Day 10 - Short digression - Giraldus Cambrensis

I named this blog “A Journey in Wales” as a small homage to Giraldus Cambrensis, who wrote a book called "A Journey through Wales".  I'm certainly no Giraldus but I count him as a great inspiration and mean this only as a tribute. 

Giraldus (1146-1223), a monk who wrote over twenty large
volumes of work, was also known as Gerald de Barri and Gerallt Gymro.  He wrote two famous books about the Welsh - “Itinerarium Cambriae” (A Journey through Wales) and “Descriptio Cambriae” (A Description of Wales) which chronicled the lives of the people around him. What’s most interesting about Giraldus was that he was three-quarters Norman and one-quarter Welsh.  He clearly loved both cultures and was often torn between the two.

Naturally, I identify with that, being first generation Welsh-Canadian.  Part of both worlds but not really belonging to either. 

Day 10 - A day of rest in Cei Newydd

There's not much I can say about this day.  I slept in a little and felt much better.  Sam had left the previous day for Scotland to attend a big poetry festival.  I delivered Plaid Cymru pamphlets for Sam as she had run out of time to finish her route.  Plaid Cymru is the national political party for Wales.  There's an election this May.  In Ceredigion, the two contenders for the riding are Plaid Cymru and Lib-Dems.  The route was short and I only ran into one person.  She wanted to know what an English boy like me was doing delivering Plaid Cymru pamphlets!  Convinced her I was from Canada and turns out she knew my family a little.  That only took about two hours.  I visited Aunty Susan briefly just to see how she was doing.  I'm sorry to say that I woke her from a nap.  I really should learn to call in advance.

I made cawl for Geraint and myself.  Geraint's proper Welsh and he really seemed to enjoy it so I must have done something right.  Cawl is a traditional Welsh soup.  It's fairly simple to make.  Fry leeks, add water, potatoes, suedes, carrots, cabbage, lots of parsley, veggie stock and maybe a touch of salt and pepper.  The real thing is made with meat and/or a meat bone.  But being Veggie and all, I only use veggie stock.

I'm going to add two asides to this day.
The first one is about Giraldus Cambrensis.  And the second one will be about the Welsh music CD, Blodeugerdd.

Shortly, onto Pencader and some real music...

Day 9 - Llantysiliogogo

I have to admit, I was pretty sore the next day from weeding.  Especially my hands.  Aunty Susan and I had talked a little about my great-great grandfather Thomas Owen (son of Catherine Jones and Owen Owen) and his wife (my great-great grandmother) Sarah Evans of the Blaenllan household.  So we decided to take another trip, this time to Llantysiliogogo as that's where Thomas is buried.

We took the bus just up the road to Cross Inn and then began our walk.  The first thing we came to was the village Caerwedros.  It was here she showed me the old Norman fort, not much left but a tiny mound.  The fort wasn't in use long as the Welsh burned in down within twenty years of it being built.

Day 8 - Capel-y-Wig

I had seen my Aunty Susan the day before and we had decided to make the trek to Capel-y-Wig.  She asked if I might help her weed her Grandfather's grave site and I happily agreed to do so.

We caught the bus from Cei Newydd to Pentregat and then walked for two miles to Capel-y-Wig.  (Capel means chapel)  Even though Aunty Susan has bad arthritis you'd never know it.  And she's full of interesting stories.  She's written several books, one detailing the lives of some our ancestors, the Owens of Penparc and Foel.  She's got a new book finished, due this spring, about the parish surrounding Cei Newydd.

Day 6 and 7 - Cei Newydd

This morning, I woke up early to catch a bus out to West Wales.  Turns out, there is no bus at that time on a Sunday.  Hung out for a bit in a Starbucks (ych a fi!) for the free wifi.  They don't know how to make half sweet chai lattes here.  Just full on sugar.  Eventually made it onto the X40 bus at 6:15 that night.  The bus very shortly became utterly crowded with students and all their gear.  It was pretty uncomfortable.  Most of the people stood for the four hours.  At least, I had a seat.  Finally made it into Aberaeron around 9:45.

Geraint, Sam's husband, was there to pick me up thankfully.  Geraint's super chilled and a good hang.

Day 4 and 5

On Thursday, went with Mel to pick the boys up from school. We visited her friend Helen, a Welsh speaker who lives in Llandaff, a community within Cardiff. She took me into the Llandaff church which was very impressive. Most of it had to be rebuilt after the war as it took heavy bombing. Llandaff still has the feel of a little village right in the middle of Cardiff city.  Unfortunately, didn't take any photos.

I must say that Cos and Bob are doing pretty well in school. Cos got into Cardiff High which he was really excited about. As he put it, "A proper respectable school, that is!" That a boy! Both of them are very happy to have me around and Melody has offered to let me stay indefinitely which is an incredibly nice gesture. I made a curry for them one night, to earn my keep a bit. I'm also going to be helping her with the gardening.

Day 2 and 3 - Caerdydd (Cardiff)

Spent the next few days in Cardiff, the Welsh capitol.  Cardiff only has about 350,000 people but it feels much bigger than that. There's a very frantic energy in the city especially downtown Cardiff. The Welsh Assembly, Welsh National Museum, Millenium Centre, Millenium Stadium and the new St. David's Mall are all here which might explain the frenetic excitement in the city.

The first day in Cardiff, I caught a bus downtown and

Day 1 - March 9, 2010

I arrived in London with no problems. Even got to sneak my trombone on board. The pilot must have been particularly good because my ears didn't even pop on the landing. I was sitting beside a Canadian military gun machinist heading to Afghanistan which was both interesting and disconcerting. He had another two month tour there. He was a very friendly fellow, I think originally from New Brunswick. I suppose that paradoxical nature pretty much sums up Canada really. Dylan Thomas once described Swansea as "an ugly, lovely town" and I can't think of a more appropriate way to describe Canada, and more specifically, Alberta.

After landing, I caught the National Express bus from Heathrow to Newport.