Backpacking Trip: Day 13

Day 13! So I woke up around 7:30 at our hostel in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, and then I went down and got some complimentary coffee – which was instant coffee and not too impressive. Our first stop of the day was in Hay-on-Wye, which is the second hand book capital of the world. Everywhere you go in the city there are little secondhand bookshops with pretty much any book you can imagine. After walking around the small town and seeing all the shops, we made our way back to the bus. The next stop was in another small town called Berth Wells, I believe. From there, we made a few stops along the motorway heading north in Brecon Beacons National Park, and the Elan Valley. It was a bit cloudy our but the sights with really nice nonetheless. Then, we made a stop at a really old ruined Welsh castle that was built in the 13th century. We had to climb up a good sized hill to reach the castle, but once when reached it, there was some really nice views of the surrounding area and it was fun climbing along the castle ruins. After making it back to the bus, we then stopped in another small town called Bala where we went to the supermarket and everyone pitched in a few pounds to get a bunch of food to be cooked for everyone later that night. Finally, we reached our final destination for the day – a small Welsh farmhouse where we would stay the night. It was located somewhere in central/northern Wales, but it was really in the middle of nowhere. This was probably the highlight of the tour so far. All the girls (14 of them) worked in the kitchen making salads and such, while the guys (all 5 of us) went in the barbecue hut to cook the burgers and sausages. All the food turned out to be super good, and then afterwards we spent some time hanging out and talking, and running around the farm. A particularly enjoyable moment occurred when me and this other guy – Chris – decided we would try to round up all the sheep. It was reallllly fun and funny because the sheep would all freak out and try to make it for the gates where we would try stop them. It was a good time, and I still got to bed relatively early – about midnight - a very good day overall. Tomorrow should be good as well. See Ya!