On the Road with Marvin 2022!: June 2022

Sunday, June 19, 2022

Day 69 to 72: Thursday 16th June to Sunday 19th June 2022

The weather is very hot at the moment, so we haven’t done much over the last few days. As we have done a lot of walking and will be working at Glastonbury next week, we have wanted to ensure we are well rested!

We have wandered to Bath Chew Valley Lake a few times and also met some family members there, which was really lovely to see them and catch up! Other than that, we have been revising the Glastonbury map so we know where everything is located, have listened to a few podcasts and have been doing the ‘chore’ tasks so that we are all ready to go on Monday.

A big rainbow over the campsite!

I haven’t been able to update the blog until now because the mobile signal hasn’t been strong enough to upload the photos. I won’t be able to update the blog until Monday 27th June at the earliest I imagine, because I’ll be trying to save phone battery as it will be difficult charging it.

I am feeling excited about Glastonbury, but quite nervous about a few things too, especially the shifts, as I am not quite sure what role we will be given yet. I’m sure it will all be okay! Just fingers crossed its not cleaning the toilets!!!!! 😉

Day 68: Wednesday 15th June 2022

We left Pencelli around 8am. The main stop was back to Abergavenny, in order to get most of our food shopping for Glastonbury Festival, as we are aware we might not be passing another supermarket - the campsite is quite a long way from Bath and so we won’t be visiting any main towns or cities whilst we are there.

I made us visit Aldi, Waitrose, The Grape Tree and Holland and Barrett before I felt we had enough of the right snacks to see us through our shifts! It gave us a good opportunity to explore more of Abergavenny, it is a really nice town, especially as it is surrounded by hills.

After spending three hours there, we headed on towards Bath and Bristol. We crossed the Prince of Wales Bridge, and then the journey got a bit trickier!! We had a choice of either driving through the middle of Bristol, or at least 10 roundabouts on the ring road. I opted for driving through Bristol, as I thought it would be easier to navigate! Luckily we did not get lost, and Mum did really well with the driving despite never having wanted to drive through any towns or cities in the van before we began this roadtrip. We were very relieved once we were back on to quieter roads!!

We arrived safely at the campsite. Again, it is very different to previous campsites, but our pitch has lots of grass around it so a nice place to relax and get organised ready for the festival. Not long to go!!

Day 67: Tuesday 14th June 2022

We planned not to do too much today, still being a little tired from the walk yesterday. We decided to walk along the canal to Talybont-On-Usk, 2 miles from the campsite.

It was lovely being by another canal again. There were lots of narrowboats motoring along, as well as lots of primary school children learning to kayak!

After looking around the village, we decided to walk to the reservoir, which was another 1.5 miles away. I read another poem there, but unfortunately we couldn’t actually get close to the reservoir as it was closed off.

We perhaps walked too much, as the journey back to the campsite did feel quite long, and my feet started hurting again due to how much walking we did yesterday! It was a nice day again despite being tired, we enjoyed seeing the canal and saying hello to people on their boats.

We had a relaxing evening though, and got ready for our travelling tomorrow to a campsite near Bath.

Day 66: Monday 13th June 2022

A long walk planned today! We headed off around 9am, after getting ready and making lunch to take with us.

It took us about an hour to get up to the top of Bryn, faster than yesterday, as we knew we had a lot longer to go so were pacing it out. It was much less windier today and so definitely more pleasant walking, with a clear day, so the views were excellent. We followed the ridges along towards Pen Y Fan. For most of the way, it continued to look very far away - it didn’t feel like we getting much closer!

The walk ahead of us! The highest peak is where we were heading for.

The path up Pen Y Fan was particularly steep but really worth walking. We were quite tired by this point so pleased to reach the top around 1.15pm and have lunch. However, we also knew we had been walking for four hours, and that this was half way - we had to walk the same route back, so we were a bit apprehensive!! We could see for miles - great to see some more of the Brecon Beacons from up high and also see the town of Brecon and the smaller villages below.

The summit of Pen Y Fan still seeming quite a long way away!

On the way back we had an interesting chat to two other walkers, one of whom is thinking about selling her house and buying a van. We continued on and enjoyed the walk back, although our feet were beginning to hurt.

Pen Y Fan from across the next hill

We got back about 6pm, and worked out we had walked 18.5 miles in total! Which was unexpected, as the guide book had estimated the walk to be 12 miles!! Exhausted this evening, but really enjoyed the day.

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Day 65: Sunday 12th June 2022

Mum has really wanted to see the Brecon Beacons, so we made sure to do a walk around the National Park today. We left around 11am in the end as we were a bit late getting organised for the walk, but luckily for this walk we didn’t need to get any transport anywhere - we could walk straight from the door.

We headed towards St Meugan’s, Llanfeugan Church first, and met a few people coming out of it who told us that we could look inside. They also told us more about the Yew trees around the Churchyard, which are thought to be 5000 years old!! Amazing to think how long they have lived and how life has changed around them.

Leaving the church, we followed the footpath through some woodland before reaching a lane and a few fields, climbing upwards. As we turned around to look back at the path we had come up, there was already a great view of the surrounding fields and villages. We continued uphill and got to the top of Bryn at about 1pm - perfect time for a picnic! It was a great view and really worth the walk.

As we would like to go further tomorrow, we continued along the path a way in order to make sure we know the way. We passed lots more sheep and also a few wild ponies. It was much more windy at this point, so we turned back, but look forward to tomorrow!

We got back about 3.30pm. We hope to walk to Pen Y Fan tomorrow, the highest point of the Brecon Beacons at 886m. It is quite a long way from the campsite so we aim to leave early!

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Day 64: Saturday 11th June 2022

We got up early and left by 7.30am this morning to get past any difficult roads whilst there wasn’t too much traffic around. We were able to stop en route in Abergavenny, a really nice town. We stayed there for about two hours in order to get some breakfast (cake!!) and also buy some bread. We wished we had stayed a little longer, but wanted to get to the campsite, as you could check in from midday.

It is a great campsite, the facilities are very useful - there are even fridges and freezers! After settling in, we caught the bus to Brecon which again was a nice town to explore. There has been an event going on called “Race The Sun” around the Brecon Beacons, where participants have been taking part in cycling, kayaking and hiking Pen Y Fan. We cheered a few cyclists on as they passed us at the bus stop - it looked challenging but a great event to take part in!

We hope to do some more walks over the next few days around the Brecon Beacons. There is another canal nearby, so we’d like to do another walk alongside it, as well as a few more walks to some of the peaks. We also got chatting to a nice couple all about different festivals and also different towns/ places to visit.

Saturday, June 11, 2022

Day 63: Friday 10th June 2022

A really nice day weather wise today. As the campsite hires out canoes, we were able to go out for a few hours on the River Wye, which runs directly alongside the campsite before continuing to Hereford and beyond. The instructor gave a safety briefing for about 15 minutes, and then we were off! It was great fun, although we weren’t very skillful.

It gave us a good chance to spot a number of different wildlife on the river, including swans and two cygnets (thank you Dad for teaching me that!) ducks and their duckings, a Heron, a fish jumping out of the water (I’ve never seen that before!) and also some cows that came to say hello.

We got a bit stuck on one particular turning in the river, due to the current in the river. We tried at least three times to get past it, but each time we were eventually carried backwards again, probably to the amusement of the cows and ducks watching us! So we gave up and decided it was a good place to turn round and head back to the little jetty, as it was about time to go back anyway and our arms were getting a bit tired! It didn’t take us long to get back, as the river carried us that way naturally.

The rest of the time we spent today doing laundry again, and just getting sorted really in the van. Very lucky with the weather today - lots of sun, so able to hang our washing outside to dry, as it is so expensive for the tumble dryers and washing machines!

Day 62: Thursday 9th June 2022

Today we did not do much. Mum enquired about canoeing, but the owner was away on a course, so instead arranged to hire one for tomorrow. The rest of the day was spent doing laundry (with help from one of the really nice cleaners as we had no idea with this particular washing machine!) and then a walk in the afternoon around the wood opposite, once it had finished raining.

I spent quite a lot of time researching Glastonbury and listening to one song from each artist to make sure I know who I’d like to see performing. We don’t know when our shifts will be though, and bet one will be on Friday when everyone we really want to see will be playing! But that’s fine if it happens that way. We will be stewarding for Oxfam, 3 x 8 1/4 hour shifts, arriving there on the Monday. Not long to go! Excited, but nervous too!

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Day 60 & 61: Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th June 2022

Day 60: Tuesday 7th June 2022

We are now travelling down through England to get closer to Glastonbury, ready for the festival. Our next stop from Stafford is Mordiford, near Hereford. We left at 8.45am and stopped at Ludlow Foodhall on the way, where we have been a number of times previously. The journey through Hereford was quite difficult due to some of the busy roads, but we got to the campsite okay!

It is a big campsite, the facilities are good and the River Wye runs alongside it, so we ventured for a little way alongside the river in the afternoon. There is a possibility of canoeing, as they hire them here, so hopefully we might be able to do that later in the week!

This campsite has their own “landmark” signpost, so we had to take a photo, having visited the one in John O’ Groats one month ago exactly!

Day 61: Wednesday 8th June 2022

As we are in the area, we decided to catch the 10am bus to Hereford to look around the town. It is a good town - quite a lot of shops, a nice Cathedral and again a really nice river walk. I seem to post a lot of pictures of pretty rivers and bridges!

The Mappa Mundi, the largest surviving medieval world map, was also located at the Cathedral, although we didn’t manage to see it.

The cafe we had researched was unfortunately shut. Never mind! After a bit of wandering around and wondering where to go, we found a great cafe called Rocket near the Cathedral for some delicious flatbreads and salad!

Back at around 5.15pm. It is strange being back in England, but nice to feel slightly closer to home, as it has been a long time that we have been travelling! Really enjoying all the stays though - every campsite and each area is very different which is very interesting to see. This morning, someone kindly helped show us how to put the outdoor awning up for the first time, so fingers crossed we remember how to do it for next time!

Monday, June 6, 2022

Day 59: Monday 6th June 2022

Due to our early start yesterday, we did not rush going out today, and eventually left for a walk at about 11.

The site manager had given us a couple of leaflets about walks in the area, so we followed one with directions to the canal. It was lovely walking by the canal, and so interesting to see all the narrowboats. There were a number of ducks on the water too, which we saw both there and on the way back. They came looking for food I think!

We headed along the canal to Wheaton Aston. This was a very pretty village, with a nice church and open space to eat our lunch. We also decided to get a drink from the pub again!!

The walk back was really nice, as we passed lots of people on their boats on the canal. One big group of friends were all having lunch on theirs, which looked ideal! It was also a good opportunity to learn the phonetic alphabet ready for our stewarding at the festivals this summer, as we haven’t learnt it yet, but the training mentioned it.

We finished the walk by walking up the narrow lanes we had driven yesterday. A good reminder that we don’t want to drive back this way! We were lucky not to meet anyone coming the other way, but don’t want to risk it again!!

We move on tomorrow to Hereford. Three weeks left until we go home for a couple of weeks. Two weeks until Glastonbury!

Sunday, June 5, 2022

Day 58: Sunday 5th June 2022

Worried about the long journey today from near Carlisle to Stafford, we set off early at 6.45am to try to get past the Lakes, as we expected it to be very busy with people leaving from their bank holiday breaks. Luckily, for the most of the way, the traffic was fine, although awful weather which made some of the motorway challenging to drive due to the spray.

Nice weather and quiet roads to begin with

It did get a bit challenging with the rain

We stopped a couple of times at the services once we were nearly there, as we were very early!! The last part of the journey was perhaps the most difficult of this whole road trip surprisingly! A small section of road was closed due to a street party, so we were directed down a narrow lane meeting lots of traffic coming the other way. We were very glad that it was not a big diversion, but the roads in the area generally remained very narrow for several miles, so we were relieved to get to the campsite!

As the weather is still not great, we have not done much today.

Hope everyone has had a nice bank holiday weekend!

Day 57: Saturday 4th June 2022

What a beautiful day it has been today - sun and very warm! A big difference from some of our time in Scotland where we wore lots of layers!

We left fairly late for a walk to a local village, Armathwaite, about 3 or 4 miles away. The path was mostly through woodland, and then along a road with some nice countryside views. It was a really nice walk, although the cars were particularly fast driving past, so we enjoyed the forest sections a lot more.

Armathwaite was a lovely village, with a river running through it as a great spot for lunch, and to read another poem about the river, River Eden. Also able to stop for a drink at the pub as we didn’t stop yesterday!

After walking back, it was still really nice weather so we were able to sit and read in the sun for a while. Of course, we went back to see the Fairy Glen lit up again tonight!! Although we haven’t been here long and are leaving tomorrow, it has been a great campsite to visit.

On the Road with Marvin 2022!