Now there’s a strange name for a bus. It sounds more like a film title to me. The name comes from the fact it travels between the two Cardiff Metropolitan University campuses in Cyncoed and Llandaff and stops at various places along the way.
Arriving in Llandaff I decided to skip lectures and head up the River Taff embankment path to Llandaff.
I took a stroll through the old Llandaff cemetery, much of it overgrown but with some lovely ancient trees and headstones. I found the Insole family grave. The Insole family had their house just up the road at Insole Court.
At the top of the hill I popped my head into Bishop’s Palace Park, a walled garden and oasis of tranquillity.
Then it was time for a celebratory coffee and a rather splendid pain aux raisins in Coffee Lab. What was I celebrating? The end of this Cardiff Bus challenge.
My book was Impossible City by Simon Kuper about Paris. I picked it up as the city has been in the news quite a bit of late and was interested in learning more about the city. I’ve visited Paris at various times over the years for rugby internationals, in search of a pint of Guinness or on business trips. Each occasion gave me a different insight into Paris but I still don’t feel I know it properly.
I found a more direct path back to Cardiff Met University from Llandaff, one I never knew existed. All that remained for me to do was wait for the M1 back to Cyncoed. There were no gatherings of friends like when I completed my European Guinness Challenge or my England and Wales Coastal walk, nor flag waving like when I completed my England and Wales Mountain challenge. No, this time it was just me enjoying a coffee and reading a book as I gently transition into my senior years.
Have I fully completed this bus challenge properly? Now there’s a point for discussion and subject of another blog post I think. It has certainly taken me to some great places in and around the Cardiff area.
