(Llandrindod Wells, Wales, United Kingdom)

Travel isn’t always about fascinating history and achingly beautiful pictures. Particularly on long trips like this one, it is inevitable that you will spend some time doing less remarkable things. But that is part of travel too.

That is why we found ourselves spending several hours at a gas station in Crossgates, Wales. For a 5 1/2 week journey, laundry is a necessary evil. And our hotel’s high-end laundry service would have bankrupted us. Unfortunately, the nearest laundromat required a bus ride out of town. Also, it was at a gas station.

The laundromat featured only one working washing machine, so we had to wait for the previous customer’s load to finish. And Crossgates was little more than a crossroads with a school, a couple of old buildings, and a small newer subdivision. But hey, it was better than paying $20 for someone else to wash a single pair of socks.

Back in Llandrindod Wells, we discovered that there was a nearby lake with a cafe and recreational facilities. We thought that would make a nice afternoon walk, as we really hadn’t seen much in the way of lakes in the U.K. In Ontario alone, we have about 250,000 lakes! We did see some interesting things on the way there, including a large group of swans with unusual colouring.

We also saw the site of an ancient church, alongside a modern reconstruction of its foundation. But although it was nice to see a “lake” and walk around it, the experience was a little underwhelming. It was more like a pond, even though there were various ways to explore it (pedal boat, canoe, etc.).

Still, we were pleased to see the legendary Welsh humour on full display. Dominating the lake was a huge sea serpent that might have rivalled the much more famous creature in Loch Ness (near Inverness, Scotland). This one didn’t move, but you can’t tell from the photograph.

Coming up: more from the actual town of Llandrindod Wells!