Wales and Church History Trip

Thursday morning, early, we hopped on the coach and drove to Wales. We crossed the Severn River and drove up the beautiful Wye Valley to Tinern Abbey. The weather was beautiful, the setting is spectacular and it was a very nice visit made even nicer by the discovery of Welsh Cakes for sale. Katy and Tom introduced them to us just before we left -- they are delicious.

Kris and the Ringers at Tintern Abbey,
just across the Wye River from England

From Tintern, we drove north and then west up on to the high, bare hills of Blaenafon to the Big Pit, a coal mine that stopped operation in the 80s and now is open for public tours. One straps on a miner's helmet with light and battery pack and descends about 300 feet into the old mine tunnels. Colorful Welsh miners leads an extremely interesting tour of the mine.

Me in mining gear preparing to enter the mine

Later that afternoon we arrived in Cardiff where we spent the night. This was our first time to actually stop in Cardiff; it is an interesting place. The area where we stayed near Roath Park, north of the city center, has long rows of houses with no variation from street to street and from house to house. I have rarely seen such consistency. The front entry of each house was decorated with great 19th-century tile work. The tile pattern changed about every 10 houses, and that was the only variation. We had Tom and Katy on our minds as we wandered the streets of Cardiff.

David and Kris out in search of something to eat for supper --
here they find themselves for sale on Mackintosh Place

Supper was found in a good little Japanese noodle house on Albany
Road --as you can see by Kris's glow and her blowing of the soup,
the udon was steaming hot

Friday morning, we were presented with another beautiful day. We left the hostel around 9:00 and drove north through Cardiff to Castell Coch, a very picturesque castle restored during the Victorian Era in the Neo-Gothic style by Lord Bute and his architect friend, William Burgess. The "mock castle" was built on the remains of a 13th-century castle. It is a charming place, SOOOO Victorian in its decoration, and we believe it is one of Zoe's favorite Welsh castles.

Romantic Castell Coch, just north of Cardiff

We headed back up into England to the area where Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestrshire meet. This is one of the spots where the Church took root during the 1840s mission of the Twelve. We took the students to see three important sites there.

Kris, Jeff, and Hansen at the Benbow Farm pond
whereWilford Woodruff baptized many of the
United Brethren and others

Me on top of the Herefordshire Beacon, one of the
Malvern Hills --you can see the rest of the Malverns
behind me

The Gadfield Elm Chapel, the first one owned by the church
anywhere --given to the church by the United Brethren when all
but three of their number were converted by Wilford Woodruff

Kris and David at Gadfield Elm

It was a great trip and now we are waiting for Emily to arrive.

OXO

D.