Wales 2013, Part 4 – Stone Angels and Good Wizards

So here we are on the final page of this particular Wales trip, as it was our last day the plan was to make it a busy one!

At 9am we arrive at Southerndown beach, it you watch Doctor Who you should know this place, it’s most well known for being Bad Wolf Bay, it’s also been a location in a number of other episodes, basically if the production team needs a beach they go here! 

When we arrived the tide was quite a way in, as a result the iconic sand beach was underwater, however the stone parts the ‘Time of Angles’ and ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’ were still accessible so Amy and I had a wander over the rocks, I decided that I wanted to get as close to the water as possible, this almost resulted in me getting very wet and also an impromptu Capt. Jack Sparrow impression…

Wales 2013, Part 3 – Is There A Dalek On That Sign?

Ah, Monday we meet again! But this time it’s a holiday Monday!! Woohoo!

Today’s plan was quite simple, wander around Cardiff Bay and visit the new Doctor Who Experience!, I’ve been twice previously when it was in London but, as yet, hadn’t managed to visit the new one in Cardiff.

Cardiff Bay first of all, I’ve been to the Bay a number of times, but I always love to go back as it’s just such a nice place to visit. Amy had never been to the Bay (or the UK for that matter) so I went into tour guide mode and pointed out the various locations that had been used for filming, which is most of the bay!

Wales 2013, Part 2 – ‘Who’ Ya Gonna Call?

It’s Sunday morning and it’s too early, however I’m up and working to once again get my hair to defy gravity for a few hours, so having offered up the correct prayers to the hair gods I’m good to go. Once again Kate was being difficult (she and I will be having words soon…)

Having found the event location and parked up, it was time to spend the day at Cardiff International Comic Expo.

Wales 2013, Part 1 – Here We Are Again…

Everyone knows that Wales is the spiritual home of Doctor Who, so when my friend Amy came to the UK to visit then a pilgrimage was definitely on the cards!

It’s Saturday March 2nd and having picked up Amy from the airport at a horribly early hour it was time to head from London over to where the Welsh come from…

I do have one major issue with driving to South Wales. That issue is the how much it costs to go over the bridge!! £6.20, how much??!! £6.20 really!!

My Return To Wales: Part 3, SFX Weekender 3 Hi-de-hi Campers!

Have you ever heard the expression, ‘if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’? Well, if I was to apply this to my opinion of the SFX Weekender 3 this would be a very short post... Along the lines of: Arrived, saw dancing girls, went home...

*Insert comedy caption here*

I can, hand on heart, say this was the worst event I’ve ever been to.

I have to confess I’d not really given SFX much thought before I actually arrived, I wasn’t even sure what guests were going to be there, but the idea of it really was appealing, a few thousand like minded geeks taking over a holiday camp for a weekend, what more could you ask for?

Check in was from the Thursday afternoon, however, if you’ve read part 2 of my Wales posts then you’ll know I was busy climbing Snowdon that day, so we decided to get there on the Friday morning and go straight into the event.

On the Thursday though the little alarm bell in my head began to ring upon hearing stories of people waiting hours to check in... Not too promising. Luckily when we got there on the Friday there wasn’t a queue so we checked in quickly and then went off to find our ‘Gold’ level chalet...

My Return To Wales: Part 2, Snow! Real Proper Snow!

So having had a wander round Ogmore Castle it was time to head north up to Snowdon. Having never been to that part of Wales I had to fully rely on Kate to get us to our destination...

Not a bad view

Kate gave us a drive time of about 6hrs so to make the most of the journey and see as much as we could we asked her to pick a route that didn’t use any major roads, the result some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve seen.

Our route took us through the middle of the Brecon Beacons, the ground was covered in a good layer of snow which just looked epic.

The most random moment was when we can across a burger van in the middle of a National Park, it just seemed so out of place! But, as there wasn’t much that resembled civilisation anywhere near it seemed as good a place as any to have a late lunch.

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!!