Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

I just got back from a brilliant 3 day tour of Wales!!! Let's just say that some of the places I visited (such as the title for this posting) were a bit hard to pronounce lol. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the longest place name in the world and exemplifies the triumphs of Welsh spelllling:)

Here's more about the itinery we followed: http://www.haggisadventures.com/HTML2/RTG-GB-337.aspx

We Departed from London bright and early at 7:30 am; for a British Tour company, there wasn't a single british person on the trip lol!! I made friends with three South Africans and an Australian. The tour group also included New Zealanders, a couple Japanese and two couples from India. In total there were 20 of us plus one Crazy tour Guide named Gary.

They try to organize hostel roomings based upon who you book with - I was the only single guy on the trip AND let's just say that there were about 10 single women. After organizing the roomings, our tour guide announced to the bus

"Where is Steven Beasley??" I put my hand up. "Steven with the numbers we have on the trip, I'll have to room you with 6 lovely ladies. It appears you're the only single eligible bachelor for this entire Easter Tour!!" My face went a little red as the bus went 'oooooooo' - but of course I had to play it up (just a little). He then said "Any lovely ladies who'd like to share a room with our eligible bachelor let me know at lunch - Steven stand up and give the ladies a taste of what they're in for" So as I stood up, I had about 20 w0men checking me out. I did a little speal about myself and then for some reason ended by saying "I look forward to an evening of magic in the Beasley Boudoir"..... Some how I became the subject matter for just a few tour guide stories and jokes throughout our Wales Tour....

Each Day was jammed packed with 4-6 venues, so there wasn't much time to get bored or sleep on the bus. In our first day we saw the Severn River dividing Wales from England, Tintern Abby destroyed after the Church of England was established, had lunch at Europes Largest ruined castle Caerphilly where one of the pillars looks like it's going to fall on you, and then hiked Brecon Beacons National Park full of water falls and thick forest.

En route to our Welsh pub and hostel, the bus slipped into the ditch on one of the extremely narrow country roads. We were told there was a pub 40 minutes up the road..... let's just say an Hour and a half hike later, I was enjoying a couple pints of Brains (Welsh beer) before the tour bus caught up with us!!!

Wales is definitely much greener than England - they say your boogers don't turn black here like they do in the London smog ewwwww. We learned a lot about Welsh history, their struggle for independence and how the Welsh princes and royalty were killed off by the English. This prevented Wales from ever becoming an independant Nation and forcing the Welsh people into second class citizenship right up to the 20th century. It was cool traveling through the country as we learned about its history.

That night we stayed in a hostel where they were showing a boxing match and all the locals were routing for the 10 year undefeated Welsh champion... What a rowdy crowd!! After a night of shouting and dancing I retired to my Boudoir.

DAY 2

The second day we headed into Northern Wales - at this point 80% of locals spoke Welsh as a first or second language. When we went into the pubs, we could really feel the Welsh vibe but once they realized we weren't English their attitudes definitely warmed up to us :) We got to see Castel-y-Bere the last strong hold of the Welsh Princes, stunning welsh countryside with beautiful valleys, gorges, hills, lakes and stunning greenery, and many beautiful towns - one of which was hosting a rugby tournament and all the athletes dressed up as Pimps when they weren't competing!! When we first arrived into the town we just thought the locals were a bit crazy or taking the "Chav" culture a little too far!!! That evening we stayed at a hostel within the castle walls of Caernarfon - What a night of drinking indeed!! I introduced the drinking game "Never have I ever" to my international friends - what a blast.

Day 3 & Wrap up

Our final day we headed from the North of Wales back to London. We hiked up a mountain to the ruins of Dinas Bran (where some say the Holy Grail is buried), saw the worlds longest place name, went to a book town full of 20-30 book stores and did some tacky tourist Welsh shopping. It was really nice having everything planned and enjoying the culture/scenery. I've definitely made some new friends in the UK and plan to take another Haggis adventure in the future. I'm back in Coventry now but not for long, as I head down to Brighton this weekend before starting up work next Monday..... I love school holidays!!!! :-) :-) :-)

PS: Wales has millions of sheep!!!!!!