UK Roadtrip to an End - On to Paris

So...this is going to be the second time I write this, I spent a long time typing it all up on the mobile the other day only to have the net drop out & lose it all! GAH!

Anyho...

So we awoke ready for the short drive to Cardiff. Cardiff is a very beautiful city. We spent the day visiting the castle & the millenium stadium & hanging around the bay area. Everything was nice & pleasant, but nothing overly soectacular.

We were extremely facinated by the Welsh language though, and all of the street signs made for great amusement.

The next day we headed across for the drive to Swindon, we got to drive over the water between Wales & England, which I must say was quite amazing to do. Luckily theres only a toll on the road 1 way - not ours.

We stopped into Bath, which is stunning! We spent the morning wandering the parks and the cobblestone streets & got to check out the amazing architecture on the Roman Baths. We wandered through ine of the local markets too - which seems to have an abundance of history.

We continued the drive to Swindon & hit the sack. The morning in Swindon was lovely as well. Parks & whatnot. They have a very cool city centre park that we enjoyed, watching the birds & the ducks for a while it was nice to relax. It rekindled my relationship with Swindon as I was quite pissed off last time I was there, as we got lost!

The day itself was ours to kill, as we were sleeping in the car that night, and had not all that far to drive. We were much more prepared this time, and stayed in the services just outside of London - nice & warm, well fed, and with enough entertainment to get us through ( free wifi at the services = Family guy)

So the next morning we awoke, quite happy to be getting rid of the car & get back to our backpacker roots. The idea of having a car is always great, but after a while, worrying about Parking & the stress that comes with it, makes you look forward to the freedom again. We did receive a couple of parking tickets unfortunately, as I didnt realise even an unsigned section in a "controlled zone" had its rules. Mistake made & learnt from.

With the car dropped off & our packs back on in London, we were free to reinspect this lovely city. We dropped our packs back at the hostel & headed back to Abbey road as I decided I wanted a picture crossing. We went to Lords afterwards, and there was a county game, as it was the last day with only 1 wicket left the lovely guard let us in free! Score!

Quite to our surprise when we went in, the ground was open & as it was lunch we were welcome to stroll out onto the field. Benny got to inspect the wickets & check out the Pavillion at close range - still from outside though of course. It was actually quite sunny so once the game was underway again, we went into the stands to catch some rays for the last 5 balls of the match, and it was all over.

The evening was spent catching a quiet beer watching an acoustic set right near our hostel. The next morning we packed up all our stuff, said farewell to London & the English Language & it was time to Head for Paris. Wi wi!