World Cup Rugby in Wales - September 2007 (by Adam)

Friday, 14 September 2007

We left London mid-afternoon and were in Cardiff soon after 6pm. We had a particularly amusing hire car - a Renault with sliding electronic doors. These seemed harmless enough... until I tried to lower the electronic windows for a moment... and inadvertently opened the electronic doors instead (at 70 miles per hour on a heavily congested M4). Anyway, we managed to make it to Cardiff in one piece and after dumping our bags at our hotel we immediately headed out and had a top night out at a very Welsh pub (menus in Welsh, singing in Welsh etc etc) called the Y Mochyn Du (Welsh for "The Black Pig"). Met a few great locals and also caught up with a number of old friends.


Saturday, 15 September 2007

We slept in a little, after a pretty late finish the night before, then went in search of breakfast. This search proved fruitless though... the restaurants in the city centre seemed to have decided to skip breakfast and go straight for lunch. As such, we tucked into some pasta, washed down with a couple of beers, all before 11.00am. We then met up with our friends, James and Charlotte, who had so kindly given us tickets to the game as a wedding present. After seeing the Welsh players arrive on their team bus, we headed into the magnificent Millenium Stadium, and, together with 70-odd thousand other people enjoyed a great game of rugby, which the Wallabies eventually won 32-20. The atmosphere was fantastic... as evidenced by Cat bursting into tears of national pride and excitement at the mere sight of the teams coming out of the tunnell. Or maybe it was just the effect of the breakfast beers? The hairs on the neck really stood up when the Welsh fans broke into "Bread of Heaven" after the national anthems.

Arrival of the Welsh players...



The Millenium Stadium...

Awaiting the players' arrival on the ground...

The national anthems...

Kick-off...

Cat and I at the Millenium Stadium...

Cat at the Millenium Stadium...

The game was over by about 4pm and the rest of the afternoon and evening was spent at a few Cardiff watering holes, celebrating the win and catching up with the huge number of friends who were also in town for the game.

Sunday, 16 September

We emerged from the night before relatively unscathed and were on the road by soon after 10am. We headed up past Brecon and through the Wye Valley, taking in some stunning scenery along the way...




We stopped in Hay on Wye, known as "The Town of Books" on account of the numerousbook shops (there must be 30 or 40) that dominate its winding streets. We browsed through several fantastic old book shops...





...before stopping for a delicious Sunday roast at a gorgeous 18th century pub called the Three Tuns...


It was then back on the road and within a few hours we were back home in London. Another great weekend away - one that had combined the very best of sport and literature!