This morning we left Waterford early to catch a ferry to take us back to Pembroke on the Welsh coast and onto Cardiff. Our ferry journey was a little longer this time and our crossing took about 3 1/2 hours. Our first stop after arriving on Welsh soil was in Cardiff, with its spectacular Cardiff Castle, although as we only had an hour at our stop we decided not to go into the Castle but instead just wander around the centre.
 |
| Brodie having a snooze on the ferry |
 |
| Matthew too |
 |
| The ferry boat we took to Wales |
 |
Heading back on to Welsh soil
 |
| Cardiff Castle here and below |
|
After leaving the centre and checking into our hotel, we headed out for our last evening meal of the tour. Tonight we were heading further into the Welsh country side and to a family run hotel which had been open since 1380.
We had a lovely evening together with our touring companions and couldn't believe that tomorrow was the last day of our tour.
The last day of our tour, it has gone so quickly and we have seen and done so much. Our first stop this morning was to one of the places that we have been wanting to see, Bath.
 |
| Overlooking the main Roman Bath, in Bath, England |
 |
| The main Bath |
 |
| A display on Acqua Sulis |
 |
| Part of a mosaic found at Bath, this one dating back to the 3rd century |
 |
| Artifacts found around Bath, the lower piece being a 'pig' of lead inscribed with |
 |
| 'property of Emporer Hadrian Augustus', as in Hadrians Wall, amazing. |
 |
Part of the drainage system in the Roman Baths, still operational today.
You can see the steam coming off the water as it flows through into the Bath |
Bath as many would know dates back from Roman times and it is indeed very impressive, with artifacts dating back thousands of years. As well as having the main bath, the area has a fantastic museum with displays and artifacts showing how the roman baths and town, then called Acqua Sulis were in different periods of history. Bath is a must for anyone coming to England, and we would have loved to stay
and explore longer, but headed off to our last stop, Stonehenge, before heading back to London.
Stonehenge again, as with most of things on our journey, was pretty amazing. These rocks have stood on this site it is thought for about 5 thousand years and actually predate the pyramids. We had audio packs and were able to wander around the site which is actually quite big, for about an hour, the rocks themselves are massive. You can only really marvel at the site and wonder how they got here, being that the rocks are not from this area. They are huge and have about a third of the face in the ground,
and you have to wonder how and why, and when they were placed like this.
 |
| Stonehenge, amazing |
 |
Stonehenge
|
 |
Another view of Stonehenge.
It didn't matter which angle you looked at it from, it was still amazing. At certain points around the site the rocks line up and you get is another totally different perspective.
|
After leaving Stonehenge we headed back to London where we ended our tour. It has been an amazing 13 days and a wonderful way to see so much. I have only really scratched the surface with what I have uploaded on the blog. We have met a lot of really lovely people and have made some friends that we hope to keep in touch with into the future. A tour like this is something I would recommend to everyone.
