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Picspam | Summer Vacation: Wales 2011
Two years ago ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
nikkimisplaced and I visited llywela13 in Cardiff for a couple of days, and we all had so much fun together that we decided to repeat that experience as soon as possible. This summer we finally managed to coordinate our schedules and meet up again - and this picspam is the result. This time around we took ample advantage of Nikki's car and explored Wales more thoroughly, including some 'accidental' Torchwood/Doctor Who location spotting. Luckily the weather gods have been on our side, it was mostly dry and the sun came out more often than not - I even got a sunburn, again!
But now onto the picspam. Enjoy!
First of all, I really have to say thank you to Nikki and Jo, who have been wonderful hosts and great company. Just like on our last get-together we got along really well and had a lot of fun. Apart from traipsing all around the beautiful welsh countryside, we indulged in delicious food and watched a lot of TV - mostly random episodes of Friends and - since both Nikki and I are really into Game of Thrones - the first season of GoT, which Jo hadn't seen yet. Anyway, this time around I actually had a camera with me, so most of the pictures in the current selection I took myself. Of course having a camera does not make me a good photographer, so I touched the pictures up a bit - mostly adjusting brightness, contrast and sharpness as well as the colour when needed. :)
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Monday: On our first day in Wales we spontaneously decided to visit Rhossili Bay on the Gower Peninsula - a place I can generally recommend for a visit because the whole area has the loveliest countryside. ♥ Rhossili Bay in particular is absolutely beautiful, it has appealing sandy beaches and offers a lot of opportunities for long walks. This location has been used in Doctor Who as well as the current Torchwood season. If you look at the second picture on the left (the house near the beach): This is the place where Gwen and Rhys live in the S4 opener and the beach is where they blew up the helicopter. Funny enough, you can't actually access the beach from where the house is situated. So there was some clever editing involved in filming the escape scene. ;)
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Tuesday: The Brecon Beacons is a national park in South Wales - a beautiful mountain range with one of the highest points in Wales, the Pen Y Fen. Basically we spent most of the day climbing around the mountain site, an activity Nikki very much approved of, as she seems to have been a mountain goat or something like that in a former life. ;) She really loves climbing. We also visited the city Brecon, but I didn't post any pictures of the town. It was nice, but not particularly noteworthy.
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Wednesday: Originally we wanted to visit Flat Holm Island last Wednesday, but about an hour before we left to catch the boat, the organiser called us and cancelled the tour because it was too windy to safely get us to the island. Luckily they still had three places open on the Friday boat though, so the trip was only postponed. In any case, the cancellation left us purposeless for the day, so we spontaneously decided to visit Caerphilly Castle. For those of you who watch Doctor Who: The Castle was used for the outdoor shots of the Monastery in The Rebel Flesh. If you look closely at the opening shot of the episode, you can easily recognise the Castle - of course the base has been manipulated and everything was cleaned up, but still, it's easy to see.
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Thursday: As a long-time Jane Austen fan I have always wanted to see Bath, but somehow I never managed to actually go there whenever I visited the UK. So I was very happy that I finally got to see the city. Unfortunately the Jane Austen centre was a disappointment though and - as Nikki so rightly pointed out - it's kind of ironic that the centre is located in Bath of all places, the one place that gave Jane Austen a writer's block. Anyway, it was still nice to see the city. It basically hasn't changed since Jane Austen lived there, so the next time I read Persuasion, I'll know how to picture it in my head. Also, the Roman Bath is spectacular and well worth a visit, and the Cathedral isn't too shabby either. *g* I advise to bring some money though because the city is a pretty expensive treat.
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Friday: So, Flat Holm Island. I really wanted to visit the island last time I was in Cardiff, but unfortunately I had been low on cash at the time, not to mention that you have to book the tour well in advance - we ordered the tickets six weeks before our trip - so it hadn't really been an option. This year I finally got to take the boat trip over there and I was very excited about it. Flat Holm is one of the few places where seagulls are able to nest in a natural environment, so the island is heavily populated with gulls - they are literally everywhere. If you are still traumatized by Hitchcock's The Birds, it's probably not a good place to be. *g* We really had a wonderful day out there though. Oh, and for Torchwood fans: The episode Adrift was filmed mainly on this island.
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Besides HP though Bones was really the first show I watched/fandom I got into while the show was still airing, I decided after a while to start watching shows that were still actually on the air! :lol: It's been all downhill from there...;)
The most popular fave book of HP fandom was and still Is PoA I believe, though I think plenty also like the last book best, or some even like HBP....
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Ah, PoA is a great book, but nothing will ever beat Harry's first real encounter with Voldemort in GoF for me. :)
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And yes ITA, 4 books of buildup and suspense and stories on LV, and then he finally returns?! SO epic and exciting, and loved their conversation too...
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Heh, I think most fics in my AtS collection are C/A fics. I have some really great stories in my archive. Some of them I read at least 5-10 times.