Thursday 21st September 2022
After a good night’s rest in the Ramada Inn south of Bristol, we decided to head up into South Wales for a few days, and headed to Caerphilly just north of Cardiff the capital of Wales. We had stayed there before mainly because my sister and her husband lived there and we got together enjoyed some evenings out with them. So we headed north on the M5 then branched off onto the M4 and headed west over the new Severn Road Bridge and into Wales. Still on the M4 we turned off after about 25 miles just north of Cardiff, and headed 7 miles up to Caerphilly. Caerphilly is famous for its medieval castle which is still standing and also for the cheese named after it – a crumbly offering called Caerphilly Cheese. Boy, this place had changed since we were last there back in 1998, some 24 years ago. We had to use the sat-nav to find the damn hotel even. We had booked in there for three nights and it was reasonably cheap compared to other hotels in the area. We had stayed there before so we knew what to expect: not a lot, really, but clean and tidy. We saw the Red Kite restaurant nearby and that came highly recommended. So we looked forward to that.
Checked into Travelodge about 3pm. Found room, unpacked and settled in. Wandered over to the Red Kite about 5pm. They had a lovely bar area, and two young bar tenders that knew their business and ran that place like clockwork. In my mind, this makes all the difference if you visit a place you are not sure about, but the staff in there were really good and made you feel comfortable. This is what happened in the Red Kite. Explained how everything worked, grab a couple of drinks, quick “tap and pay” and off you go, find a table, sit down, select your food, back to the bar order it, tap and pay and it arrives in about 10 minutes. Terrific food too. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in the Red Kite and had some really nice meals in there.
Back to the room about 7pm, watched a bit of TV and went to bed reasonably early – reading and watching YouTube videos before turning in.
This has been part 3 of a series of posts highlighting the trip of a British ex-pat in the US when he returns to the UK for a vacation. He shares the experiences with us here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the next few weeks. I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I have, and seeing the areas he (and his lovely wife) visit, through my friend David’s eyes. ~ Sherry
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