"The South Wales Mini Adventure"
by Neptune
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DAY ONE.
Our 2003 Mini Adventure to South Wales (UK) began with bright sunshine. We unpacked most of our
things from my car and then took our bicycles to Llys-y-fran Reservoir, which has a cycle track
around the edge of the lake. The track started with a flat section which just got steeper
and steeper down hill until we got to a little stream, where we stopped while I took a photo of
twillin cycling through the water, it was not very deep but he did get his socks and trainers
wet. We then started cycling up hill, both getting very hot and tired. I needed another rest, but
twillin had other ideas, he got off his bike and ran down to the water and jumped in still
wearing his white shorts and white shirt! With twillin now soaking wet we continued, round the
lake. There were a number of very muddy places that looked intersting but they were not very
accessible, with too many tree roots. When we got back to the car park I found a large thorn
stuck in my bicycle tyre, which instantly deflated when the thorn was removed. On our way back
to our accommodation we found a local pub where we had a nice meal and a drink while we planed
tomorrow’s mission.
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DAY TWO.
We decided to visit Oakwood Theme Park, near Narberth. The park has some very modern rides, some
of which are also very very wet... The first ride which we wanted to test was HYDRO, twillin
eagerly volunteered for the ride. Hydro is a roller coaster which is very similar to Tidal Wave at
Thorpe Park, it takes the rider up high then down an almost vertical drop into a water filled
lake soaking the riders AND the people watching from the viewing bridge. While I was waiting for
twillin I found a strange torture device, a "Clothes Dryer" I decided that twillin should try it
out, he looked rather uncomfortable there so we went to the next ride. MEGAFOBIA is an old
fashion wooden roller coaster, which is a much more interesting clothes dryer for soggy
twillin's. I enjoyed this ride even though it is a completely dry! Our next ride was SNAKE RIVER
FALLS which consists of four water slides where the rider goes down the slide in a rubber boat,
two of the slides are open, the other two python and cobra are enclosed. python is fastest, cobra
more twisty both were fun to try, but not very wet.
We then went on the TREETOPS COASTER the BOBSLEIGH and PIRATE SHIP which are all dry rides. It
was now time to try another wet'ish ride WATERFALL, there was a sign that said "Some riders
capsize and get very wet" we both tried a different technique, but neither of us could get the
tray to tip! We had another go on MEGAFOBIA and twillin went on HYDRO again, then it was getting
late and time to return to our accommodation. The park was a good day out, Twillins favourite
ride in the park just had to be HYDRO because it was so wet, I really liked Megafobia the wooden
roller coaster. Visit the oakwood website.
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DAY THREE.
We had already decided to go exploring the Welsh coast, but since the weather was not looking too
bright, We did not take the bicycles. We started at Freshwater West and worked our way east along
the coast to Tenby stopping to take photographs of some of the quiet little coves and beaches. In
the afternoon the sun started shining and the clouds disappeared to leave a bright blue sky, we
agreed that I should investigate the sea. I had a feeling that the water would be quite cold so
I just wore my blue shorts with an orange T-shirt for my little dip, the beach was composed of
coarse sand with roughed cliffs providing some protection from the wind, the water was very cold
and I only stayed in long enough for twillin to take a couple of photographs. As we left the
beach a few more people started arriving, but no one else went into the sea. We continued on to
Tenby which is one of the regions more popular beach resort. We arrived at Tenby in the early
evenning and headed for the sea front, it was still warm and there were a few people still on the
beach, with his audience watching twillin waded into to the sea wearing his American
football shirt and nylon waterproof trackie bottoms. Later we found a pub where we had a meal and
not so good drink, then returned to our accommodation.
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DAY FOUR.
On our last day in South Wales the weather was even worse, with heavy rain and very strong winds,
we packed everything into my car. We drove north towards St.Davids, I had been told there were
some very spectacular sea views from the cliff path, we parked at the top of the cliffs and
walked along the cliff path, from our vantage point we could see a small group of people wearing
wetsuits, jumping off the rocks into the rough sea (coasteering). We returned to the car and
drove to Newgale beach which is a popular beach for 'surfer dudes', but it was clearly not
'surfer dudes' weather with big waves crashing in all directions, there was just one person out
at sea struggling to control his windsurfer. Twillin ran down the beach into the sea to ask him
if he could have a go, but the poor guy must have been so shocked seeing twillin fully clothed
in the sea, he fell off his board! With no sign of improvement in the weather we decided to head
for home.
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We both enjoyed our visit to South Wales, but four days is not long enough to see very much, so
we hope to return again. To see some more of our holiday photographs, visit Album 6 in our
Gallery.
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