My Part of The World: In Pictures

Here is a little look at my beautiful part of the world. There is nothing I love more than to go for walks in the late summer sun with Hendrix. Actually I think Autumn/Winter walks are my actual favourites so it's safe to say that I am looking forward to coming back home for a few days over the next three months just to walk in utter silence with but the birds, cows and sheep keeping me company as I look across the lush green landscape that we are so lucky to have here while being pulled in every direction possible, praying that my arm won't be ripped out of its socket, by Hendrix.

I know for a lot of people walking alone in the middle of nowhere is probably their idea of utter hell. I think we have horror films to thank for that one - thanks very (not so) much. However, I would find walking along a city street at night more scary. Saying that, I find most things scary so that doesn't really say much. Anywho, I digress. I have not really got anything profound to say in this blog post, I just wanted to show you some of the pictures I took while out on a walk earlier this week. So, I guess all that is left to say is - enjoy.

WEST WALES ADVENTURE WITH ELLIE

A few weeks ago my friend Ellie from university came over to my part of the world for a few days. I hadn't seen her for a month or so thus it was super nice to have a little catch up. From Monday afternoon 'till Thursday morning we traversed West Wales from Carmarthen to Aberystwyth and from Mwnt to Aberaeron.

I know I live in the middle of nowhere and I think Ellie was a bit shocked at how in the middle of nowhere I do actually live but we do have some amazing views on the coastline and this is basically what I showed her.

Monday
Ellie didn't arrive 'till around lunch time on Monday so once I picked her up from Carmarthen train station and we went and had lunch at Pethau Da which is located in Pethau Bychain  on King St. After a lovely meal we perused some shops, drank some coffee and then hopped over to the beautiful Llansteffan. We decided to climb up to Llansteffan Castle just to see the incredible views that looked out towards the horizon. A great way to end a Monday!

Tuesday
A trip to Mwnt was on today's agenda and boy was I happy about that. Mwnt is my favourite place in the whole wide world. It has an awesome little beach hidden away between massive cliffs which not too many people know about, except for the locals and a few tourists. On top of the cliffs, overlooking the beach and the sea is the most beautiful church you ever did see and if I ever marry, this is where I want the ceremony to take place. Before Ellie and I headed down to the beach where we would later eat lunch, read and have a bit of a sleep (ok, that was just me), we climbed the little mountain that is near the church and sat at its summit watching the dolphins and attempting to see the coast of Ireland.

On the way home we stopped off in Aberaeron where we went for a little walk, bought some chips and ate them on the harbour wall. Scrumdiddlyumptious.

Wednesday
Today we headed north to Aberystwyth, a nice seaside town where my brother goes to uni and where thousands of tourists flock to in the summer to smell some fresh sea air. We arrived in the town at around lunchtime so after buying a few things on our little shopping date we finally downed tools and ate some beautiful sandwiches at Agnelli's. My brother is in the middle of writing his Masters dissertation so he spends most days up in the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth so myself and Ellie went up to visit the Library. It had a really cool Dylan Thomas exhibition which I loved. Once we had finished looking at all the exhibitions we went and had a coffee in the Library's caffe.

Thursday
As Ellie was heading home in the early afternoon I had planned to spend the day outside walking with Hendrix but alas the Welsh weather got the better of us and with rain pouring outside we gave the walking a miss and started our journey back down to Carmarthen where we had a nice little coffee before Ellie was on her way back to Somerset.

I really enjoyed my few days travelling West Wales with Ellie. I am just continuously baffled by the beauty that surrounds my home and I am happy that I got to show off my little corner of the world to Ellie!

SUNNY WEEKEND WITH MAMA H

Mama H came to big bad Surrey a week or so ago to spend the weekend with her favourite child (me, obvs). The main reason for her visit was that Wales were playing England in Twickenham on Sunday in the Six Nations so we were heading to the London Welsh club in Richmond to watch the game on big screens with a load of other rugby supporters, including the comedian Rhod Gilbert. However, before that we headed to Notting Hill Gate / Portobello market for some brunch to start the day off right. I've only been to Portobello Market once before and I did not remember it begin soooo busy - it might have had something to do with the weather but man oh, man it was unbelievably chock-a-block with people which did not make for pleasant or easy browsing. So for this reason, we headed to have Brunch asap and then after a quick browse we jumped on the tube to Soho via White City where we saw the old BBC television centre. I did have a look around to see if I could spot Huw Edwards roaming the streets but no luck.

I much preferred Soho to the hustle and bustling Portobello market. Here we went in to a few record shops where I finally got my hands on the Skaters new album which I blogged about here and Lorde's Pure Heroin which I have been playing on repeat on Spotify. I also saw other albums that I really wanted but I had to control myself by reminding myself that I am a student living in the second most expensive place in the UK - not. fun. I also bought a new summer dress from a swedish brand which I can't remember the name of - a shop which I first went in to in Stockholm on our school trip to Sweden, ahhhh, memories. Having walked close to 8 miles we were ready for a sit down and a drink before food. We went to a pub/restaurant just off Soho and had a glass of prosecco and wine. China town was where we decided to have dinner and we ate at a nice but rather strange restaurant where you had to knock on the door to be let in - strange. When we got out of there a queue had formed outside with people who were waiting to be seated, so I guess I made the right decision by picking that place to eat. Even after eating quite a big meal we still wanted something sweet for when we arrived home and there was this cool little Chinese desert shop opposite where we ate dinner which was convenient and yummy :)

Sunday we made the short journey to a very sunny Richmond where we ate some brunch and made our way to London Welsh (via Twickenham stadium . . . don't ask). We watched some of the second half of the London Welsh game before grabbing a drink and sitting in the sunshine waiting for the international to begin. Wales thoroughly deserved to lose that day so no complaints from me, although it always hard losing to England whoever you are. But it's all ok though because Ireland won the championship and I am very happy for O'Driscoll - #thanksBrian.

Having never been to Richmond before but having passed it numerous times on the way in to Waterloo, myself and Mama H went for a little wonder down to the riverside after the game where we watched the sun set and the world go by while drinking our coffee and fighting away the birds. After a homemade salmon and salsa dinner and a few episodes of Blackadder and TwentyTwelve later it was time for bed and time to rest before the working week began once more. It's always harder to face going back in to the Library on a monday after a great weekend.

Cardiff, Floods & Coffee

We had 4 weeks off from uni over Christmas (which was awesome) and since it was quite a long break I decided to meet up with one of my uni friends, Ellie, in Cardiff (she lives near Bristol). However, we typically planned to meet up the morning after the night when the West was hit by masses of rain and train tracks were either flooded or broken. Thus, it was a bit of an adventure getting to the capital but after a short car ride, an hour on a bus, another hour on another bus, and a 40 minute train journey (yaay for living in the middle of nowhere) I eventually made it (getting home wasn't quite that easy)! First stop was Coffee Barker down Castle Arcade. If you ever get a chance to go to Cardiff I urge you to go down the little arcades and away from the big shopping centres for a bit. They have some jewels down there. Cool vintage clothes shops in the form of A Vintage Affair down Morgan's Arcade (along with others across the city) and the oldest record shop in the world is also situated down Morgan's Arcade - Spiller Records. Morgan's Arcade seems to have everything you need because on our little trip to Cardiff I picked up my new skateboard from Route One which is also placed down the busy arcade. Now back to Coffee Barker... Every time I make a trip to Cardiff I have to have a coffee or a milkshake here (they are insane). It's an awesome place to chill on their super comfortable sofas, have a chat with friends, play board games or do some work. I can honestly say that I had the nicest latte that I have ever had in Coffee Barker. Starbucks who?! So yeah, the next time you're visiting the Capital city of Wales steer away from Topshop, River Island and Hollister and venture down those little arcades, who knows what you'll find.

SUMMER ADVENTURES // Cooling down in the sea

The relentless hot weather we've been having recently called for one thing - the beach. On Thursday Carwen and I decided to hit New Quay beach for a nice chillaxed day. Before arriving at the sea side we stopped in a little hilarious village shop where we bought our food for the day, after being stuck in a Welsh traffic jam (sheep not cars). We literally had a box full of stuff for £6! 14p Curly Wurlys anyone?! As it was a weekday the beach was relatively empty which was awesome. After setting up camp we headed towards the sea, and jee wiz the sand was boiling but sadly the sea wasn't! Despite the ice cold temperature of the sea we headed in and had a good swim for about 20 minutes before I heard Carwen scream. I looked over and the look of terror on her face was, although it shouldn't have been, hilarious! I think she touched the stomach of a jelly fish (there were loads on the beach) and in all the commotion she broke her sunglasses and swam to the shore as the glasses sunk to the bottom of the sea! 

After that incident we shortly packed our things up and went for a little walk to the other side of the beach where we sat on the harbour looking out towards the horizon in the scorching sun. Awesome. 

If Thursday wasn't enough, my mum and I headed to Mwnt on Saturday for another beach day. Mwnt is an actually awesome place which not many people (i.e tourists) know of so it's quite quiet there. I forced mam in to the sea and after some complaining she eventually jumped in and actually really enjoyed it. The sea was so calm, although I think it was colder than New Quay's, and it was perfect just to be able to lie there :) I also managed a good swim while in the big blue ocean and was absolutely shattered after arriving home because of it. I'd really love to do some open water swimming, I'm currently looking in to it to see if there are any clubs around where I live. 

I love the sea although I think the heat needs to calm down a bit because it's really tiring me out. Not that I'm complaining or anything! :)

 

IT'S PRETTY COOL ISN'T IT // MY AREA

I'm writing this on a sun longer as I sit (and occasionally lounge) in the glorious sun that we've been gifted with here in West Wales and, it seems, in the whole of the United Kingdom. It is on sunny days like these that I can begin to appreciate where I live. This appreciation was magnified this afternoon as I read the newspaper - uprisings in Egypt, teenagers murdered over smart phones, never ending wars in Syria and corrupted politics. It is at this moment in time that I appreciate that the only noise I can here is that of the screeching of a red kite being playfully attacked by another bird.

I understand that many, including me, at numerous times in their lives have disliked living so far away from everything. So far away from civilisation. As I now spend most of my time in an area where a less than ten minute walk can get you to a train station and a 35 minute journey can get you in to the English capital, I can fully appreciate how isolated we are here in West Wales. But, so what?

On Jeremy Vine a few days ago he was discussing and comparing newspaper headlines throughout the country with many urban areas sporting front pages with words such as "Two people stabbed in bus stop" whereas areas out in the country had calmer headlines that read "Dog found in shed". Some might find the latter pointless, laughable even but if you had to choose which area you would rather live in after reading these stories I'm sure I can guess which one you'd choose.

It's true we have nothing here. The nearest cinema is an hour away and so is the nearest shopping area but despite this we were never bored growing up. Who needs shops when you have rivers and who needs an arcade when you have forests. Simple.

Despite this I would not be able to live here throughout my years after university as I want to travel, live in those cities with such shocking headlines and to live between never ending streets of shops and cinemas. Although, I don't think I'd be able to live in places like London for long - too built up and busy. San Clemente or San Francisco on the other hand, well that's a different story! To live in California would be a dream - sea, mountains, desert, peace and civilisation. What more could you need?!

For now however, I am pretty happy with views like these.

MILLENNIUM STADIUM //

Late last week I found out that my friend, Kyle, was going to be playing in the MILLENNIUM STADIUM in Cardiff (how awesome is that?!)!! So obviously I booked by train tickets to Cardiff and yesterday morning I left uni quite early and got the train back to Wales. I met up with Carwen, we grabbed some lunch and headed in to the stadium. It was so cool seeing people you actually know playing on the field. Kyle was playing for Carmarthen Athletic in the national youth cup final against Gorseinon (Leigh Halfpenny's team . . . he was there also!). Athletic got the home draw so their changing room was the Wales home changing room! Athletic convincingly beat Gorseinon 43-12! Woohoo. The game was really exciting and some awesome rugby was played by both teams but the last two tries by Athletic were superb!

Earlier in the week I wasn't sure what to do after the game - go back to uni, stay in Cardiff . . . ? I looked at tickets for a same day return and if I had left Cardiff at 21:00 I wouldn't have reached Egham 'till 10am!!! Cray. Carwen's mum was driving home that evening after the game so I got a lift home to West Wales from them. I wasn't really planning coming home from uni this term just because it's a really short term but because I was so close to home and I have no lectures (only exams) I thought I might as well. Yesterday was also my Mami's birthday so it was nice to be back for that also.

I'm going back to uni on Tuesday morning so I have a time to rest at home for a few days before I go back to revision and exams!

 Leigh Halfpenny (in the red)!

FISH & CHIPS, THE SUN & A CAMERA

A week or so ago myself and three friends - Carwen, Kyle & Sulwen headed to Aberaeron for some fish and chips. We didn't plan it but we arrived just as the sun was setting so once we had gone and bought our chips (I had the classic sausage in batter and chips - every time) we went over to the harbour and watched the sun set over the horizon. While we were there we decided to take some pictures. I love where I live & I love the sea :)

Diolch Sulwen am y llunie :)