My Return To Wales: Part 1, I think I’ve Been Here Before...

From where I live Wales is a bit of a trek (this may be an understatement...) so as  I was off to the SFX Weekender Leanne and I decided to have a bit of a Welsh holiday beforehand, well makes sense, Wales is the spiritual home of Doctor Who...

The Millennium Centre

The original plan was to get to Wales for Tuesday lunchtime, however after a slightly disastrous train journey back from London the night before we were slightly later leaving than we’d hoped (however unexpected Peter Davison in Legally Blonde had made up for it).

So, even with Kate getting slightly lost and having a minor ‘hissy fit’ we made it to Cardiff in the early evening. After a quick cup of tea we headed down to Cardiff Bay to look at some of the Who locations based around there. It was so cold!! Normally I don’t get cold (it must the 25% Northerner in me) however even I have to confess it was a tad nippy!!

The Ianto Shrine

If you’re a Who fan Cardiff Bay is a great place to visit, there is the Millennium Centre, the Torchwood Tower, Ianto’s Door (which is now the Ianto shrine) and Eddies American Diner to name but a few.

Wednesday morning was a relatively early start to get over to Southerndown Beach; you should know it by another name.... Bad Wolf Bay.

As well as being where the tenth Doctor leaves Rose in the parallel universe it’s also where the Crash of Byzantium from Time of Angels takes place, gotta love when one place becomes multiple different locations.

Bad Wolf Bay

Once again the weather was cold, so cold there ware icicles hanging from the cliffs and the rock pools were frozen! Unfortunately the tide was in so were weren’t able to get onto the beach itself but we were able to have a wander over the Byzantium crash site.

After our little wander on the beach the time came to have a spot of afternoon tea (Yes,I know I’m very English...).

After tea and scones and warming up by the fire it was time to have another little explore, this time it was Ogmore Castle. At this point we came across what I hope was a Welsh joke, the castle car park was in fact in the middle of a river with a nice sign saying the car park was liable for flooding...

Yes, I'm English...

I’m a bit of a fan of castles; this one has been lovingly dubbed a great example of how not to build a castle. A castle on low ground in a flood plain, oh dear oh dear, bad planning... But rather than make this a lesson in where to site castles let’s move on...


Continue to Part 2...