Wales bike trip

Well we have had a lovely few days away, admittedly it didn't pan out as we had planned but hey ho it has still been very enjoyable. Friday was the worst as the rain was relentless and we had just under four hrs drive in it!!  Still a positive from it we now know that Micks jacket is not waterproof, nor his boots or leggings!! So some shopping needs to be done now we are home. I was actually quite worried about him when we stopped as he was shaking he was so cold, something I have never seen happen!  The actual bike riding was really good, I can last between 2 - 3 hrs but then need to get off for abit to stretch the legs and get the circulation flowing again and then I am fine after that. The scenery was lovely - when we could see it lol.  The reason for our trip was my birthday present, a steam train ride up Snowdonia which never happened :( first it was cancelled due to lack of numbers, they say nothing about doing that on the website, they agreed a full refund and a free trip on the diesel train, which a reluctantly agreed to, then Sun morning another call, saying they were only going part way up. So I accepted the fact that it was not meant to happen and cancelled the whole thing. To say I am gutted is an under statement.  Instead we took a different route to our next stop Garway and saw some amazing scenery which we would not have seen if we had done the train ride - so all was not lost. I think I only took the camera out of the bag three times :(  really bad!

Since arriving back home life hasn't stopped as usual.  Work is busy but good, Friday night and all day yesterday was my first weekend doing the Out of Hours service, Fri night wasn't too bad but Sat, 31 calls I had!!!!  Have to confess to being shattered by the end of it 7am - 8.30pm and thoroughly enjoyed one or two gins.  Anyway here are the ones I took, that sky was the start of the rain - it just got blacker and blacker lol

 

Saturday was a different day lol

Another week gone.....

...................and no blogging :(

Last Monday started off a normal week, the plan being work Mon and Tues, Wed & Thurs off and back to work Fri, Sat & Sun.  Monday started off as normal, though by the end of my shift my district manager was looking into enrolling me on a front line manager's course, as well as a coaching and assessors course!!!! Plus I had been given nine days off work (using up annual leave) as of Tues, nice but totally unexpected!!!  So whilst pondering what to do with my nine days off, I suddenly find myself off to Pontypool for a two night stay to use up a voucher we had. So today I am actually rather glad to be sitting down in front of the computer chilling and catching up.

 

Pontypool was great, on the Friday we decided to have a look at the coal pit called Big Pit  in a place called Blaenafon.  When we got there we discovered we could go on an underground tour, so we went.  It was amazing, 300ft down we went in a cage as well.  We were not allowed to take anything that had a battery in down the mine, so no watches, phones, cameras etc etc, So we quickly grabbed these two pics with our rather sexy safety gear on!!

 

 

Oh please note the scarf, finished and lovely and warm :)  as we went into the mine, it had started to snow outside, we did wonder what it would be like when we came back up!! Thankfully it was ok.

 

Photo of the mine shaft we went down.

 

There is also a mine simulator for anyone who doesn't want to go underground, when we went in we were the only ones, once again it was very well done.  I managed these photos of the drills used in modern times. 

 

 

In fact we were there most of the day, the guides are all ex miners and so friendly it made a really enjoyable day and it was FREE!!!!  the car park was £3 for the day.  Just a great day.

 

On the Sat we drove to Bristol and spent most of the day with Bernadette then came home.