From the Mountains to the Forests, From the Coast to the Valleys

Wales really is a lovely place; I went along a huge stretch of Wales last weekend during the Castles' Relay I mentioned in an earlier blog. Drive over 100 miles of Wales and you really witness amazing changes in scenery and of course, a lot of sheep!

I began last weekend by driving up to North Wales, passing through Rhayader [to get chips] and we stayed in Machynlleth for the night. On Saturday, me and my nan continued further north up to Criccieth, where the end of the second leg to the Castles' Relay ended and the third began. I love castles ... here's Criccieth's:

Just so you know, the Relay began up in Caernavon Castle, considered 'architecturally one of the most impressive of all of the castles in Wales'. I did not get a chance to visit Caernavon, but I certainly intend to :]

So anyway, after travelling up to Criccieth, we took over the race and went just outside Harlech Castle, the start of the 5th leg. We spent over an hour there before the competitors began the run to Barmouth.

Our job was to follow the last runner and if at any point it seemed that they wouldn't make it to the finish we would take them to the finish in the car. Luckily, nothing much bad happened so we didn't pick anyone up, but slow runners are annoying :-|

Moving further down through Wales, we got to Newtown at about half 8 on Saturday. Who would of thought that Newtown is practically the clubbing capital of Mid Wales. The amount of pubs and clubs, with hordes of student plastics in them was large. You can hear them when you try to sleep ..... grr

Sunday, we continued southwards; we marshalled the race from Drover's Arms to Brecon. Drover's Arms is the most pointless race start in Wales to be honest. Its in the middle of nowhere, with one toilet for the 53 runners that took part, the marshals and the countless supporters. I was happy to leave it, because Welsh mountains' views [however beautiful] were getting boring at that point.

After a short visit to Brecon, we speeded to South Wales to marshal the Caerphilly-Cardiff race. This leg began in the car park coming off the Crescent, opposite Caerphilly Castle. The runners ran past the Miner's Hospital into Castle View and down the Taff Trail. We could barely keep up with them as there are no roads, so we gave up the chase at Tongwynlais, and drove straight to end of the race at Cardiff Castle =D

Yeah, so Wales is good =D

I can't wait to do it next year; my nan says i should have to do the driving next year, which I agree with and hope for. But never will I run a leg; no way! If you saw some of the legs you'd understand, and the heat last weekend was immense. It would've been perfect for a beach ;|

Moi