A Wales of a Time

It’s funny that a lot of people have asked me ‘Why Swansea’, especially people from here. For those of you asking the same thing, 1. I wanted to visit Wales and 2. A week’s accomodation is cheaper here than in Cardiff. (Rightly so, is the local response to that reason).

I have been in Swansea now for 4 nights, and I have another 3 still to go. While I was on the train here, Annabel (who I met at Outlook Festival in Croatia) messaged me and sent me contact deets for a mate of hers. I got in touch with Dave, who was super friendly and straight away invited me to check out the Gower Heritage Centre (where he works) as well as it turns out he is a fire spinner and there was a jam happening that evening. Due to my times I wasn’t going to make the Heritage centre that day but I did head down to the beach for the fire jam. It was great to arrive in a city and end up on the beach chatting to and meeting a bunch of people. Everyone was friendly and I hung out there for about 2 hours.

The next day I had planned on going to do some things but it ended up being a rainy day. So I decided that was a good day to stay in, do some work, and watch some Netflix. On Saturday though I went and did something I had not done in all of my travels yet. I went and got on a normal town bus. Yep, the only buses I had been on so far where the airport or larger route buses, not ones that you have to wave down and signal your stop too. This was the sort of bus that I’m not even sure that I have caught one of these on my own ever before.

Anyway, so I got on and the ticket buying bit was new to me. I let the bus driver know where I was going and then he was asking me if I wanted one way or return. I asked if it was better to get a return and some other guy on the bus chimed in letting me know it was cheaper to get a return ticket now. The bus driver then let me know that the daily ticket, was actually a pound cheaper than the return ticket so he gave me one of those. I learnt how to buy a bus ticket. I have to say though,
Google Maps really does make the public transport travelling a lot easier. I feel like all the things that popped up and me not doing this trip sooner was partly the universe making me hold off till technology was working to make this easier for me to figure out.

I got off the bus and went to check out the Gower Heritage Centre. It was interesting to find out about the mill and some of the local history of the area. After the centre I went for a lush walk over the Three Cliff Bay. I am sure from some of the photos below you can figure out why. It was a lovely walk to the beach side and the weather wasn’t super cold that it was still reasonable to take off my socks and shoes to walk through the water to get across to the other side. It was quite pleasant to get to walk on the Welsh beach soil barefoot. Any later in the year and this might not have been such an enjoyable experience.

Keeping my eye on the clock I started heading back towards the bus stop to get back to where I was staying. The bus driver this time round was super chatty! I had my daily ticket all ready so that one was easy, I just had to scan it. As we were driving the driver called out asking if anyone on the bus knew what this red viney looking plant growing on the building next to us was. One woman appeared to have the answer and shared with us all. He then asked about the weather that night and I had that answer so put it out there. My accent was noticed that time and continued our conversation. Which led to finding out about his last visit to Australia in 2019 and asking if I watched Channel 9 as he was interviewed on there sometime by someone. I haven’t watched much free to air tv in years.

I am finishing writing this post having left Swansea a few days ago now. After me exciting bus trip I went to chill out for a little bit. I was planning on going to suss out some of the local live music a bit later on. Weel, I sussed it out by walking down there, hearing a bit of the cover bands, and deciding I just didn’t have the energy required for me to enter the busy venues on my own, I didn’t feel like drinking lots, and I instead walked over to the Tesco, got myself some over hot chips and went back home to cook and eat those. That was my exciting Saturday night.

On Sunday I took myself on a walk into the city and headed over to the National Waterfront Museum. This museum was great. It’s well laid out and I learnt a lot about Swansea history and the people that have lived here. It’s nice getting to learn new things and discover interesting facts about the places you’re in. I then went for a bit of a feed before heading over to the