Few Grumbles with Mumbles

Saturday morning, we left Exford in Somerset, drove toward Taunton and then got on the M5 heading north.  Near Bristol, we got on the M4 and drove west to Wales.  We crossed over the Severn on the toll bridge (6 pounds, 70p) and then continued on toward Swansea.  I haven't been in this area for a very long time but my recollection was it was extremely industrial and, around Port Talbot, my memory served me correctly - nuclear cooling towers, tall smokestacks and warehouses dotted (or is that blotted) the landscape.  However, we were driving further along the coast to the Gower Peninsula to Mumbles.  Through Swansea, the traffic was a nightmare because the Wales Airshow was on this weekend.  There were traffic diversions everywhere so it took us a lot longer to reach our destination.
 
In Mumbles (I've been looking forward to visiting here because of the myriad possible amusing blog titles, if nothing else!), we found our seafront hotel (guest house) and then walked along the seafront.  In the mid-afternoon, the weather was sunny and warm.  We were so happy about that.  We found an outside table at Prezzo, ordered drinks, shared a pizza and watched the airshow taking place across the bay.  The only planes we got a closer look at were the Red Arrows (Britain's version of our Snowbirds) which at times were directly overhead scaring the gulls and disturbing the dogs.  They put on a spectacular show.  As we sat there, by 5 pm, the air had turned cooler and the sun had disappeared.  We needed to move our car from the car park and luckily found free parking close to the hotel on the road.  So, the weather was really our only complaint about this charming little town! 

 

 

 

The Red Arrows are there - probably looking like dots in the sky!

 

 

My sea view room at the Shoreline Hotel

By the time we were ready for dinner, it was raining.  Mena had read about a good Mediterranean Turkish restaurant so we set off to go there.  Thankfully, it was almost right next door to our hotel so we didn't have to walk far in the rain.  We had an excellent meal and made sure to toast our country's 150th birthday.  While we are a long way from Canada, we were still thinking about it.  Mena and Trev sported Canadian pins all day.

 

 

 

 

 Sunday, we will continue to explore eastern Wales.  Hopefully, the sun will be out!