Bletchley Park
I visited
Bletchley Park during Easter break but cannot tell you about it as I am sworn
to secrecy. What I can tell you is that it
was one of the highlights of my visit to the UK so far. Having studied maths and some computer
programming, I have read a few books on Bletchley and had to learn all about
“Turing Machines” in logic class. The
men and women at Bletchley contributed a lot to mathematics and set the
foundations for artificial intelligence.
(the first computer was made there and not Eniac but it was all
classified until recently). I hear a
number of the results around Bayesian methods are still classified.
I had three
weeks off for Easter. The first five
days were spent preparing work for term three.
We then took a seven day rail trip through Wales with a rail pass.
Central Wales
We took the
train to Swansea then transferred to the mid-Wales line that went west to
Llanelli (that is pronounced shaneshee but there seems to be a hard “c” in
there somewhere) then through the centre of Wales spending the first night in
Landovery a lovely town right in the middle of Wales. We spent the night at the Castle B&B, a
very interesting place. After taking the
town walks the next morning Carolene spent the afternoon visiting the shops and
meeting some interesting people and I went for a three mile walk in the country
that ended up being closer to nine. I guess
the information centre map wasn’t quite good enough. When I realised I was “disoriented” I used my
cell phone map – no GPS. So I texted
Carolene with a description of where I thought I was but her GPS didn’t work
either. When we got back we had a well-earned
dinner at the King’s Head (this used to be the drover`s bank). There are enough towns near-by that we want
to return to and I can walk between towns (with a proper map this time) and
Carolene could take local busses and shop, shop, shop at the charity shops
(Brit for Thrift Stores).
Shrewsbury
Off to
Shrewsbury for a couple of nights. How
you pronounce it depends on if you are Welsh or English. Lots to explore in the crooked streets like
this one:
The tourist
brochure said that Shropshire Gold is made by the Salopian Brewery so
I went in quest of the rare ale.
No luck. Carolene took me to the
Brother Cadfael museum that no longer exists but they are preserving the
historic building it was in. The
cathedral has a stain glass window dedicated to Ellis Peters who wrote the
Cadfael books. Another place worth more of
our time.
Bromsgrove
Off to
Bromsgrove where we spent a couple of nights with a two friends who we met in
1996 and have since met with them in Canada and also in our 2003 trip to the
UK. They took us to a pub on the canal
for dinner. English pubs are a lot smaller
and cosier than many of the big ones in Cardiff. In the morning I went for a run along the
canal. Very pastoral. And, of course, we visited Bletchley and
learned all sorts of things that we cannot pass on.
West Wales
From
Bromsgrove we took a zig-zag trip to Tenby.
Our hostess dropped us off at Birmingham University where she works and
we took the train to Birmingham, transferred to Shrewsbury, changed to the
Welsh line to Cardiff. At Cardiff we
transferred to a train to Swansea then transferred to one for Tenby. It was strange transferring at Cardiff as our
apartment is across the river from Cardiff Central.
Our Inn at
Tenby was rustic but central. I now know
what a British seaside resort looks like.
Absolutely beautiful. Now
Llandovery was an old peoples place but Tenby was full of children visiting
bampi (Wenglish for grandpa) for the week and grandpa did not have much
control. Note to self: don’t go for dinner until after seven when
the children are in bed. We had another
great hike – shopping day and ended up in a pub that has a picture of Dylan
Thomas on the menu because he drank there.
Shouldn’t every pub in south Wales have his picture?
Another Castle
Pembroke
was our final stop before the trip back to Caerdydd and laundry. Pembroke castle was large and well
preserved. I believe 1797 the UK was
braced for a French landing. There was a
fortress in Tenby ready and so was Pembroke castle. The battle was in Fishguard. Lunch was at a pub nearby appropriately named
the Castle Inn. The food and the service
were fantastic. A good reason to return.
More Cardiff
Good Friday
I went on a walking tour of Cardiff and was the only customer. Even though I have read half a dozen books on
Cardiff the tour was exceptionally informative.
So good that on Monday I went on the Cardiff Bay tour with Carolene and
our new “Canadian in Cardiff” friend (she has a blog).
Good Friday
night our church had a Passover supper at “the barn”. A young couple picked us up at the train and
drove us into the hills. It was run by a
man who is intimate about such things. I
should have known that for church functions here one brings wine. Never mind, there was plenty. Easter morning a couple from the church
offered their home for breakfast and a very informal service. Church usually meets at the Welsh School of
Drama and Music which, naturally, was closed.
This week,
after making sure everything is ready for school, we decided to explore the
Valleys. The English make fun of the
Valleys and the Welsh apologise. We took
the Rhymney line up to Rhymney, explored the town, then took a train down to
Caerffili to have lunch and wander. I
wandered the town and Carolene wandered the charity shops. She got me a shirt. Back in Cardiff we continued our explorations
of town and tried out a pub the walking tour man recommended as good on game
day. Lovely place and their feature
beer: Rhymney Bitter! So I had to try it.
Saturday we
will go to an organ recital at the Welsh Tabernacle. It is a Welsh language church so we will have
to use hand signals.
I am on the voter`s
list so I plan to visit the local representative`s office as I will be voting
in the next European election.
I may
become a card carrying member of Plaid Cymru.
