see wildlife and tons of otters. I didn't see any.

If you're lucky, you might spot a rare Canadian goose! I think I'll just go to Wascana where there's an abundance of Canadian geese to be seen.

Some bird watching. Not like I knew what any of them were.

They had these flower bushes all of Wales.

Same with these yellow ones.

The walk took me around an hour and a half. After, I decided to head back to town to grab some water and try to find out where the coastal path was. The worker in the local adventure shop pointed me in the general direction and off I went. The coast was actually another town away, but it was only a 10 minute walk from Cardigan. From there, I picked up a free map of the coastal walk and headed for Poppit Sands, a giant beach area where the coastal walk began.

Poppit Sands

I stopped here and read for about an hour. So pretty.

Start of the hike up to the coastal path

View from about half way up the hill.

The path went through this campground area, where sheep were just lazing about.

Totally normal in Wales.

More yellow-flowered bushes.

Sorry for the audio. It's windy up there on the cliffs!

Yeah, just random horses on the path. No big deal.

Top of the cliffs on the coastal path

Oh yes. Self-timer jumping picture.
The horses migrated over to where I was sitting.

The town I walked to from Cardigan

That night I walked back to Cardigan and had chinese food (yum!). I packed and got ready because the next morning, I needed to catch a bus to my next destination: New Quay!

Keep a look out for my next blog about New Quay, my favorite place I went on my Wales trip.