Brandon O'Brien

Thursday, August 15, 2013 @ 11:00 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 50

When I went to bed last night I told myself that I was going to get up early this morning and go for a run along the coast. That's exactly what I ended up doing. I got up, ate and then changed into my running gear and took off for Watergate Bay. The run to Watergate Bay is about 4 miles one way along some really nice coastline.

After the run, I got back and quickly rinsed off and then a group of us headed to Cafe Irie where we got some Canadian Breakfasts. Their version is a bunch of thick crispy bacon wrapped in a big crepe all covered with maple syrup. It was an extremely delicious lunch.

Once I got back to the hostel I answered a few emails and then people started talking about heading down to the beach for the afternoon. I changed into my running/swimsuit and 5 of us went down to the beach. We relaxed for a bit then got in the frigid water for a while. After drying off we kicked around a soccer ball for a bit then laid out in the sun some more.

I wanted a proper shower so I came back to the hostel and took care of that. We all hung out watching TV for a while before everyone started making dinner. I still had some curry sauce left and I had bought some basmati rice last night so I cut up a red pepper, an onion and some garlic and then combined it all together for a delicious dinner.

We were originally going to head out tonight since it's Curt's last night here but everyone was in recovery mode from last night so we just ended up hanging out in the dining room/lounge area watching TV and having a few drinks.

You can buy cider at the store in 2 liter bottles for pretty cheap (£3.49 for the bottle). I bought one earlier in the day and had a couple glasses. I got a little hungry later and made another one of my crunchy peanut butter, nutella and jelly sandwiches to keep me from being hungry all night.

Tomorrow afternoon is supposed to be nice so I'll probably go exploring some of the southern coastline. I also need to start figuring out where I'm heading after this. I have my hostel room booked until Monday, so I'm debating whether staying here a little longer or trying to go somewhere else in England. Due to visa limitations I'm not going to enter mainland Europe until mid September so I've still got a little time to kill here.

Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Wednesday, August 14, 2013 @ 9:55 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 49

I woke up this morning with every intention to go exploring more of the Cornish coast. Unfortunately, I woke up to dark skies and rain. I ended up just bumming around at the hostel watching tv and movies with some of the other guests here until after lunch.

A guy named Kurt and I walked around town and went down to one of the beaches just to get out of the hostel when there was a little break in the weather. We still got sprinkled on but it wasn't too bad. I had an official cornish pasty as a snack. They're pretty good but definitely not something I could eat every day. It's basically meat and veggies inside a baked dough. Think a calzone with steak, potatoes and carrots inside.

We came back to the hostel and I read for a little while and then showered. All of us were getting a bit antsy to get out of the hostel again so a group of us went down to a pub and played some pool and foosball and had a few beers. On the way back we stopped at Aldi and picked up some stuff for dinner.

They're setting up for beer pong in the lounge now so I'll probably go down and play a game or two. I'm actually quite tired for not really having done much today. I'm hoping the weather is better tomorrow so I can enjoy some more of the coastline.

Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Tuesday, August 13, 2013 @ 3:04 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 48

This morning I made some potatoes and eggs for breakfast and then set off to walk along the coast. There is a nice path that goes along the coast so I headed for that. I picked up a sandwich to eat later while I was walking to the path.

The coast is beautiful. It reminded me a lot of the coasts of Southern California. Unfortunately it was high tide when I was walking along the cliffs which are supposed to be a lot more stunning at low tide. Tomorrow I'll have to check them out when the sea is a little lower.

After eating lunch along the coast I made my way back to the hostel to get my book and get my flip flops. I went down to the beach and read for a while but then it started to cool off when it got cloudy.

I came back to the hostel, showered and will do a little work before making dinner tonight. I need to plan out where I'm going to hike tomorrow too.

Teaser photos:

Newquay coast

Newquay coast

Newquay coast

Newquay coast

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Tags: daily journal, england, newquay,

Posted from: England

Monday, August 12, 2013 @ 8:18 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 47

I spent all day getting here to Newquay. I took a bus from Cardiff to Bristol and then another bus from Bristol to Newquay. I had some pretty good tomato basil soup next to the bus station in Bristol with my nutella/peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Newquay seems like a really cool town. Everyone comes here to surf and there are some amazing coastlines. They actually remind me a lot of some of the Pacific coast in California. Tomorrow I'll set out to explore the area a little more.

I got to the hostel, checked in, bought some groceries and then ate dinner. The hostel (Driftwood Lodge) is a tiny place but everyone here seems extremely cool. It sounds like they're going to have a big BBQ tonight so I bought some rum and cokes to drink while they're all drinking and eating.

Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Sunday, August 11, 2013 @ 6:08 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 46

Today was another mental and physical recharge day. After the long hike yesterday and before sitting on buses for 7 hours tomorrow I just wanted to take today easy. I went down to the bay and read for a while then ate a sandwich I had packed for lunch.

When I was on the buses up to Brecon, we passed by a microbrewery called ZERODEGREES which I wanted to try. I went over there and had one of their pale ale's which was good. For some reason I got it in my head that I wanted to watch the new Lone Ranger movie, so I booked a ticket from my phone and went to the theater.

When I got there, I printed my ticket from the kiosk and got some prime seating in the middle behind the hand rail. The movie was really entertaining and was filmed in the southwest USA so I also got a little taste of home.

After the movie ended I grabbed a quick dinner of chicken curry and fries. I'm just going to relax here tonight and do a little work and read.

Tags: daily journal, wales, cardiff

Posted from: Wales

Saturday, August 10, 2013 @ 8:00 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 45

Today I went back to the Brecon Beacons to hike some more. The weather was calling for nice temperatures and no rain which made me even more eager to go. I was debating getting on the 8:20am bus but decided to sleep in a bit and instead get on the same 10:20am bus as yesterday. That decision had the potential of coming back to haunt me as the day went on. The plan was to hike from Storey Arms all the way to Brecon. It's a 10 mile hike and I had 4 hours to do it. The last bus to Cardiff leaves Brecon at 4:00pm sharp.

Apparently there was some kind of festival up in Brecon so the bus was absolutely packed. We were running a little late as it was and they kept trying to cram more and more people on. Finally we made it to Storey Arms and I had to push my way from the back of the bus up to the front to get off.

Already running a little late, I ate a quick apple and set off. I made really good time up to Corn Du where I stopped for lunch and to enjoy the nice view. I worked up quite a sweat power hiking up to the top so I had to put my jacket on to keep myself warm.

Hiking to Pen Y Fan was easy and then I set off for Cribyn peak. The ascents up to these peaks is really steep but I made pretty good time. I was at the top of Cribyn by 1:45 so I sat there and enjoyed the views until 2. Cell reception was spotty so I hiked down toward Fan y Big and checked the map when I was in a saddle between the two peaks. It was 2:15 by now and Google was telling me it would be a 2 hour hike to the bus station. Hmm, I was cutting it close.

There wasn't time to summit Fan y Big so I started walking back toward town. The trail was easy to follow and I passed by a lot of sheep grazing on the intense green grass. I finally made it off of the trail and got a little confused. The trail split up into a mountain biking only path and a walkers only path. I started down the walkers path and it was overrun with thorny vines and other plants that were intent on tugging at my clothes and headphones.

Eventually I had enough of the trail when it started cutting to the east (the opposite direction I had to go). I sprinted back about a half mile to where I crossed a road and started following that instead. By now it was a little after 3:00 and I still had 4 miles to cover. Not looking good.

I took out my headphones, turned off my ipod, attached the chest and waist straps and started running at a pretty hefty pace for about a half hour. After dodging a few cars on some extremely narrow roads I finally made it to Brecon. I still had about 20 minutes before the bus came so I slowed to a walk and made my way to the bus stop.

I was completely drenched in sweat, my pants were covered in leaf stains from running back up the walkers path and my sides were cramped up a bit but I made it.... only to encounter a huge line of people from the Brecon festival trying to also catch the last bus to Cardiff.

Fortunately we were all able to cram on and the journey home began. It was nice to sit down for a bit after the unplanned sprint after several hours of rather intense hiking. I got back to the hostel, showered and then devoured some of the sundried tomato/mozzarella tortellini that I also had last night.

It's Saturday night and everyone's getting dressed up and ready to party. All I can think about is how comfortable the (rather uncomfortable) hostel bed is going to feel tonight.

Here's a link to today's hike: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3060357

Teaser photos:

Steep ascent to Corn Du

Pen Y Fan

Me with Pen Y Fan and Corn Du in the background

Hiking towards Brecon

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Tags: daily journal, wales, cardiff, brecon beacons

Posted from: Wales

Friday, August 9, 2013 @ 6:08 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 44

The hostel had a pub quiz night last night so I partnered up with a German couple for the game. We ended up losing pretty bad (a lot of the questions were UK focused). I fell asleep pretty quickly last night after hiking around the Brecon Beacons all day.

This morning I got up, ate, made a peanut butter + Nutella and blackcurrant jam sandwich for later and started working.

I wanted to use today to catch up on emails as well as plan out my next part of the journey. I'd been looking around on the map and was trying to figure out where might be a good place to go and people kept mentioning the Cornwall area of England. I did a little bit of Googling and eventually found the town of Newquay (remember, quay is pronounced 'key'). It's the surfing capital of the UK and it's also situated along some beautiful coastal cliffs with a lot of hikes and walks within reach.

I booked a hostel for 7 nights and then set out to get my bus ticket. Since National Express gave me issues on the website last time, I just walked down to the coach station and got my ticket. On Monday I'll be on buses for almost 8 hours, even though distance wise it's not very far. The joys of traveling to a smaller destination and using public transport.

I read in Bute park for a little while but it started to cloud up and cool off so I went over to the Cardiff Market and got some fresh raw prawns (shrimp), a lemon and some sun dried tomato/mozzarella filled ravioli for dinner.

When I got back I read for a bit, showered and then made dinner. It turned out really good! I think it's one of the tastiest dinners I've made so far. I melted some butter and olive oil in a pan, threw in some garlic, shrimp and lemon juice and then after the ravioli cooked, I threw them in as well to let everything meld together.

It's Friday night and it sounds like the hostel bar is getting busy so I'll head over there and have a drink or two. Tomorrow I'm going to head back up to the Brecon Beacons and do a slightly different route that hits a few more peaks. I'm just going to get the 10:20 bus so I can take tomorrow morning easy.

Tags: daily journal, wales, cardiff

Posted from: Wales

Thursday, August 8, 2013 @ 7:40 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 43

Today was another one of those awesome days that makes me thankful I'm able to be on this trip. Brecon Beacons National Park is a giant park in South Wales home to several tall peaks. I originally wanted to find a hostel up here and hike around but due to unavailability with them, I was forced to stay down in Cardiff instead.

That wasn't really an issue though. After doing some research I found out there are buses that run fairly regularly up to the park from Cardiff. In case anyone finds this blog post on the internet or has this question, in order to get to Brecon from Cardiff, you need the T4 bus from Cardiff Central Bus Station. This runs Monday - Saturday at 2 hour intervals. You can get the Explorer ticket for 7.30 pounds which lets you hop on and off the bus system all day. If you're traveling on Sunday, you need the B1 bus.

After looking at several of the trails, I picked Storey Arms as my starting and ending point. The T4 bus makes stops here and it's a great trailhead for Corn Du and Pen y Fen (the highest peak in the park at 886 meters).

I made the mistake of reading the wrong bus schedule (I was reading the Sunday schedule) and missed the first T4 bus. I had to sit around and wait until 10:20 to catch the next T4. This got me up to Storey Arms just before noon.

The hike starts off at a pretty standard incline which brings you up to a really nice viewing area of Corn Du and the surrounding area. You then descend down to a stream before making a really good climb up to the peak. The last 400 meters are extremely steep (or you can take the easy way via a side trail that goes around the back).

When I got to the top, dark clouds were rolling in and I was convinced I was going to get rained on. Rather than sit around there and get wet I set off to Pen y Fan. That peak isn't too far away and has some great views. While I was there I had some lunch and admired the scenery.

Amazingly, the dark clouds blew by and I was left with some really nice blue skies. It was only about 1:00 by now and I didn't have to be back to the trailhead until 4:22 for the last bus back to Cardiff. There were some other trails I saw that went in roughly the right direction I needed to go (aka: not the opposite direction) so I set off for them.

The weather continued to improve and the views were absolutely amazing. I hiked until 2 when I decided to turn around. On the way back I passed pretty close to Corn Du summit so I went up there again to relax in the comfort of the views since the first time I was escaping the rain.

I hiked around aimlessly a little more just to kill some time then went back down to the trailhead. The bus was a little late but I made it back to Cardiff around 6pm. I had some curry chips (french fries covered in curry) on the way back to the hostel where I showered and did some ghetto laundry.

I really needed today to recharge me. Hiking around Cardiff has been nice but getting out and seeing some amazing views was a much welcome change.

Tomorrow I'll probably make a working day here at the hostel. There are a few lingering emails I need to clear up and I also need to research were I'm heading next. On Saturday I'm going to go back up to the Beacons if the weather is nice and try to find some more places to hike around.

Teaser photos:

View from Pen y Fan

Beautiful Ridgeline

Corn Du - Brecon Beacons National Park

View from Corn Du

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Tags: daily journal, wales, cardiff, brecon beacons

Posted from: Wales

Wednesday, August 7, 2013 @ 4:37 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 42

Today I followed the River Taff Path down to Penarth. It's about a 5 mile walk along the river until you get near Penarth. Then it zig-zags around for a bit as you climb over the big hill that Penarth sits on to get to the pier on the other side.

Along the way there were a ton of blackberry bushes so I ate more than my fair share of them as I walked. I passed by a huge Tesco and went in to get something to snack on. I've seen some commercials for Yorkie bars, so I picked one up. It was pretty good! Chocolate, crisped rice and raisin all mixed together.

The Penarth Pier was a little disappointing. They were doing some construction on it and the ocean was pretty muddied up from all the recent rains. I ate a sandwich that I had made at the hostel and then set off back to Cardiff.

On the way back I took a slightly different route and crossed the Cardiff Barrage (basically a big bridge/flood control system for Cardiff Bay). I got to the Mermaid's Quay area and relaxed there in the shade for a little bit until it looked like it might rain.

Back at the hostel I've been messing around on my computer working on a few random projects. I have some leftover tikka masala that I'll have for dinner but I don't think that'll be enough to fill me up. I'll have to find something else to eat too. I did walk just shy of 10 miles, so I'm sure my body will be demanding more food.

Tomorrow I'm actually going to attempt to make it up to Brecon Beacons and do some hiking. Hopefully I don't get rained on!

Teaser photos:

A handful of blackberries

Artificial white water rapids course

Penarth Pier

Cardiff Bay

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Tags: daily journal, wales, cardiff, penarth

Posted from: Wales

Tuesday, August 6, 2013 @ 2:47 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 41

It looked like it was supposed to be raining in the Brecon Beacons today so I used that as an excuse to explore more of Cardiff. I started by walking through Bute Park (it's a huge, nearly 2 mile long park) along the River Taff. There were some cool tree carvings and rock formations along the way.

Once I reached the end of the park I made my way back (altering my course just a little bit so I'd see different stuff) and made it back into town for lunch. After lunch I went to check out the National Museum here in Cardiff. It's free to enter and has several exhibits and art galleries. The ground floor has human history, history of Wales and some geological exhibits. The second floor has several different art galleries which included pieces of Monet, Picasso and Van Gogh.

Because of my encounter with the rain yesterday I wanted to get a better waterproof jacket. There's a place in town called Mountain Warehouse and it seemed to have some pretty good deals. I went in and picked up a nice rain jacket with hood for 34 pounds (about $50 USD). Hopefully if I get caught in the rain again it'll help keep me dry.

I went back to the big market and picked up another small chicken breast so I can cook it up for dinner then came back to the hostel. I was thinking about walking back down to the Cardiff Bay but might save that for after dinner if the weather still looks nice.

Teaser photos:

Tree Sculpture in Bute Park

Bridge in Bute Park

Moon rock at Cardiff National Museum

Cardiff market

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Tags: daily journal, wales, cardiff

Posted from: Wales