After a breakfast of Welsh cakes we farewelled Wales (and our lovely campsite with views of the fields and cows) and drove on to the rolling Yorkshire Dales. A delightful walk over fields and dales landed us at another great English pub where we enjoyed a scrumptous dinner before settling into our new campsite.

Hinterland, you made it impossible for us to come here and not go to Devil’s Bridge in Pontarfynach! We stayed the night in a caravan park with a cafe (where we bought our Wales dragon teatowel and our Dragon fridge magnet) and alas Mum’s hips weren’t up to the steep climb down to the bottom of the ravine, but wow it was beautiful. Next up, a couple of nights in Snowdonia (via Dolgellau), with visits to Caernarfon, Zip World and Betws y Coed. This stone wall is where our fun guy did a video ‘throwing himself into the deep valley below’. On the other side, a less than one metre drop, he parked himself and didn’t want to move.

Dad loved his Velocity trip on the fastest zip line in the world (up to 100mph+) and longest in Europe (1.5km) at the Penryn Quarry in North Wales. It was over in seconds. So he did it again 🙂

We drove on up the West coast, past more beautiful scenery, to the seaside town of Aberystwyth. We had a yummy lunch at a tucked away cafe and walked along the boardwalk and through the Royal Pier Arcade

Dad took the girls to go underground in a real (now only for tours) coal mine, the oldest in Wales. The girls thought the ‘elevator’ was unsettling at best, terrifying at worst. At one point Dad and the older girls were hunched over trying to get through the tunnel, while the tunnel ceiling was brushing against Lani’s helmet. Good thing they had helmets, as they kept bumping their heads! Afterwards, they wandered around the playground even though it was raining (“Wales weather” say the girls). It was a good experience. The girls left with something of an understanding about how difficult it would have been to work there.

28 Wellfield Road, Dunvant. We saw the house Jonathon Passmore lived in and the primary school he went to (even where his classroom was). Also, the park he used to play in, the back lane access to his house, the hill he rode down when his bike crashed into a car, the dentist where he had his front tooth fixed (unrelated to the bike-car incident), the track to a lookout that they used to climb to get to a meadow with blackberries and a view all the way to The Mumbles, where they went to the seaside. Grandma Heather recalls that one year it was so cold that the sea froze! And of course there was just lots of beautiful Wales wherever we drove. (Also there was the occasional goat path masquerading as a two-way road). After a wonderful day exploring the scenes of Dad’s past, we returned to camp and walked to a great Welsh pub for a yummy dinner.

After an early morning harvest of plums and berries, we packed up camp and bid farewell to the Cotswolds, but not before we made one last stop at St Edward’s church in Stow-on-the-Wold. Some believe this doorway (with yew trees planted here 300 years ago now part of the structure) to be inspiration for JRR Tolkien’s “Doors of Durin” on the west gate of Moria in The Lord of the Rings.

We drove on, over the River Wye, and into Wales, where we set up camp in Brecon Beacons and went straight up Pen y fan – one of the ‘Beacons’. It was magical.

The road up was not magical. In Australia, these are what we call footpaths. It is terrifying. Jonathon is an absolute star for getting our car past all the cars coming the other way without even a scrape!

Such great names! Chipping Campden, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Burford, Bibury, Borton-on-the-Water, Upper & Lower Slaughter…. what’s not to love??!!

Sadly, the Eagle & Child (known by locals as “The Bird & Baby”) was not just closed but awaiting someone to buy it! Still, fun to find it. Built in 1684, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis sometimes met here with The Inklings – an informal literary group. Undeterred, we found a great English pub and refreshed ourselves (after an exhausting walk in the wrong direction and an eternal wait for a bus to carry our weary-legged selves back to where all the action was). The girls preferred their shopping trip at Hamleys and the absolute best part was a beautiful (UK-themed) Pandora gift from Dad.

Windsor, Windsor Castle, & Eton. Given the astonishing number of people waiting to enter the castle, we walked around to the (public) grounds where we could see inside the iron gate, and then through the town. A cup of tea in a small cafe to fortify, and then we stopped at a field by the side of the road at watched planes flying in and out of Heathrow – there were many!

We got to experience a little of Dad’s history: All Nations where Grandma & Grandpa studied for a while….Christ Church Primary where Dad (and Aunties Nat & Fi) went to school (we even got to have a little tour of the lunchroom, which Dad pronounced ‘much smaller than I remember’. …and two of his homes! We also saw the hill where Dad rode down really fast on his bicycle and hit a car (thankfully no people nor vehicles were injured). He begged the car’s occupants (neighbours) not to tell his parents. They did come by to check on him later, but told Grandma and Grandpa that they just wanted to see that Jonathon was alright ‘after coming off his bike’. 🙂

And look at these girls! So helpful with van setup and pack-up! We stayed at a campsite near an airfield.