October 18, 1998

In the states exercise paths are becoming very popular, nice scenic paths for roller-blading, biking, walking, jogging, et al. They are usually pretty narrow compared to city streets but they don’t need to be that wide. It isn’t like cars or buses drive one them. Over here in Wales they have similar paths. Nice scenic paved paths that lead through the countryside, very quaint. Sometimes sheep come right up to, and occasionally onto, the path. At other times it is almost like being in a narrow hedgerow canyon - they can grow 10-15 feet high. Now the big difference between the paths they have in the states and the ones here in Wales is that while you may see your odd cyclist they are not for recreation. They are for transportation. There is a reason the cars here tend to be much smaller, the country roads. What can be particularly harrowing is riding a bus on one of these roads - probably not so much for the passengers as it is for the driver and probably not nearly so much for the driver of the bus than for the drivers of oncoming traffic.

For those of you who are not familiar with my motion-sickness-affliction you should know that I can get sick on a nice, flat, straight, freeway. Now put me one a bus that is winding and jerking around corners, up and down hills, slowing for traffic and accelerating a second later . . . well I very nearly redecorated the interior of the bus. We’re talking liquid wallpaper here. I would have gotten off the bus but it was the last one back to the city and the prospect of walking 15 kilometers on these same narrow roads, in the dark, was incentive enough to keep me in my seat. Fortunately I had some battery power left in my laptop so I plugged in the headphones and listened to some Beethoven. By concentrating on the music I was able keep everything down.

The trip that I made on the bus was out to Rhossili. Now Rhossili really blows - literally. Rhossili is a cliffside/beachside city. It lies about 300ft above the Bristol Sea. One of the interesting things that I saw here was a new form of precipitation. I thought I had seen it all but when I saw foam falling from the sky I was taken aback. At first I thought it was snowflakes, real big snowflakes. But it wasn’t cold enough, though it was quit nipply. I couldn’t believe it. The wind was blowing so hard that it was picking up the sea foam and carrying it hundreds of feet into the air.

You know those thick glass pains that have the crosshatched wire mesh running through them. Imagine the wind blowing so hard that it spider-webbed one of them. And this wasn’t from any great North Sea storm. This was just an average storm, or so they tell me. You can check out the website to see pictures of the area. You tell me if it would be worth it to have such a spectacular view.