1 -2 Nov

 Long day of travel, starting with Daniel dropping us off at Murray's bus in the city for a 3pm departure to Sydney Airport.  Followed by check-in, duty free perusing and a 3 hour wait for boarding.

Unfortunately not a direct flight to our destination - instead it was 9hr 50m to Guanzhong then a gruelling 4 hour layover before a 1hr 40m flight to Changsha.

So, after setting off from Canberra at 3pm Nov 1st, we arrived at the hotel at 3pm Nov 2nd and in amongst all that I reckon I slept about 4 hours!  So understandably a bit knackered.

After 2 hours in the hotel room to freshen up we met up with the tour group (36 of us and a nice bunch, present company included 😀) and headed into the city.

Our tour guide - Willy - seems quite the character and gave us a good heads up of the next few days - including a visit to Zhangjaijie National Park and the scenery that inspired the Hallelujah mountains in Avatar.

Chongsha shopping district is massive and consists of large new malls and smaller more traditional shops - which are challenged and closing due to the pressures of online shopping.

Steve and I whizzed here and there.  Highlights included firey zingy limey fried chicken loaded with shishoun pepper followed pretty rapidly by soothing delicious pistachio and chocolate/hazelnut gelato. 

Also spent a ridiculous amount of time purchasing half a squished flat dehydrated duck.  With hindsight this was an error purchase,  Not sure what to do with the damn thing now, although seemed the logical thing to buy at the time, plus felt somewhat obliged after extensive pre-sampling!

And OMG - check out these.  Vile beyond belief. Gross even taking a photo - let alone eating the buggers (particularly bottom right DFTs (deep fried tarantulas!!))

Getting knackered about now-ish.  Semi-revived by hydration of a Cranberry Bubble Tea drink - topped with whipped cream and dried cranberries.  An unusual mix but it worked.  Also scoffed two Portuguese tarts - sooooo good but MyNetDiary didn't like them 😂

Bed at 7:45pm and glorious sleep until 5:15am -  whopping 9 1/2 hours.  Out like a light - just bliss.

Cotswold Hike #3 Sun 26 Oct

 Our final day of hiking and a short one to finish.  Here's the group....

About 5 miles today and as before the scenery was just beautiful...

Yellow beech tree woods, open fields, country estates and autumn colours.  

And then in the afternoon it was a visit to Burford Garden Centre.  Garden centres have become a burgeoning business in the UK and over time have expanded to include dining, retail and leisure activities.  They stock high quality items at a high price.  Gorgeous to look at and I was tempted with the green ceramic partridges, but no purchases.

Dinner was at the Lamb Inn just around the corner from our accommodation.  The service was slow but the food delicious and the waiter Henry was from Melbourne - picked his accent up the second he opened his mouth 😁

Cotswolds Hike #2 Sat 25 Oct

Before setting off we had a good look around the stunning Crown Hotel where most of the hikers were staying.  It also happens to be the hotel where the Amazon crew for Clarkson's Farm stay when filming.  Diddly Squat and the farm shop are a couple of miles away.  Must check out the show when I'm back.

A mixed bag with the weather - with the wind and rain requiring the raincoat and overpants I borrowed from Bev.  

The start of the walk was like this...

Which then temporarily cleared up to look like this....

Just gorgeous

And back to cloudiness, but that didn't spoil it...

Even slightly thunderous looking sky

On an on we marched...

Stopping only briefly for a quick photo

Although I kept lagging behind for shots like this 

And then - after a 11.4 miles it was a well earned dinner in the exquisite dining room at the Crown hotel....

The most perfect of days.

Cotswolds Hike #1 Fri 24 Oct

How lucky were we to be able to join one of Dave's annual walking getaways and what better place than the Cotswolds.  Early departure from Haverford to arrive in time for a midday meet-up and off we went....

A 7.4 mile hike through gorgeous rolling hills...

The weather was glorious.... 

And the sights just stunning... 

Still lots of autumn colour.....

Just love the villages with their honey-coloured limestone houses....

The Cotswolds region is large - spanning nearly 800 square miles across five counties - and you could easily spend a month here exploring....

Our accommodation - Oliver's studio - was above the garage of this beautiful newer house in Shipton-under-Wychwood.  All houses in the region have to use the same honey coloured stone so even the newer ones are beautiful.

Haverfordwest 21-23 Oct

Last few days in Haverfordwest.  A bit more running and early morning photos.  Plus a pump session in the gym - paid for that a few days later!

Not sure how it happened, but I was early for my pump class so had time to take pictures of this cheeky rainbow....

And of course, more delicious food from Michele, kippers excepted!

And a trip down to Milford on two occasions - the first to buy kippers 😠 and visit the Milford Museum where we found a piccie of an 8 year old Dad on the wall - chuffed or what!  

And the second visit was for an evening dinner with Bev at the unusually named Martha's Vineyard where we had a FABULOUS dinner - fish pie and lemon possit.  Yum Yum.

Charlotte's Photos

Charlotte came for dinner a couple of times during our stay in Haverfordwest.  She has a squillion old photos and I snaffled some of them....

 

Rupert's Grave

Another morning run in a snippet of dry weather.  The forecast available here is very specific and flags rain free periods down to the minute AND they were pretty spot on today.  Here's some of the sights....

Haverfordwest Priory was founded in 1200 on land donated by Robert Fitzancard, the Lord of Haverfordwest. Like many of the buildings from this era it was dissolved by Henry 8th and after passing through many owners is now under the care of Cadw.

Recent excavations of the site have uncovered Britain’s only surviving ecclesiastical garden from the medieval period.

After lunch Dad, Dave and I set off for St David's to have a look at the grave of newly found biological grandfather Robert Williams, en route we passed by Newgale Beach again, this time in full sunlight...

Grave of Rupert Williams, born x, died 13 June 1964

And I didn't think I was hungry for dinner, but managed to make good work of this feast!  I didn't realise Wales produced so much cheese!  Mmmm Mmmm 😋

BBQ Sun 19

Dave cranked up the BBQs and cooked up a storm.  Pulled pork and chicken drumsticks on the green egg and sausages and burgers on the asado - an Argentinian barbie. Plus amazeball salads and desserts.  And all of this was for our afternoon barbie with the Welsh rellies.  

We fluked the weather - the rain stopped and the sun popped out.  Miracle of miracles!

Where the magic happens....

Rellies included Nigel & Jane and their daughter Rhiannon, Glynn, Marion and daughter Jane, Bill and Susan and Huw, Bec and the boys.