Today is the official start of the Alison Weir Tour. The tour is starting in Cardiff and venturing all around Wales.

Although we are already in Cardiff we had to change hotels which required us to pack up our purchases. Sad to report my suitcase is already pretty full so I really need to curtail further shopping. I doubt that is possible but I am going to try. We did get everything zipped up so we were good to go.

Before we headed off to the new hotel we went back to the food market to get some welsh cakes. We had seen them yesterday but the line was super long so we decided to pass. However we thought we would see if they were as busy before 9 and luckily they were not. I am not sure how describe a welsh cake – somewhere between a scone, a biscuit and a pancake. They cook them on a flattop like a pancake but are about the size of a flat biscuit but more crumbly like a scone. They came in various flavors so I tried the chocolate chip, caramel and the jam and cream. They were all good but the chocolate chip was my favorite. The caramel was too sweet and the cream was a little too rich. Unlike at home they didn’t gouge you and we got 6 for under 5£. I wish I had taken a picture but I forgot. I am sure I will see them again. I don’t want you to think they are huge and I ate 3.

After our Welsh cakes breakfast we moved our suitcases down to head to the other hotel. Moving our suitcases in this hotel was an adventure. It takes 2 elevators and at least 4 steps and maybe more depending on which door you come in to get to the 3rd floor. We came in the wrong one and it was up about 6 then down about 10 before the first elevator across the lobby and down the hall to the second then on the floor after a few turns and fire doors there were 4 steps to the hallway our room was on. So on the way out we avoided the extra stairs but still not easy getting out to the uber.

We arrived at the bay front hotel, St David Spa and Resort well before the tour started. We met up with several people we knew from previous tours and caught up while we waited to begin.

Alison brought in a new historian with a Welsh background for this tour and he gave us an introduction to the Welsh history and taught us a few Welsh words. Nicola then explained the flag and its origins. We had a light lunch then headed down to the bus.

There was a bit of an issue with the bus so we were delayed a bit but we finally got on our way and headed out to Chepstow. We had several talks on the bus about the people and lords who passed through Chepstow castle. One being William Marshall who often in tight places seemed to live a charmed life. His father handed him over to King Stephen as insurance on an agreement when he was five years old and then refused to honor the deal. The king decided not to kill him and instead made him a ward of the castle and eventually Henry appointed him tutor in arms to his son. He goes through several scrapes before being removed from the kings service but then later marries a heiress and becomes the 1st Earl of Pembroke.

It was raining when we arrived at the castle which are in ruins so our tour was a little messy. The Chepstow Castle was built on the cliffs of the River Wye at a natural bend where it is still a tidal river making access to the castle very easy for supplies and to defend.

This castle was built in three parts the upper and lower barbican, lower bailey. It was the first castle to have two towers overlooking the gatehouse and still had a set of the wooden doors from 800 years ago. The cellars, kitchen and original reception room was still standing and there was one garderobe pretty much intact. It was a few steps up off the main hallway on the water side. It had a stone seat that overhung the outside wall with basically the middle section removed that went strait down to the water. Probably room for four or five people to sit side by side.

There was only a wall left of the Tudor portion of the buildings but you could see the fireplaces that they had added.

We were touring through with Micheal who can get into his storytelling and we ran out of time before getting up to the upper barbican area. There was quite of bit of it left standing so we quickly walked through so we could at least see it all. Nicola was taking a group down to the church so we wanted to do that so we had to rush.

The church was small but was the final resting place of Elizabeth Browne who gave a deposition during Anne Boleyn’s trial. Her testimony was not recorded but Alison believes she was part of the group that implicated Anne’s brother. Her tomb was a bit different than most as it is painted. I assume it has been restored since the colors are still so vibrant.

We returned to the hotel for dinner and drinks. Tonight we had the previous Royal Harpist, Claire Jones play while we gathered for dinner and then she and her husband did a presentation/performance after dinner. as Royal Harpist she played for 180 Royal events. Primarily she played for events hosted by Prince Charles but also all the big events that were hosted at Buckingham Palace. Her big event however was playing at William and Kate’s wedding.

She and her husband were at our table for dinner so we got a bit of her story before the presentation. Turns out she was still in college when she became the Royal Harpist, who must be from Wales and speak Welsh. She said she had to audition in front of a panel and then competed against 3 finalist for King Charles. It was supposed to be a 2 year job but she ended up getting an extension and doing 2 more years. She talked very highly of both Charles and Camilla. Even saying that anytime she played at Hargrove, Camila would give her a bottle of Highgrove champagne to sneak out in her purse. She made them sound very normal. But she knew him well enough to plan a surprise for him for his 60 birthday in which she arranged 60 harpist to play for him during his birthday event.

After we ate she played songs that she tied to different events such as what she played for King Charles’ birthday, what she played at her audition and what she played for the Queen when the Queen was the only audience. Her husband is a percussionist and a composer and he wrote several pieces for the harp and percussions for them to play together and they both performed a couple songs. She on her beautiful gold harp and him on a box drum. The music was lively and they were both charming and personable so the night rates up there with some of the best AWT dinners I have done.

I wish I would have recorded one of her more classical pieces but this one was fun.