In August, I spent a weekend in Wales with my family. I'd been wanting to see Billy Joel live for years and finally managed to book tickets for his only European show of 2024, which had sold out, in Cardiff.
Friday
The journey from London to Cardiff usually takes between three and four hours in the car, however despite leaving London at 11am on the Friday, we only arrived in the city seven hours later, after having been held up in some of the worst traffic I've ever experienced. The tickets had said to expect traffic on the motorways, however I'd underestimated the extent of it. Nonetheless, we still made it before the opening act. Chris Isaak was the supporting act, who I hadn't heard of, but he mainly sang famous covers and in typical American fashion, knew how to work the audience.
Eventually Billy Joel came out and performed a two and a half hour set. I was surprised by how many songs I didn't recognise as he's one of my favourite artists, but that is testament to how many songs he's actually written throughout his career. I cried during my favourite song, Vienna, had goosebumps as the crowd sang Piano Man, and found it adorable when his eight year old daughter sang My Life. It was a great gig and my dad bought me a concert tee as a souvenir. Billy Joel himself was very charismatic and you could tell he was having a lot of fun, as he covered parts of other songs, including In The Jungle, and the crowd sang so loudly that there was something very magical and uniting about it. My only woe is that he didn't play She's Always a Woman, which is one of my dad's and my favourite songs.
I'd been to one of Elton John's last ever tour performances, and this concert made me realise that he and Billy Joel actually share a lot of similarities: both had a multitude of hits, some of which constitute favourite songs of mine, they both are incredible on the piano, both are in their seventies with young children, and they're from the same era, albeit from different sides of the pond.
I'd also been to the stadium previously to watch a rugby game for one of my brother's birthdays whilst we were at uni, however it looked much smaller for the gig (granted, the stage took up a decent portion and the standing area was huge).
After the gig, my mum picked my dad and I up and we headed to Swansea for the night. I'd never been to Swansea before, and although it sounds counterintuitive to stay in a different city, we wanted to drive along the coast of Wales that weekend so thought it would be easier to stay in Swansea, although I do like Cardiff.
Saturday
Despite the weather having been perfect on the Friday, with clear skies and the temperature in the low 20s, we woke up to grey skies and rain on the Saturday. That said, we live in England so this didn't phase us and after a hearty breakfast, we made our way to the coast in the hopes that the weather would clear up.
We started with Freshwater West, which is part of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and is also the site of Dobby's grave from Harry Potter (which we didn't realise until that day). It was extremely cloudy, which made parking much easier, although there were still a handful of surfers on the waves. As we headed for our next stop, Newgate Beach, the sun started to appear, to the point that we even opened the sunroof and windows, but then as is typical, as soon as we actually reached the beach, the clouds came in again and it looked as miserable as ever. We walked along the beach and my dad said 'if it would sunny this would be beautiful', but alas it was not meant to be. The same happened again as we visited our next beach, White Sands, and I was beginning to think that the sun was simply not going to play ball.
Over the next couple of hours, it did indeed get sunny and we drove through a very picturesque town called Fishguard, before heading for lunch in a pub in Newport (not the Newport you're thinking), called Castle Inn. The beer garden was lovely and we managed to get a table outside, where we enjoyed fish and chips, which was exacly what we needed. We then realised that the car needed oil (and a scrub as a bird relieved itself all over the car mid-drive) so once that was all sorted, we continued on our way.
Our next stopover was Tresaith waterfall, but as the sun had now made an appearance, the beach was full and it was hard to find parking so we instead continued along the coast, passing many idyllic beaches. Our final stop of the day was Aberystwyth, where I'd been once before, but my parents had never visited, and I thought it was worth a visit. Here we tried Welsh tea, which tasted like a regular English Breakfast brew, then walked along the promenade with a crêpe in hand. I was fascinated by the various flags along the promenade, and we learnt that these were the flags of minority European states or regions with their own languages, including Scotland, Sardinia and Galicia, which I found very interesting and an apt place to display these flags. It is a nice area and is worth a visit if you're nearby.
As we headed to our hotel in Shrewsbury, which is inland and just across the border from Wales, I reflected on the Welsh countryside, and my impressions were that it is very green, there are a lot of hydrangeas (which now reminds me of the Azores), and although there are, of course, sheep in abundance, there are many cows too! We also saw an old-fashioned steam train earlier in the day, which was a nice surprise. Wales is absolutely gorgeous and never fails to provide great scenery.
Sunday
We woke up in Shrewsbury, with the aim being to drive through Shropshire Hills National Landscape nearby, before making our way back to London. We had breakfast then headed over and it was wonderful; the landscapes reminded me in parts of the Yorkshire Dales, the roads were very fun to drive along, and we saw everything from wild horses to sheep with long tails (who knew that was a thing?!). I've gotta say, I do love a National Park, and the Shropshire Hills did not disappoint.
We then drove through Ludlow, a medieval town, famed for its castle, where we visited a little market and bought a book from a cute bookshop, before making our way back to London in the summer sun.
This weekend trip was full of surprises and a cherished memory with my parents.
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