We had another hearty breakfast at the hostel before we left. Once again I opted for a bread-less route. So far, my little diet experiment has really been awesome, so I plan to continue unless convinced otherwise.
When I got in the van, I chose to take one of the seats in the very back. We're required to sit in a different seat each day, and though the back seats have their little quirks, they're a blast! Seriously, going over unexpected speed bumps in the very back is hilarious, especially when your neighbor is totally asleep. :) One of my favorite parts though is looking up through the sky light in the back. I watched a rain storm roll in this morning through that window. The clouds were blowing by so fast and so low that I thought something might be wrong up there. After watching the kaleidoscope of clouds for a while, it began raining fat drops of water on us. It was really cool watching that window fill up with thin sheets of water that flew off as fast as it came on.
Our first stop of the day, an hour or so away and beyond the storm, was Flint castle. Flint was one of the castles that made up Edward I's iron chain against invaders of all sorts. He was pretty much indestructible, regardless of who he was up against, and these castles were a vital reason why. This castle was very much in disrepair though, so there was not a ton to see. Sad huh?
The theme for the rest of the day was J. R. R. Tolkien. While we had already seen his grave in England, his boyhood home was in northwestern Wales, in the town of Birmingham to be specific.
The sad bit though is that Birmingham always has been a really rough ever since the industrial revolution. I've seen a few dodgy cities as we've travelled all over Britain and Wales, but Birmingham bore every mark and sign of being a really hard city, the roughest I've seen yet.
Our first stop in Birmingham was to Sarehole Mill. This was a grain mill that Tolkein used to live in as a boy. About twenty years ago, someone cleaned it up and turned it into an exhibition site. Now it looks really nice, it has a famous picture spot up in the attic of a doorway painted just as the Baggins had theirs, and a film about the life of Tolkien as a boy in Birmingham. At the base of the mill, a series of fun little plaques took you on a treasure hunt up to the the top of the building. Each plaque had a different main character from the stories Tolkien wrote. I know its meant for kids, but I had a flippin blast with those :)
After we left the mill, we walked down the street and grabbed some cheap sandwiches at the Hungry Hobbit. It wasn't great food, but it's more fun to say that I've been there now. :)
After lunch, we walked farther down the road to Mosely Bog. This is the bog where Tolkien played as a young boy, and where many enthusiasts believe he got his idea for Fangorn Forest. I was sad to see this forest in such disrepair though. The signs had been kicked in, trees broken and dead all over the place, and cut up branches carelessly tossed along the trail.
I thought it this was super ironic actually. See, in the movie about Tolkien I had seen in the mill, Tolkien really had a love for trees. There was a story about how someone had come to his home and cut down a great willow tree, for some needed purpose. He was sad that the tree needed to be cut down, but he was extremely distressed afterwards because they had cut it down, but then just left it where it lay for days. This bothered him immensely. He wrote something like 'it just is not right that such a noble part of this earth should lay in such a defeated state.' I could only imagine what his reaction might be if he could walk through his childhood Fangorn today. Sad really.
On our way back to the van, we actually stopped by the tiny home where he lived for a while after leaving the mill. It was a joined flat, one that looked like every other one on the street. Number 264. Someone lives there now, not related to Tolkien, and not very keen on having people come by. I took a quick picture out front anyway.
After that, it was time to squash everyone back in our packed van and drive the remaining 5ish hours back to Cardiff. I wrote, thought, talked with Bronte and Tom (who took a strange opportunity to sit back with us while Anders drove), listened to my iPod, and played Smurf with half the van along the way.
Goodness, I do love looking outside these windows. Really, I can't really explain how or why those fields make me feel so great about life, but they really do. I keep thinking how lucky I am to see such incredible landscapes in such sunny weather; I don't know if I would look at them the same way if everything was rainy and gray. The people here keep telling us that this is the sunniest and hottest it has been in Wales in 7 years. Coincidence? Try grace, maybe.
Haha, maybe not for everyone; some of the people don't know what to do with so much heat. "I'm getting a tan and I'm not sure what to do!" is a phrase I have honestly heard by some of the locals. :)
Once we arrived at home, it was getting late. I can't understand what it is about long car rides that makes people so tired, but it's ridiculous. I was very happy to get super cleaned up before I went to bed. It was nice to finish up the day back in my bedroom in Cardiff. I'll surely miss northern wales, but I have no qualms with the south either. Thanks to ALL involved in making this Friday such a good one. :)
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