Wales, England, Scotland Days 16 & 17: Training Across Great Britain

It was an uneventful trip the next day to take two trains from Swansea, Wales to Birmingham, England. We needed to get up to Scotland for our flight home and it was just too long of a travel day to do it all in one go. The crowds certainly grew as we headed into England. This would make for our third out of four United Kingdom countries on this trip and Adventure Girl's 15th country overall (yes, we're counting them each separately...happy to have a conversation about it). :)

Arriving in Birmingham was a little nutso. We had to push our way through people trying to crowd ON to the train as we were attempting to get off with our huge backpacks and smaller accompanying bags. It did not leave for the best first impression of England. I'd call the train station the equivalent size of a small airport but it's got way more and better food options than a small airport!

We arrived at our lovely Air BnB in St Paul's Square to be greeted by a festival. Live music was blasting from the stage set up in front of the church and market stalls lined the pathway. They had all cleared off by 7:30 pm so we were all for it! 

We planned to get Indian takeout and sit in the park enjoying the music but the rain moved in and when we arrived at the restaurant to get our food, the place looked so nice and it was completely empty so we decided to eat inside and stay dry. It lived up to Birmingham's foodie reputation!

In the morning, we went back to Birmingham New Street and continued on to Edinburgh. Are we carrying too much stuff? Nah!

Wales Days 10-15: Swansea Souvenirs

The next week was filled with lots of family time, reminiscing, and delicious homemade dinners. Here are a few of our highlights: 

Visiting Dylan Thomas House, 
the Welsh poet

He lived a few blocks from Erin's grandmother. 
The house has been restored to its original condition so this gave us all an idea of what the house would have looked like when Erin's grandmother was a child. 

Walking by the family home

Enjoying the quiet beauty in
Brynmill and Singleton parks

Rock pooling at Bracelet Bay

Oystermouth Castle

Warming up with a delicious Chai

The spectacular Rhosilli Bay

Wild horses at Rhosilli!

Hiking in to Three Cliffs Bay

Three Cliffs Bay

Playing outside our door at Swansea Bay

The train!

Thanks to Erin's parents for a fabulous trip!

Northern Ireland & Wales Days 8 & 9: Cymru Cwtsh

Months ago, when we were planning our trip, we knew we wanted to do a political mural tour in Belfast. It seemed a bit weird that the date we had available was already booked on every black cab tour website we could find, though all the dates around it were free. Life is busy and we didn't bother to look into it, figuring we'd sort it out later and likely just drive in ourselves and create our own route based on what we could find out online. It wasn't until the day before that we realized the reason that particular day was blocked off...it was July 12. 

Known coloquially as "The Twelfth", this is the largest Protestant celebration of the year in Northern Ireland.  Which means, it's likely one of the most disliked days for Northern Ireland Nationalists. The country is still quite divided and tensions flare around this "holiday" so we decided to stear clear of Belfast and have a quiet day at home instead. We didn't feel the need to get caught in a six mile long parade or worse! We blogged, did laundry, played in the backyard of our Air BnB, and got packed up for our onwards journey. 

On July 13, we rose early and hit the road before 7 am. We drove about an hour and a half into Belfast and did our own drive around downtown. We realize that seeing it in the early morning light after a politically charged event is perhaps not a fair judgement of the city the rest of the year. There were points where we needed to turn the car around and re-route because the road ahead was covered with debris from huge bonfires and broken bottles that had been thrown into them. It was a bit surreal to drive from one side of the wall (Protestant) that was decked out in celebration glory - British flags strung from every house, banners from all the lampposts, then turn a corner and have no evidence of any celebration whatsoever on the Catholic side of town. 

We had a quick and easy experience at the Belfast airport. Craig managed to get a pull of Guinness and a full Irish breakfast before we departed Ireland.

We flew into Cardiff, Wales and easily found our way to the train station by shuttle bus. A quick transfer in Bridgend and we had arrived in Swansea!

Here we pause to acknowledge the reason for this entire trip. It is Erin's parents' 50th wedding anniversary this July. They generously invited the entire family to Swansea to celebrate together. This is the town Erin's grandmother is from and where her grandparents met during World War Two. When Erin was twelve, her family came here with her grandparents and stayed in the family home where her great aunt and great uncle were still living. This trip is meant to retrace both her grandmother's footsteps and also the past family trip.

We arrrived in Swansea to the rest of the family already there. We'd wisely thought to each spend a week ahead of meeting up so that we would all be recovered from our jet lag. We were each staying in our own rental unit in the same area of town: Maritime Quarter. It boasted fabulous views of both the marina and Swansea Bay. It felt right to look out on the place that Erin's grandmother loved so dearly.

Northern Ireland Day 7: Walking in the Steps of Giants

Morning broke and we were there with it. After a week "across the pond," we were feeling free of jet lag and ready for adventure! This would be our fullest day yet with four stops planned spanning the northern coast of the island. 

We started the day a bit anxious. We had a strict schedule to keep with timed tickets ahead of us, but our first stop was the Giant's Causeway and by all information found online, it could only be accessed by car starting at 9 am, much too late for us. 

All we were able to find was that if you stay in a hotel nearby you could bike or walk and go outside of normal operating hours. However, we didn't find anything about any parking available before 9 am. Craig considered booking a single bed in a nearby hostel dormroom solely for their free parking. Morning of, we decided to just go and figure it out. 

Mostly because Craig misheard directions, we pulled into the Causeway Hotel parking lot. It was mostly empty and many signs boasted tea, coffee, and takeaway food. Clearly, we thought if we purchased something we would be allowed to park? Luckily, before we could lose our resolve (and succumb to our rule-following ways) a man walked out and told us that we would have to pay 10 pounds for parking, but that the receipt could be put towards 10 pounds worth of take away. This was a wonderful deal, and let us park closer than the official parking lot (great considering how much walking we had planned for Adventure Girl on this day), but most importantly, it let us visit this tourist hot spot 75 minutes before the official gates open!

As we have said many times before, we don't enjoy crowds, so to get these amazing rocks to ourselves so Adventure Girl could climb and jump to her heart's content, was a magical time. We ended up spending much longer than we expected to since she was enjoying herself so much, and we were, too. After making her wish in the Wishing Chair, the sun came out and Adventure Girl informed us that when that happens, it means the wish will come true.

The Wishing Chair

From the bottom of the causeway, we hiked up and to a viewpoint at the Amphitheater. This is a bowled section of the cliffs, completely deserted. The wind was full force and the sun breaking through the clouds made it feel magical. We continued our relaxed pace through the rest of the hike only realizing getting into the car that we were starting to cut it close with our next stop. 

Feeling very relieved and incredibly fulfilled, we moved onwards to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. Now, when Craig asked Erin what one thing she really wanted to do on the whole trip, 6 months earlier, she answered, "Go across the rope bridge." He was skeptical that this was truly her answer but this day as a whole would prove to be her favourite of the trip. 

Note: You need to book your ticket for the rope bridge online ahead of time. They are timed tickets as they control how many people are crossing the bridge at a time. It is not a two-way bridge so you will need to wait as others are crossing (there are workers monitoring this). Also, it is a 20 minute walk, up and down the small hills, to reach the rope bridge, so be prepared to be there for at minimum one hour. There is space for a short walk on the adjacent island and a picnic, if you'd like, but be prepared that the whole island smells of bird droppings. You've been warned. 

From there, we took a jaunt to Ballycastle next door and parked at the ferry terminal. There is a great sandy playground here, complete with a shipwreck, for those of you interested in a good spot to play. We boarded the Spirit of the Rathlin II with an excited feeling in our bellies, hoping that we'd actually get to see the beloved puffins. 

Again, we had trouble finding out information online about the island. When you disembark from the ferry, you will find the Puffin Bus waiting for you. It meets each ferry and shuttles people to the RSPB Rathlin West Light Seabird Centre. You pay the driver directly in cash (it was 6 pounds per adult, 4 pounds per child). The shuttle took about 20 minutes from ferry to the centre. It returned in an hour, which was a good amount of time to descend the sea cliff on easy walkways to see the birds, then another hundred steps down (stairs) to see the upside-down lighthouse. 

As we hurried down the path, excited for the possibility of seeing puffins, the wind whipped ferociously across our faces, sending hair a-flying. We were met on the platform by a volunteer handing out binoculars. We asked if there were any puffins there and were thrilled when the answer was, "about one hundred pairs of them!"

It was easy to spot the colourful birds in amongst the other nesters but they were a length down so binoculars were needed to discern their other details. It wasn't the best viewing opportunity. Tears were streaming from our eyes as the wind continued to face us.  We managed one tricky photo using the set-up scope that doesn't catch the enjoyment of seeing them puff and hop about on the rocks.

The upside-down lighthouse

The Lighthouse Keeper's Bedroom

On the journey back to the ferry, the driver provided the option to hop out at the beach, saying that it was only a ten minute's walk from there back to the pier. Adventure Girl had recently completed a school project on seals so she was keen to stop and enjoy seeing them sunbathe in the mud and pop their heads up out of the water curiously.

With 15 minutes left until the ferry's departure, we decided to try to make it aboard. We actually had tickets for the next ferry but felt pretty confident that they would let us catch an earlier one back to the mainland. As we hustled along the coast, it became evident that the "10 minute walk" was actually going to take longer, even with us jogging. The road curved in and out along the shore and the minutes ticked down. We ended up making it just in the nick of time and they did let us on board after covering almost 1.5 km in 14 minutes with a seven year-old!

The ferry ride back was just as rocky as the one there. It's only a 40 minute ferry ride but the waters of the Rathlin Sound are notoriously rough. Adventure Girl maintained her reputation of having a strong stomach and didn't seem to mind one bit as the boat rose and fell with the swells. 

Our last stop was to Dunluce Castle, recommended to us by friends in our building back at home. It is well-preserved and is perched right at the edge of the water, awarding it with sweeping sea views through its vacant windows. 

It was a wonderful day seeing the beauty of Northern Ireland!