Casnewydd, WALES

What’s a trip to the UK without Wales in it? I took a scenic bus ride through the English countryside reaching my final destination; Newport, Wales or as the Welsh call it Castlewydd. The Welsh have their own language which I believe derived from the Celtic language and whilst I may not understand a bloody word that comes out of their mouth, at least it sounds like a pretty song when they speak.

Upon travelling to Wales, one must pay a fee to enter from England, on a toll bridge known as the Second Severn Crossing. This bridge can be seen for miles before you arrive at the bridge itself and is approximately 5 km in length (this would not be the way to go for my mum or anyone else having a fear of bridges).

Leaving Wales, of course is free. On the way back to England, I took the train which runs under the river. The train tracks run under a tunnel which has been carved out of the channel since 1886. It runs two and a quarter miles under the water via the Severn Tunnel. Water must be continuously pumped out of the tunnel and only one train goes through the tunnel at a time (the former information I learned thankfully AFTER travelling through the tunnel). I could sense when the train made its deep decent (has a steep gradient 1 in 90 and 1 in 100) when my ears “popped” under the pressure. Oy!

Newport or Castlewydd (depending on which language you speak) is officially a city because the Queen said so. ;-) It’s full of culture and history. Art works and the theater can be found down by the river front (Glan yr Afon) along with a cool castle. It saddened me to see some of the great historical structures in ruins. These ruins get hit hard by the erosion in the rising and falling of the tides and its only inhabitants now are pigeons.

Wales is a must see. I love its people, history and culture and look forward to a return trip to visit Snowdonia (a national park in the north). If you're planning a trip to the UK, why not try out Wales?