Camping at Three Cliffs Bay
Camping at Three Cliffs Bay:-
6 and 7th September 2014,
The Trip was Vishi's brainchild. He did all the planning and bookings for the Trip. Vishi was my colleague and friend. We had previously shared an apartment at London. Then I was a bachelor now I was married to Gilu (nick name I gave my wife) and lived in a separate apartment. Vishi had also moved out to a new place. We had invited Vishi quite a few times at our new apartment. We spent all day and all night chit-chatting and having fun.
I, my wife and Vishi had all grown up in Dehradun and hence had a common point for conversation. I remember we had so many tales to share. Somehow I realized people who grow up at a place gel well, and hence I coined the phrase for all Doonites (residents of Dehradun)"Once a Doonite always a Doonite". Read more about Dehradun during my growing up years at my blog Dehra as I Knew.
Vishi had meticulously planned the Trip. He had a long cherished desire of a camping trip. He had also collected camping gear keeping a camping trip in mind. This trip would give him the opportunity fulfill his long cherished desire and also use his camping gear that he had collected over time.
I and Gilu were as usual excited by the thought of spending time in camping and other activities away from the hustle bustle of London. This trip would be our second camping trip.
The fourth Musketeer as you may call was one of Vishi's flat-mate, who was on a short professional visit to the UK. For him this trip was certainly a good opportunity to explore Wales.
We had planned that we will go to Swansea from London taking a fast train on Saturday Morning instead of travelling on Friday night by Bus. This would save us from the hassle of travelling by bus and we would avoid a night stay at Swansea as well.
Saturday Morning, I and Gilu woke up early and reached London Paddington Railway Station well before the scheduled departure of the train. We met Vishi and his friend on platform No.8 and Coach No.6 of the train. We had seat bookings in the same coach. We kept our luggage near our seats.
After formal introduction with Vishi's Friend, I and Vishi left to grab some breakfast. We first queued at a Burger Joint to collect burgers for all of us, but the service was too slow and we had four people ahead of us. With only six minutes left for the departure of the train we abandoned the idea of having burgers for breakfast.
We rushed to the nearby "WHSmith" Store to collect some sandwiches. We quickly grabbed the breakfast combos of sandwiches, chips and soft drinks.
While we were still at the store doing the payment, I started getting Gilu's phone calls as only 2 minutes were left for the train to depart. I assured her that in any case we will board the train.
With only a minute left for the train's departure, I and Vishi started running, we ran as fast as we could and just a second before the train doors were locked we boarded the first coach that we saw. Just as we boarded the train the doors were locked. By then I had already got two calls from Gilu, which I had not picked as I was running to catch the train. On her third call I picked the call and told her that we have boarded the train. We started moving within the coaches to reach our coach.
I looked at Vishi, he grinned, I smiled back. We both knew we had just saved our camping trip. We would have ruined our plans had we been late by a second.
Once at our seats, I and Vishi had our breath back. All four of us settled down and had our breakfast. Vishi's Friend fell asleep as he had not slept the previous night. I, Gilu and Vishi started chit-chatting, sharing tales from Dehradun, laughing and having fun. We were not at all loud by our standards, but then a guy came to us and requested us to be silent as by his standard we were pretty loud. He also reminded that the coach was a Silent zone.
All three of us were a bit annoyed as he had disrupted our laughter. We finally resorted and settled down looking at the sceneries visible from the train window and in affect were silent in the silent zone.
In around 3 hours we reached Swansea. It was time to take our backpacks and move towards Swansea bus station. From Swansea bus station we had to board a bus and travel for around 40 minutes to reach our camping site. It was time for me to hone up my trekking skills. I had to carry my Jack Wolfskin backpack which was pretty heavy as it had our (my and Gilu's) clothes, tent, quilt, toiletries, utensils, food, some woolen jackets etc. I had packed the load just in the right areas so that the load is properly distributed and the backpack can be picked up easily.
During my stay at London, I had developed a liking for backpacks, rucksacks etc and hence I had bought a lot of them as well. I had also developed a passion to know the intricacies of backpacks, how to load them, how to carry them etc, and this knowledge came out to be quite handy in this Trip.
Before reaching the bus station and boarding our bus we had to collect few eatables and something to cook. So we purchased some instant noodles, bread, butter, biscuits and two instant barbeque trays from the shops near the train station at Swansea.
Once we collected all our stuff we started moving towards the bus station, little did we know then that the way to the bus station would be a long haul...
Continue Reading: Camping at Three Cliffs Bay - Part2...
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