Travelling along the border

Well I come to the end of the first day's travel and we seem to have paced ourselves very well indeed.

The detail of the journey was as in this morning's post and we followed that route with minor detours.

One of the real puzzles for me is why we seemed to have more luggage going for 17 days in the UK than we do when we go for 22 days in the USA. It isn't space on the plane as we never take as many bags as we are allowed. I guess it may be the fact that we have to take a lot more 'Smart Casual' clothes than usual, given the places we are eating. The picture to the right shows the wide range of items we had ready to load in the car. 


Leaving home we travelled up to Sainsbury's in Pontypridd to fill the car with petrol, we then headed via Pant to Pontsticill Reservoir where we got out and felt welcome at the reservoir. See the picture to the left with its dire warnings ☺. 

Drew has pleasant memories of the Reservoir from his younger days. I don't! But I played my part and got out and stood in the rain for the first photo of me of the holiday. Is it my imagination or is there less of me than there used to be?? If so, will that still be the case by the end of this holiday?

From Pontsticill we travelled through the lanes that lead to Talybont on Usk and the lovely site of the Brecon and Monmouth Canel. 

The Grotto at Our Lady of Ransom Church

From Talybont we went up past Builth and on to Llandrindod. Given the four years I lived here, and my memories of one of my dear friends, Marian Enhrenzeller, who died last week and whose funeral I will miss because of the holiday. I went down to see Marian's old house and to visit the Church to say a prayer for Marian on her journey back to the God whom she loved so much.

What was St. Christopher's where Marian and her family welcomed cyclists for many years

After we left Llandrindod we carried along the Welsh border through Newtown and Welshpool until we came into England and stopped for a quick snack in Oswestry. 

We were looking for some nice English Tea Room, but instead found a roadside Starbucks. Drew had a Ham and Egg Croissant and I a Sausage Sarnie. Still we want to keep our appetites for the seven course (or is it eight) we will have tonight.

We carried on our journey through the North West and arrived at Northcote at 3.30pm we checked in straight away and we uploaded photos to Flickr - See them here - before walking through the Northcote gardens and getting washed and dressed ready for dinner, with just enough time to complete today's post. 

Dinner details will wait until tomorrow, but my mouth is watering as I hear the sounds of the kitchen downstairs in the house. This is the kind of food we expect.