We had a couple of hours to explore Cardiff before catching the train to Bristol so we headed towards the castle to have a look around. We didn't pay to go in so just looked at the big walls & had a look inside from the gate. Obviously this didn't take long & otherwise there was only really the shops to wander so we were soon back at the hotel using up their wifi before checking out just before noon. It wasn't far to the station & then only 35mins on ...

After a very filling cooked breakfast at the B&B we head off for Aberystwyth to get a 10.30 train but about half way there we realised we would probably not get there in time so headed towards Barmouth to do part of the Mawddach estuary walk. We saw a sign for a different little railway in Fairbourne so headed there to take a very small train at about 10 km's an hour along to the mouth of the estuary just across from Barmouth, then after a short walk around t...

It was a rainy walk to Avis near Piccadilly station to pick up our hire car this morning. Luckily we managed to get out of Manchester towards north Wales without too much trouble and our first stop was Llangollen to ride the tourist railway here. We had a little bit of time to wander & unfortunately I managed to get a truly terribly coffee whilst Sean got a very tasty sausage roll! The little steam train took about 40 mins each way & took us up along the ...

Our day started with a quick breaky provided by the hotel. I really enjoyed my marmite toast, perhaps I was craving Vegemite, but the scrambled eggs were terrible. We caught the train to Liverpool, about an hour away, and once we had orientated ourselves we headed to the Beatles heartland centred around The Cavern which despite being closed & practically destroyed in the late 1970's has been reopened. No matter what Beatles souvenirs you could imagine the sho...

Leaving York this morning at 9.26 bound for Manchester we once again had some interesting travel companions on the train, not least the crazy cat lady who when speaking to her boyfriend managed to bring every conversation back to cats. The trip was only an hour twenty so we were soon at Manchester Piccadilly dragging our bags towards the Holiday Inn Express. We got there about 11am and were lucky enough to get checked in straight away. We were also impressed by ...