I am finally back from an adventurous weekend in Wales!
Mom and Dad-I apologize in advance, but I didn't want you to worry. So now that I am back safe and sound I can tell you that this is what I did this weekend:
Just kidding, I did not wrestle any alligators, nor did I gain 200 lbs. But this was my attire:
Now, I know what you are thinking.....Spiderchristy? SuperaquaWoman? No....sorry to say, it's just an intense wet suit complete with "wetsocks", shorts, a lifevest, and a helmet (yes, I had the helmet on for this adventure, unlike when I went snowboarding). So now you are probably wondering what I did:
Just Kidding again....sorry.
What I actually did was called Coasteering. Basically, that means, "a physical activity that encompasses movement along the intertidal zone of a rocky coastline on foot or by swimming, without the aid of boats, surf boards or other craft." If that makes no sense to you, it is basically conquering the coastline via trekking through some rocks, swimming, climbing and jumping, then swimming and exploring some more.
I may or may not have done this:
Yeah....this looks familiar actually. Maybe not quite that high, and probably not with that much confidence, but it was an amazing experience.
So now that I have that out of the way, here is a quick rundown of this past weekend; most of which turned out to be completely unplanned and there was nothing we could do about it.
Let me first start with the original "PLAN". This included leaving London at 11:30pm on Friday, taking a train for 3 hours, than taking another train for 3 more hours, taking a cab to our adventure spot, and going coasteering at 9:30am. We were then planning on getting back to London around 10pm that night.
Here is what really happened:
We did in fact leave London at 11:30pm and take a 3 hour train ride. Then, we got on the wrong train when we had to change and got stuck at a station for a few hours. By the time we got to the lodge it was about 1pm. Luckily the staff was so kind and they let us go on the afternoon coasteering trip at 2pm. (Keep in mind we had not slept yet..). So we coasteered until about 5pm, thinking that we were still going to be able to get back to London. We found out that there was no way to catch that last train back to London, so the woman who ran the lodge told us that she didn't want us stuck at some train station somewhere, and that we were to stay at the lodge, and she would feed us and book our cab for the morning (Lorraine was her name....very hospitable woman). So, we were stuck. There was nothing we could do. We ended up not getting back to London until around 3:30pm on Sunday. We definitely tried to make the most of the situation and enjoy the beautiful scenery and weather, as well as the fact that we were out of the city for a little bit. We walked to the "beach" to see the sunset which turned out to be an absolutely ridiculous and hilarious feat in itself. This is what we encountered about half way there:
In case you can't figure out what is going on in this picture, let me assist you. The reason you can not see my feet is because they are buried in mud. "What is she searching for?" you might ask....well that would be my flip flops because as I was walking the mud ate them and I had to dig them out. I don't think I have ever walked through something more disgusting in my entire life. Luckily we found a high road (aka an alternate path) which took us on a slightly mess muddy walk to the beach.
When we got to the beach, the view was gorgeous. I think that was the first time I have ever seen a sunset while sitting on a pebble beach and looking out onto a coastline filled with cliffs. Well, I guess I saw alot of that in Sorrento....but Wales was a little more secluded and serene. There were also some people hanging out on the beach and they were all dressed in costumes. There was a man in a chicken suit-he sticks out in my mind the most. He walked away from the group for a second, I guess to go to the bathroom or something, but it looked so funny seeing a giant chicken suit walking away from the beach and going along this little grassy path.
All in all we had a great Supposed-to-be-daytrip-turned-into-weekendtrip filled with unexpected blessings in disguise. The theme of the trip, which I am proud to boast that I said it at the sign of our first mishap (getting on the wrong train), was Everything happens for a reason.
Next up on the agenda is my 22nd birthday on Wednesday and then Barcelona from Thursday night-sunday! Everyone is brainstorming for fun birthday places, so it should be a pretty good day except for the fact that I will have to go to work. I'm excited! And I have been telling people that at least I seem to be aging well.
Blog review:
-There are no Whales in Wales (I never said this in the blog, but I did ask our guide what kind of wildlife is in the water, and was pleased when he said nothing too big comes close to the coast).
-I may have jumped off of some cliffs (I am back, safe and sound, with no injuries..don't worry mom!) but you could still never get me to go skydiving even if you paid me a million pounds. (Again, I didnt talk about this....but it's true).
-My itunes just randomly chose for me to listen to Joy to the World as sung by Jewel.
-This is turning into more of an addendum than a review
-Sometimes plans do not work out and there is nothing you can do about it, so you just have to walk across a grassy knoll, wade through some mud, spot a man in a chicken suit at a bonfire, and enjoy the sunset.
Cheers!!
-Christy
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