Cardiff

Started the day with a walk around Fishguard to explore the town. The library close to the hostel contained a really long tapestry (30m) commemorating the town's successful repelling of the French invaders in Napoleonic times - the last time invaders actually set foot in Britain. It took me well over a minute to walk the length of the tapestry and film it. Across the road was the pub where the French signed the surrender documents.

Our first stop was the westerly point of Wales - St Davids. It was where St David, the patron saint of Wales, built his cathedral and abbey, and is the smallest city in the country. Actually St Davids is lucky. Yesterday we visited a town in Wales whose favourite son was a local who was made St Dogsmeal. I'm sure that Wales is pretty pleased that it didn't have to make him their patron saint instead.

St Davids has been a pilgrimage site for hundreds of years, and even the Pope decreed that two pilgrimages to St Davids were worth one pilgrimage to Rome. St Davids Cathedral is having a lot of restoration money spent on it. Actually it's more a modernisation which has been done really well, adding new and functional facilities like cafeterias and meeting rooms, blending in without taking away from the older sections.

Then a sprint down the highways and motorways to Cardiff. Our hostel couldn't be more central. It's on the river next to the Millennium Stadium, and a block from the castle, and everything about the hostel is new.

We did a major walk in the afternoon around the town seeing the castle, gardens, Millennium Stadium, River Taff, City Hall, the animals on the city wall (stone), and then stood outside the conservatory and listened to the soloists singing. Hiked down to Cardiff Bay and saw Mermaid Quay (eating area), Roald Dahl Plass, the Millennium Centre, the visitor centre tube, and the National Assembly (Y Senedd).

Not as much 'Welsh' stuff as I expected. In contrast to both Scotland and Ireland where the culture, language and music are quite 'in your face', we haven't seen Welsh national costume, or heard Welsh music. We've seen a few flags, and the street signs are bi-lingual, but that's about it.