Weekend away for our anniversary

This weekend we went away to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We was going to go to the Peak District, or Yorkshire, but Amanda was sent to Bridgend in Wales to cover for someone at work. So instead of Amanda driving all the way back from Wales and then traveling somewhere else, we decided to spend the weekend in Wales. After work I got the train to Birmingham New Street station and got a train to Bridgend via Bristol Parkway.

The hotel just outside Bridgend.

The hotel was really nice. We got it at a good rate because Amanda's company uses it regularly for putting up staff. The hotel had a very oldie worldy feel to it inside and our room was massive. They also had a very nice restaurant they we went too on the first night. We didn't really have much planned for the weekend except to relax so we decided to go for a drive on Saturday morning and see what was around.

Coety Castle

As we drove around we found some ruins for a castle, so we parked up the car and went for a walk around the grounds.


The castle was great, that's one of the things I like about the UK is its really old buildings. We spent about an hour here and took loads of photos. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and very cold.

You can't go to a castle without taking a stupid photo.

After the castle we saw signs for the coastal town of PorthCawl. It was only 5 miles away so we decided to see what was there. We parked in a car park near the waterfront and went for a walk. There were literally hundreds of surfers out that day. I think they are mad. It was a very cold day, so the water must have been freezing. But they probably got some good surfing done as the water was quite rough.



As far as towns go Porthcawl is very depressing and bland, so we didn't stay very long. We just walked up and down the coast taking some photos and then got back in the car.

Taking 5 minutes out so Amanda could answer the phone.

On the way back to Bridgend we both needed the toilet so we stopped at a holiday caravan park. I can't remember the name of the place but it looked like a good laugh. It reminded me of the holiday parks I used to go to on holiday with my parents as a kid. We probably even went to this one, but I can't remember. We went into the club house to use the toilet and the place reminded me off the club out of Peter Kay's phoenix nights, were everyone was sitting around tables drinking beer watching the stage, in this case the afternoon football.


As we headed back to the carpark we passed an amusement arcade so Amanda wanted to have a go on the fruit machines. She loves playing these things so we spent about an hour there.

For the rest of the weekend we just relaxed at the hotel and got some well needed rest as the previous week had been very busy at work. We left around mid day on Sunday for the long drive back to Belper. The weather was really grim, it just rained all day, as you can see in the picture below as we were about to cross the River Seven bridge.

Great British weather.