Staycation 2

Last Friday we headed up the motorway to Cardiff. Vanessa is doing a student work placement there for a year and we'd promised we'd come and see her over the summer. I really like Cardiff but this was our first visit in the summer and the weather was beautiful. We actually had proper summer weather.

I cast on for a new shawl design which I was hoping would be a quick knit and made the most of motorway knitting while Simon was driving. I'm just casting off this shawl at the moment. Only took 4 days plus 2 rows and the cast off today.

We were meeting Vanessa in Cardiff Bay after work and we got there a couple of hours early so we walked around the main shopping area in Cardiff. So many amazing shops!

Then we went down to Cardiff Bay to meet Vanessa. We walked halfway around the bay, past the Norwegian Church. I've walked past here before but I've never been inside so this time we took a look inside.

We had dinner before we left Cardiff Bay and afterwards we headed out to Penarth and walked on the beautiful pier. It was a warm sunny evening.

On Saturday we got up at 4.30am and drove to Bristol for the Bristol Balloon Fiesta. We've seen this event on the local news several times and keep saying we ought to go one year. So when Vanessa mentioned that in coincided with our visit, we decided to go. 

We got there for 6.30am. That's Vanessa and I in the centre of the photo above. I think we look good for a 4.30am start. Below is what we were looking at.

The Balloon Fiesta was amazing. So many hot air balloons and the weather couldn't have been better.

We stayed till 9.30am and by then most of the balloons had drifted away from our view. We hadn't had breakfast and most of the food on offer at the Fiesta was expensive and greasy. 

We headed in to Bristol's Cabot Circus for brunch. Followed by a bit of shopping and a walk along the river.

There are lots of Shaun The Sheep statues scattered around Bristol at the moment. We didn't go specifically searching for them but we came across nine during our walk around the city and at Cribbs Causeway shopping centre where we finished the day with a bit of shopping, a meal and a flat tire.

After a lot of stress Simon managed to change the tire. We have only had the car for 6 months and we needed a special gadget to remove the old tire and it wasn't where we expected it to be. But we found it eventually and got home safely. We had a fabulous two days with Vanessa.

Our final day of our Staycation was spent shopping and having lunch with Emily in Exeter.