Road Journal - Michael Katon Tour - 2/8/14

 Saturday, 2/8/14 – The road tires me out and runs me over itself, but I kind of like it, too. Living on hotel tea and bad (sometimes REALLY bad) takeaway, there’s a similarity to the days that can be hypnotic. Is it Monday or Thursday? Hard to tell. Few real choices to make, our route is planned by the Tour Manager and we just jump in the bus when she says…it’s a bit like I’d imagine the Army being, except without the guns. And yet I’m always curious about where we’ll be next – Wales? Well, what’s that like, then? Apparently, really really beautiful hilly countryside, liberally covered with sheep, and towns and cities with unpronounceable names that seem a combination of lovely old architecture and contemporary urban blight. But there’s always something new, new country, new venue, new people, and it’s interesting. Last night a biker bar in Wales, tomorrow a ferry ride in a possible hurricane, and tonight…hey, all I know is it’s somewhere in Wales.

  

Riding through the middle of Wales…it’s beautiful, terrifying, mountainous terrain, really another country from anywhere I’ve been before. Driving through part of the British Super Storm, a hurricane-like system that’s biting it’s way through the UK, and I’m wondering if this was such a good idea. Tanya is driving very well, but also pretty fast, and sometimes I think she’s over-confident. Lots of hairpin turns and very few guardrails – and plenty of sheer drops down, way down, to the swollen rivers. The country is so flooded, it’s incredible. And yet the countryside is so beautiful and the villages are so picturesque, even in this crazy rain. We stopped at a B&B for lunch, at a very nice place, but the power kept going out, and then back on, and then out again. Poor woman couldn’t even open her cash register!! Couldn’t even make change. We gave her a little bit over to help her out, which she appreciated – still, kinda crazy. She said this kind of thing never happened usually, it must be the storm.

This is a very long drive! Apparently we're going from the south of Wales all the way to the northmost point, or close to it, in Colwyn Bay. And we're on a two-lane highway which is not fast going even with Tanya's expertise. Hopefully we'll be there in time for the show!