The final stage: Porthcawl to Cardiff
So here we are folks - Cardiff! Everyone is elated & perhaps a tiiiiiiiiiiiny bit tipsy due to the wonderful free bar put on by the fantastic Wales Millennium Centre on our arrival - eek!
As you may have noticed, we didn't get round to blogging last night. This was partly down to awful internet at our bunk house but mostly due to the fact that we were a bunch of pretty peeved rowers. Actually, make that massively miffed and peeved rowers! What had started as a promising day turned into a big old fail and frankly we were at the point of desperately needing some happy rowing time to sort us out. To put it briefly, we managed to set out from Mumbles after meeting our lovely rowing club friends & getting some ace pics from their club (see above), but about a mile or so from the shore, after a really strong launch & he-man style rowing from Elaine H, Elaine W, Bob, Rich A & Maggie our White Knight rib failed...cue massive sigh! We still had the other rib with us but unfortunately insurance is a big no-no unless we have 2 support vehicles with us at all times...so everyone made the really irritating & extremely difficult decision to turn back to Mumbles. Now you can see why we were so fed up!?!
After another failed start & seemingly wasted effort from our fantastical support crew we were ready to throw the towel in...but, fate decided to hand us some bloody good luck (for once!). In fact, it wasn't fate, it was the daughter of one of our challenge organisers. Some contacts were contacted and strings were pulled and before everyone went to bed it emerged that we had the loan of a massive rib from the most wonderful Cardiff Sea Safaris to get us from Porthcawl to Cardiff the next day. Much celebrating was done.
So this morning we had perhaps the most perfectly planned & well organised day of the whole challenge, which makes sense considering we've spent the last 8 days practising! Departure from Porthcawl happened at about midday with the tide having turned and helping us along our way to Cardiff - however the wind had other plans and was still doing its best to kick up some mean surf. Needless to say the first crew of Si, Gav, Delwyn, Angie & Cerys got a bit wet as they headed out off the beach and battled against some interesting waves, but the big rib with our crew of Chris and Jack plus replacement rowers were cheering on the boat & soon quick work was made of the first section.
The crew change was made about 1.5 hours and 8 miles into the 30 mile slog with Gav, Elaine W, Pippa, Rich A and Rich G taking over for the next section. Choppy waters continued to challenge the crew but with excitement mounting for the imminent arrival into Cardiff and completion of the challenge looming everyone was motoring along. Very exciting to watch! Hopefully we'll get hold of some of the video footage to share with you soon!
The next crew change saw Pippa move to cox while Elaine H, Christine, Si and Maggie started rowing hard. All this time the fab crew aboard the rib were entertaining rowers, taking photos, bigging up our huge mission and generally being excellent. We were so very lucky to have these guys guiding us in! Our luck had definitely changed, the sun was shining & the mood was high.
And so for the last 6 miles the first crew jumped into the Celtic again and took up a speedy pace to rush us into Cardiff Bay. Quite honestly this moment was one of the best experiences I've ever had in a Celtic - the atmosphere was wild with the support crew cheering, joking, playing music loud & making the finale to our Cob to Cardiff row one to remember.
After some faffing around with the lock to get into the bay itself, the Celtic and support boat made their way gently over to the waiting crowd just below the Millennium Centre with shouts of 'Porthmadog' echoing across the water. It was spine-tingling-tastic! Quite frankly, without the support we've had, this challenge would have been without a heart & we cannot thank everyone enough.
And so we reached our final stop on this tour with our beautiful slate plaque from Llechwedd Slate Caverns in Blaenau Ffestiniog, being presented to the manager of the Wales Millennium Centre to be displayed for years to come. A little piece of Gwynedd tucked away in the heart of Cardiff.
We're staying in Cardiff at the Urdd hostel for 3 nights now - upon our arrival we moored up next to lots of other Celtic Longboats from across Wales who are joining us here for a massive procession both on water and land this Saturday where we will celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Millennium Centre: The whole reason we are here. So if you're around about 7.30pm on Saturday come down to the Bay and cheer us on, or maybe just watch us live on S4C if you're anywhere else in the world.
We'll keep on updating you here, but would love to say thank you for all your lovely comments and much needed support. Huge thanks to our wonderful sponsors & those people who have helped us out along the way - there are waaaaaaay too many to mention right now. But bear in mind, if you're ever in the Porthmadog area please pop in to the Madog Yacht Club on the Pen Cei - we'd love to show you the warm Welsh welcome you've offered us & pay you back in plenty of Purple Moose x
