Llandrindod Wells and the demise of Sharon's phone

We were on the road again, heading to the Brecon Beacons for Dan to attend at Uniting Church Minister's gathering. They had kindly said that we could tag along and stay with Dan, which was lovely because it meant we could keep exploring alongside Dan.

The town is called Llandrindod Wells and was once a mega Spa Town due to its special mineral waters. Many of the buildings are amazing looking places, that used to be hotels and the town centre is very special due to its frontage. Disappointingly it was a bit grey, despite coming from sunshine in Ponty. 

But the saddest moment happened within 5 minutes of arriving. In my haste to use the toilet, I managed to drop my phone into it ... before using thankfully because ewwwww ... but no more Sharon's phone, instead a friendly bag of rice. 

Dan kindly lent me his phone so I was able to capture the moments of exploration. First up, the Bicycle Museum. 

We were taking on a tour by a lovely gentleman who shared the history of the bike. Did you know that it was designed by a German man who called it a hobby horse and it looked pretty much like bikes do today, however technology seemed to take a wee side journey for about 100 years with the Penny Farthing bike, until it returned to the original design. Side note: Penny Farthing bikes and their friends were death traps on wheels. 

We found bamboo bikes (featured below), bikes with hammock seats, hipster bikes, racing bikes, Olympic bikes ... Asher and the guide had a great time chatting about it all. 

This was my fav! Just for you Ruffus, a knitted bike. 

We also had a go at riding a bike that drives like a car. It was harder than Asher makes it look.

The very kind volunteer at the bike museum told us a great place to walk and explore and he even walked us out to show us the way. So we headed up the street towards the lake. On the way, we found a place an old church used to be, possible 1000 years ago. 

No frogs were spotted but a lake and many, many birds were. Hannah was especially excited to see geese. She finds them to be as friendly as swans (read aggressive).

There was also a lake monster! Eeek.

Asher tried to play with the geese.

After we got back we got the key for the hotel room and went and tried out the pool (yes, there was a pool). Asher also tried out the sauna and got chatting with others in there. Dinner was at the restaurant with the ministers and Dan and I stayed around to have a drink with them. They were all very friendly and we got to experience excellent Welsh storytelling. Feel free to ask Dan or myself about the story of the sheep with no ears. 

The next day we had a slow start and a yummy hotel breakfast buffet. Then we took Dan to the lake and walked around the whole thing (it is quite small). 

We also feed the birds (with proper bird food). They felt so funny eating out of your hand. 

Dan got cold.

It was time to hit the road and explore some more, so we headed for the Elan Valley, a beautiful area filled with some dams.

Our final stop on our tour was a Red Kite feeding. This was based on a working farm where the farmers help to feed 100's of Kites. They do this by getting visitors to come and pay to see them being feed. It is truly spectacular. 

A video should be here but I can't get it to work. Booooo!

They are amazing to watch, they eat in the ear as they fly and they sometimes fight each other for the food. They come in like Tom Cruise in Top Gun but with less accuracy. And there are hundreds of them. It is a wonderful thing to watch.

As we headed back to the car the boys found some other types of 'birds'. One they would have happily taken home. I'll leave you to decide which one.