Departed Cardiff for Plymouth but first stopped to visit Bath and Glastonbury.

Bath: According to legend, Prince Bladud, who had contracted leprosy, was cured after bathing in the hot muddy waters of the hot spring. In gratitude, Bladud founded the City of Bath around the springs in 863BC. In AD 43 the Romans started the development of 'Aquae Sulis' as a sanctuary of rest and relaxation. In AD 70, the Romans built a reservoir around the hot springs, and then a sophisticated series of baths and a temple dedicated to the goddess Sulis Minerva. It is really amazing to experience.

A walk around the central area reveals other gems including the Bath Abbey, Avon River and the beautiful gardens along its banks. The Royal Circus - the semi-circular units much photographed and the setting of many movies including Pride & Prejudice. Jane Austin and Charles Dickens both lived in Bath for a time and wrote some of their works there.

Leaving Bath behind we stopped at Glastonbury Abbey. The Glastonbury and Somerset legends involve the boy Jesus together with his Great-Uncle, Joseph of Arimathea building Glastonbury's first wattle and daub church. When Joseph landed on the island of Avalon, he set foot on Wearyall Hill - just below the Tor. Exhausted, he thrust his staff into the ground, and rested. By morning, his staff had taken root - leaving a strange oriental thorn bush - the sacred Glastonbury Thorn. Growing in the Abbey grounds today is a propagated cutting supposedly from from Joseph's original. Joseph is said to have buried the Holy Grail for safe keeping, just below the Tor at the entrance to the Underworld. Shortly after he had done this, a spring, now known as Chalice Well, flowed forth and the water that emerged brought eternal youth to whosoever would drink it.

Legend also has it that the bodies of King Arthur and Guinevere were originally buried in the Abbey grounds around 542AD. Centuries later (in 1191) prompted by hints and rumours, the monks excavated this same spot in the cemetery and they dug down sixteen feet, to find an oaken coffin. At a depth of seven feet they found a stone beneath a leaden cross with an inscription variously interpreted to read 'Here lies King Arthur buried in Avalon'! The coffin contained two bodies - a great man and a woman, whose golden hair was still intact, until touched, when it crumbled away. The bodies were said to be those of Arthur and Guinevere.

Onwards to Plymouth - our base for the next two nights as we explore the south of Wales and Cornwall. After checking into our hotel we took a short ferry ride across Plymouth Sound to Cornwall and a drive around the cliff area of Torpoint and Millbrook. We saw many holiday shacks hanging off the edge of the cliffs. We ended the trip at the Edgcumbe Arms Pub for a traditional Welsh meal of roast pork or beef with vegies and Yorkshire Pudding (like being back on the farm).
Today's insights:
Mead (honey based alcohol) is traditionally Welsh. Welsh tradition says that newlyweds are to drink Mead for a month after their wedding to increase virility and fertility. This is where the term honeymoon originated.

Sir Francis Drake, the famous navy commander responsible for defeating the Spanish armada and preventing the invasion of England, was born in Plymouth.