In Rod's birth town of Abergavenny in South Wales. This is a beautiful market town in a rural valley, surrounded by the low hills of The Blorenge, Sugar Loaf and Skirrid, which are part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Despite, being quite small, Abergavenny is quite a lively town, with a regular market and a range of shopping services and festivals. Of particular interest was St Mary's Church in the town centre and a number of very important medieval monu...

We only spent 1 night in Cardiff over the last weekend to attend the Rugby game at the famous Millenium Stadium. It is hard to capture the size and atmosphere of this amazing stadium but hope you enjoy the few photos! It wasn't a full stadium, only 31,000 attendance, but there was still a 1000 voice Welsh choir singing before the game which was an incredible sound. The game was Wales vs The Barbarians, a composite team of players from a number of nations, incl...

We have been fortunate with very warm and sunny weather to enjoy this unique and gorgeous part of the United Kingdom. The original (ill-informed) plan was to see all of Cornwall in 4 days. However, the narrow laneways, many tourists and busy local traffic got the better of us, so instead we settled for exploring a few small villages and beaches along the south east coast of Cornwall. Cornwall was traditionally known as a smuggler's haven, which is not surpisin...

Cambridge is an 800 year old university town, about an hour's train ride north of London. The historic university college buildings certainly dominate the central part of town, particularly King's College, St. Johns's College and Trinity College which are some of the bigger ones that make up the 31 colleges. The colleges provide residential facilities for the students who are then enrolled in different faculties throughout the university. There is a very long an...

London, what a fascinating place. And what a change from the quiet tranquility of the Rhine river valley. No more slow cruises, sitting in the sunshine overlooking the river or gentle country rambles. Instead the noise, bustle and many people, buses, cabs, pubs, shops of London city. Quite a change. It was a long day of train travel from the Rhine river valley to London using four connecting trains, including the Eurostar that travels under the English chann...