Ryan in Wales - Part 1 of 4

Ryan in Wales - Part 1

Wales. A country that nobody seemed to care about. When we talk about the UK, we instantly think of England, Scotland, Northen Ireland (Not so much) but not Wales... Well, unless you're from there. 

Since I'm studying in the "partially beautiful" city of Exeter, I'm able to hop on a 2hr and 30m train ride to the capital of Wales: Cardiff.

Now why would I want to visit Wales?

It all started from January, when I was in my dorm, bored and doesn't want to do any schoolwork. I started a course on Duolingo, and I went for the most popular language of them all... Welsh.

Yep. I'm learning Welsh on Duolingo. 

Why?

Why not? 

Anyway, I hopped on the train on a cloudy afternoon on the 1st of April and embarked on my 2-and-a-half-hour journey to Cardiff, Wales. (There are faster options if you change at Bristol, but my train is cheaper and it's a direct train.)

The train was pretty busy. A lovely woman was sitting on my reserved seat, asleep. I gently woke her up to vacate the seat next to her. Apparently, she was coming all the way from Penzance to Bristol, a journey well over 5 hours. God Strewth.

After she left the train at Bristol, I moved over to my originally reserved window seat, staring at the city of Bristol, where one of my old classmates in my A-level class are currently studying in. (God bless her. She's a kind soul.) The train slowly heads out of the city centre and heads towards Filton and Patchway. Which is not as exciting. 

After going across the Severn tunnel, I was greeted by a Welcome to Wales sign. Signifying that I'm no longer in England and inside the mystic land of Cymru (That's "Wales" in Welsh).

150213 takes me to Barry Island

I arrived in Cardiff Central station at around half 4. Checked into my hotel, and immediately hopped on a local service to Barry Island. To pay respect to the island named after the legend himself. (Not really, but I was saying that to be funny. Inside joke, sorry.)

And yes, it's a class 150. The same trains running on the "Exeter metro" line. (The Paignton - Exeter - Exmouth service) Not my favorite unit, but they get the job done. 

The service is pretty busy as well, with most passengers heading all the way to Barry Island, like me. Probably for the pleasure park or the beach.

At Barry station, bunch of teenage boys (I assume), boarded the train and as the train slowly trad towards the next station, the guard, who's a lovely lady, was checking their tickets and unsurprisingly, they haven't got a valid ticket to be on the train.  

Now I know that the train tickets in this country is a massive rip-off and I absolutely agree that it's ridiculous that they charge £2.7 for a single journey to Barry Island from Barry, which is less than a mile and you can walk that distance under 20 minutes. But I guess it could be somewhat justified as Transport for Wales is government ran and all incomes from the services does get invested back into the network. Unlike in Exeter, trains are run by GWR (First Group) and buses are run by Stagecoach. (Worst bus service I've ever came across btw. Might do a post about it in the future.) Where all the profit goes straight to the shareholders of the companies. 

I don't encourage fare evasion, but I understand that not everyone is lucky enough to have enough money to pay for transport (Especially Barry. That area's not particularly wealthy.) and I would like to pray for those people and wish them the best. But if you are lucky enough to afford public transport, do pay for the tickets on government-run services. 

Barry Island Pleasure Park

After arriving at Barry Island station, I made my way across the pleasure park and went straight for the beach. 

I took some pictures of the shoreline at the WWII Coast Artillery Search Light Emplacement and made my way east towards Jackson's Bay. And that's when the rain starts pouring down.

As the weather got worst and worst, I decided to make my way back to station before I die of hypothermia. I still managed to get a picture of the remains of St Baruc’s Chapel. Click here for the story of the chapel if you're interested.

150255 takes me back to Cardiff

So I hopped on the next train back to Cardiff. After I dried off myself back in the hotel room, I went back out to have a short stroll around the city of Cardiff.

I didn't manage to see much though as it's already in the evening and most stores are closed. Rain kept on pouring down on me and it was starting to get a bit unpleasant as I'm completely wet. 

So I went in one of the Wetherspoon pubs for dinner. There are 8 Wetherspoon pubs in Cardiff in total and the one I went in is definitely one of the best Wetherspoon pubs that I've ever been to. (More about that pub in future posts.) 

Callagan Square at night

After dinner, I went to have a look at Callagan Square   and the water towers. 

As it's already nighttime and the weather is still terrible, I went back to my hotel room after heading to Capital Quarter's Co-op and got myself a discounted cheesecake as dessert. 

And yeah... that's pretty much everything I did that day. 

I put on capital on the Freeview TV and got on a call with one of my friends back in Exeter, if you're wondering what I did later that night.    

Well, I hope you enjoyed my journal. Parts 2-4 will be posted whenever I feel like it (XD). So yeah, thanks for reading, do feel free to leave a comment, and take care :)