October
14 - October 15, 2000
This weekend
just gone Sarah and I went to Wales, horse riding. Sarah and
I had been wanting to do this for a while so it was really cool
when we finally booked our trip and were off. It was fantastic.
We got on the bus at 7am and by 9am our bus had broken down,
well the window wipers weren't working. So we stopped until
the AA came to fix it.
Back on
the road to Hay on Wye for lunch. It's famous for second hand
books and there were a lot of them. And a cool castle…
with loads of books out the front.
We got to
the black mountains by 2.30pm. We had to do up our saddles and
get our stirrups right. I needed a leg up due to my ankle. Then
along with our hats and body amour we were off. My horse was
very co-operative and soon we were trotting along. Not too difficult
if you get the timing right when the horse starts. If he starts
without you its impossible not to bounce around. The scenery
was very NZ bush like with little waterfalls by the trails.
We went up steep hills and down muddy tracks. Near the end my
horse decided to nibble some branches, I was trying to stop
him when another horse passed us. He was not impressed so barged
into it so me and the other girl's legs crashed. Then once we
got past he caught up to the next horse bit it then decided
that going down the hill sideways might be fun. Managed to turn
him to point down and the last 10 minutes were reasonably normal.
We were on the horses for about 2 hours. We then had to take
off the saddles, and bridles and brush them down. We then took
them out to the fields for the night. It was really great and
I want to go again.
Baskerville
Hall was an awesome place to stay. We enjoyed Sauna's, swim,
a great dinner, and finally a disco. The group on our tour were
quite a fun bunch so that helped.
The next
day we went to Cardiff and were let loose and able to do our
own thing. Sarah and I went to the amazing Millennium stadium
and then to Cardiff castle. Millennium Stadium gives a great
tour. The changing rooms were yellow, but I got intimate with
Neil in the bath room and near his locker.
The
tunnel
Click to
enlarge
Apparently the first lot of grass fell off the truck and residents
scooped it up and planted it in their lawns. It kind of back
fired though as the grass was formulated to grow under poor
conditions such as no light (due to the roof on the stadium).
And yep.. the grass loved the perfect light it received so the
poor residents had to mow their lawn all the time. We got to
try out the VIP seating area. Another story told by the guide
was that the workman had created a lot of dust while completing
the stadium and had to wash the VIP seats. Trouble was the sponge
lining soaked up so much water that they didn't dry out before
the opening games so all the VIP's got soaking wet buts.
This
area of seating lifts up so they can replace the grass pellets.
Moving
seats
Click to
enlarge
From
the top of the stadium Another view of the stadium
We had
some more time so decide to check out Cardiff castle. Here you
can see the keep and a second photo where I'm trying to be arty.
The tour was informative and we got to go in some restricted
areas such as the roof garden and the Banqueting Hall.
Roof
Garden - Cardiff Castle
Click to
enlarge
Our final
destination as a group was Cosmeston medieval village on the
outskirts of Cardiff. The guides were in character as they showed
us around. It was quite cool.
It was
such a good weekend I want to go again with Gavin and maybe
some other people.
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