Thewesternprovinceblog

A ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ history nerd travelling The New World. ยฟWhat could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท

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A ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ history nerd travelling The New World. ยฟWhat could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท in ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด

  • Day 2 – Arrival in Santander

    Day 2 – Arrival in Santander

    Day 2 – Arrival in #Santander

    Hi all. Little late on today’s blog post however there really hasn’t been much to write about. After we left off we got ok board ferry and headed for the Celtic sea. It got quite rough but wasn’t full on people and paints Flying rough but it was enough to make you feel rocky the next day.

    Rest of the ferry ride was pretty uneventful. Didn’t meet anyone particularly interesting save for having a chat with the dolphin spotter lady just before we got into Santander.

    Getting into Santander things were pretty chill. It was quick getting through passport control and straight into the city. Checked into my Airbnb okay. They don’t speak English there so already got the Spanish sharpened up.

    I showered and headed into town to have a look round. Ended up in this marketplace gaffe where I had a celebratory Cervecita and then met a nice English chap and he showed me a cool bodega bar. 

    Meet Terry our new best friend. This Geezer is off to Bilbao tomorrow to watch the Gooners play against Los bascos! Come on the Gooners! 

    Writing this I just parted ways with our pal. He is doing some sightseeing tomorrow as am I so we might catch up might not but been a decent start to the Spain leg. Spanish is going well too! 

    Catch you tomorrow when we explore Santander!

  • Day 1 – Sal de Blighty Part 2

    Day 1 – Sal de Blighty Part 2

    Today we finally head for #Spain ! So this morning I woke up pretty well rested and got my gear together ready for the push towards port. 

    Firstly, today’s cultural Learnings was a walk over to the Hoe to pay my respects and check out some of the history around there, and if course see the monument to #Francis_Drake – won’t be the last time his name will be popping up on this trip! With that done I headed to the #Barbican to grab some brekkie while briefly stopping where The Mayflower set sail for some more pics. Capn Jasper’s was the recommendation from my Airbnb host and Jasper delivered it was some top scran. 

    Unfortunately then the Welsh Tap caught up with us and the downpours started……which also happened to be right on cue with the Dolphin opening up! So in we went and sunk a nice pint or 2 of bass from the Barrel. Then it was time to walk to port. Luckily I managed to pick up a brolly from the shop on the way because the tap really was back on!

    We then went on to the West Hoe, lovely little pub that is literally a shrine to Winston Churchill. Great stuff then headed down to port.

    Had an hour to kill so though let’s order some food in the dock cafe. All good but half hour goes by and don’t get my food and now I have 20 mins left to check in so tell them make it a take out. It comes and I scoff half there take the other half to the terminal and have it after check in.

    Check in goes fine but then I see an English couple kicking off with each other in the terminal ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ! it calms down though and we are soon on the way.

    I have just boarded and found my cabin and did the ritual of slinging my crap in the room and grabbing a beer ready to cast off.

    Cast off was a little delayed but we are finally on the way! It is a very busy ferry and they reckon it will get rough later. Could make for some entertainment……

  • Day 0 – Begin Act 1 – Sal de Blighty!!

    Day 0 – Begin Act 1 – Sal de Blighty!!

    Good evening all. Hope you all are doing well. This is today’s first official blog post for the great adventure to Patagonia.

    To begin the adventure we have the mundane matter of getting out of Wales……or not. Because of the works on the Rhymney line I had to scab a lift into town with the family. What should be a 25 min ride took nearly an hour and a half with all the traffic! AN HOUR AND A HALF!! By about 1200 I finally got into Cardiff and headed for the Queen’s Vaults for a well earned pint and slotty Action.. unfortunately no big wins!

    Trains from there were at least smooth sailing and the rest of the Journey down was relatively uneventful save for a bunch of what I presume were Italian teenagers jumping on the train at Exeter down to #Plymouth . Must be part of some kind of trip. I don’t speak Italian unfortunately!

    As for me I have made it to Port and am freshening up to head to the Barbican for a few ales in Plymouth’s best old school Boozer, the Dolphin.

    I will leave it there for today. Tomorrow we set sail for Spain! Stay tuned!

  • On The Eve of Madness

    On the Eve of Madness……..

    Good Evening All!

    It is finally here (almost!). Tomorrow I finally get moving on the great adventure to Latin America and ultimately if I can make it all the way, to the fabled lands of Ar Wladfa, Patagonia!

    What a day! What a day is all I can say! The last day before you start your way out on a long trip is always quite stressful with all the packing, sorting things out and almost always something comes up last minute and probably something or two will come up the first few days on the road.

    All is sorted now and finishing the day off with some well-earned pints at my local for my last night in Wales. Cheers! 

    From this point on this channel is now becoming a travel blog until further notice although it will still be very much #history themed. This will be blogged in 2 ways, firstly, I am going to try to keep a short daily blog post where I will do a daily update and share some pics along the way, then secondly when and where I got time I will make proper reels of the most interesting finds I come across. Oh and plenty of stories will be posted along the way so Stay tuned for that as well!

    This is very exciting and I’d be lying if I didn’t say just a little intimidating but you don’t grow from your comfort zone!

    Not much else to say really, enough rambling from me………Will see you from #Cardiff Central tomorrow when this show truly gets on the road!

  • Hello World!

    Hello all. I have just ported my blogs of the Latin America trip so far over to wordpress. I am still going to keep posting over on Instagram as well however putting all of these here should anything happen to my Instagram account while I am on the road.