Across Wales: A Spontaneous Backpacking Adventure – YouTube Dictation Transcript & Vocabulary

1.across wales a spontaneous backpacking  adventure you know i was uncomfortable   with being comfortable so i packed my gear and  made a plan i'm liam by the way i wanted to   experience nature and give myself a good physical  challenge this is how it would go then i'd make my   way through snowdonia national park starting in  the north and finishing further south this would   total a measly 96 miles not enough if you ask me  so on the fly i made a pretty rash decision try   and make it to cardiff the capital of wales it  would add an extra 120 miles onto the adventure   i had everything i needed in my park food water  shelter and clothing i'd wild camping the best   spots i could find that night if i needed to  resupply i'd pass through small villages along the   way i'd aim to walk 20 miles a day no more no less  this was about experiencing life in a simple way   it's time to grab yourself some popcorn turn the  lights off and put your feet up i got the train to   the north of wales in the coastal town of conway  this is where i'll be starting from whenever i   think of whales i think of sheep slate mines and  castles this is conway castle built in 1283 and   witnessed to a couple of battles over the years  it seemed to fit in place to start the adventure i had a look around and to my surprise i walked   past the smallest house in great  britain which was pretty cool i'll be taking the coastal path on  the first day before heading inland   along the hills and valleys  that wales is famous for heading out of conway i made my way into the hills the sheep are out in full force you have  to be a hard animal to live on these hills the weather was great for walking  ideal for getting some good miles in on trips like this you carry the  bare minimum for basic human survival   food water shelter and clothing it's all you need along the way i passed a 5 000  year old neolithic stone circle   i love being reminded of britain's past  it's pretty easy to forget nowadays i'd venture through small villages  with easy-going gravel paths   a nice change from all the buggy hills i started to get into a rhythm after a few hours   walk for an hour take a five  minute break then go again weather's good you wouldn't realize it  but yesterday was the hottest day ever   in the uk recorded 40 degrees celsius plus   right now it's about 16 degrees i'm freezing it's  so strange but i'm looking forward to this one knowing all you have to do is walk  that day it's a brilliant feeling   the stresses of everyday life  disappear almost instantly hey i made my way past ayuba  falls at 120 foot waterfall   it would have made a great camping  spot but i still had some miles to go before i lost the sunlight i started to look  for a place to set up camp for the night   and i think i found the perfect spot  an old issue slate mine was ideal that was a really good first day just managed  to do about just over 20 miles i think it was   i've decided on this trip rather than just all  out you know just head down keep going i'm gonna   take my time just relax take in the view and just  enjoy it so i did just over 20 miles started at   nine it's about 6 00 p.m right now so yeah a  good few hours just walking really nice good   going weather was good so set all my stuff up  that's what i got for a meal got some couscous   olive oil sausage and then a garlic clove  there and then just some of them electrolyte   tablets so yeah feeling really good gonna  eat that and then just get a nice early night i woke up fully rested headed down  into the town and got myself a coffee i was following the snowdonia slate trail  and some of the views were spectacular this is where i'd start to head inland  through the heart of snowdonia national park you know it does make me grateful just  being outdoors in nature like this i love   just watching birds animals little insects go  by with their daily lives that's what puts a   smile on your face not the material things  and all that now look at this what a place i love just being grateful for no rain right now getting the fresh air smiling saying  hello to people when you pass them   admittedly the coffee the caffeine helps for  an hour that's why i'm probably in a good   mood but i'd rather this any day of the week  than the mundane stresses of everyday life it makes me so grateful just doing this it does remind me you know once you get back into  this rhythm of your walk you eat you sleep repeat it just boils everything down and it  makes you appreciate the simple things and lately i've been getting  away from it i don't know maybe i love luck i love  hot showers and all that but   it's important to remind yourself  isn't it look at them hills yeah just had a little bit of a moment just  weight off my shoulders don't know what it was but not been feeling as good lately maybe i don't know   i just need to do this look if it was  raining right now it'd be a totally   different thing i'd be like oh this is awful  get me inside but right now i'm doing all right that was one of the most  picturesque valleys i'd ever seen after hopping many gates fences and crossing  small stream bridges i decided to take a break the royal air force were doing some flyovers  so i managed to watch them in action pretty sure i've just come  from that valley down there   i just came up and over i'm gonna go in  this way to snowdonia national park now the forest was a welcome change of  scenery from all the exposed hills later that day i passed for a small  village and got myself a drink   a pint of cold fresh milk always does the trick the ruins of another castle was close by this  one wasn't as fortunate as conway it was in ruins hey i got my first glimpse of snowden the  highest mountain in wales at 1085 metres   heading back up to the hills and hopefully i  can find a spot for the night somewhere up there i couldn't turn down the opportunity to  camp with a view of snowden it was unreal taking your shoes off after a 20-mile day is  well you can't really explain that feeling breakfast was chocolate oats decent  fuel for what lied ahead that day the terrain was great in summer i can only imagine  how it would be in winter i'd be waist high in bug this place was beautiful i could not believe it after some road walking i  found my favorite place a cafe got myself a coffee first of the day it's  about 11 a.m right now i think it's day three just passed around snowden i was debating whether  to climb it but i was like no no i'll be screwed   by the end of today if i did that so it's going  to keep going on i think it's going to rain on   it's starting to spit just slightly and  we're heading into that all them clouds and   should be fun but it's uh it's really warm so  i don't really want to put any waterproofs on   because i just sweat and it's one of them whether  you you get wet from the rain or wet from sweat my eyes didn't deceive me  the heavens started to open started to rain and it's cooled  everything down oh way better i mean these views are insane it's literally dropped about i  don't know five eight degrees maybe i'm looking for a fish and chip shop i'm  dying for some i haven't seen any along   the way yet and that was the perfect  time i'm i'm ready for a big big meal i was in luck a town was close by i  sampled the welsh pasty which was great   followed an old train line i witnessed some of the  clearest water i'd ever seen there was a lot of hills and some road  walking sometimes i prefer the road walking   i'd get my head down and make up the miles i needed a wash and stumbled upon a lake it  was a no-brainer to come here for the night a bathing lake after a hot  day is always satisfying it was paradise and i emphasize was i woke up  to pouring down rain waterproofs for a must let's give rain all day today it's a wet one wet socks has to be the worst feeling in the world   especially when there's 20 miles more to walk  that day the route has taken me through this   there's no path he's got a tread  for all this there could be a hole i'll fall down it nobody knows it's a nightmare and i'm soaking wet stick to the path there was a village close by  so i made my way towards it i got myself a cheat room in a hotel tried  my stuff out and charged my power bank i looked towards the hills that next  morning and more of the same it seemed just set off day five is got myself a tea for the  first time ever didn't have any coffee i went into   this local shop it wasn't even op well it should  have opened at 10 it was like half nine this old   man was inside it and he said yeah come here mate  so give me a t on the house which was nice of him what is that it's a dalmatian horse a forestry track was ideal  to get out of the elements if you could taste this coffee right now best  coffee of the trip just uh on a random busy   road with cars going past and you get this  amazing coffee oh it's the best i'll say oh it's amazing proper american or  not like the british coffee you get so i'm heading up into the hills now when you're on the hills in bad  weather you feel slightly humbled   it can take an ego away within seconds it was like i was in a tropical rainforest  this place had a weather system all of its own you know it's wet when your shoes start to foam it's so exposed no trees or anything  about six miles just held some roads i love it i live for this and there's a tree line just there i was so lucky that first three days wow  great weather and this is this is wales we're gonna head over there  hopefully you can see the tree line   i'm gonna try getting there  and self-camp for tonight the rain was torrential that night i was  very glad to be dry and warm inside my tent   it was some easy walking for parts of that morning the end of snowdonia away was in sight  i headed to the town of machenchlef i got myself some well-earned fish and chips   did some laundry and this was supposed to  be the end of the trip instead i made my   way over to the coastal town of aberystwyth  i sat in the morrisons cafe and i got an idea i've gone and got myself a bike a mountain bike  i was telling you with the idea the plan was to   do snowdonia away about 96 miles from the  north and conway to the south of snowdonia   national park and i've just done it made my  way over to abrisworth which is a coastal town   and there was a whole foods  and i didn't know whether to   pack it in there or keep going and i was like  you know what i'm gonna go to cardiff i've heard   about the cycle routes through whales that lead to  cardiff i got myself this bad boy let me show you   it went into the store asked for the cheapest  bike and this is what the guy on the tail said   so got myself a couple extra puncture repair  kits and yeah pretty much good to go following   the cycle route enough talking i'm too excited  let me get on this bike and let's head to cardiff what a way this is to get around  it's got valleys left and right it's great i think i've covered like 10 miles  in not even an hour something stupid like that i'm gonna try and find myself a place to camp  hopefully just tuck in in between some trees and   have some rest hopefully get 60 60  miles in tomorrow something like that should be fun i think i found the spot so jump  this fence down you see there   laughing that is comp coast is clear  try not to put the tires let's go all right you go there i love sleeping next to the water i think it's  just human nature something deep inside all of us there we go okay have i missed the route i don't think i have nope it is that way we have a bit of a problem  i was just cycling along   and i felt the pedal just wobble and i think  so i just took it i put it in my pack but the   bolt has just come loose and i haven't  got a tool to tighten it which i thought   i've got a puncture repair kit and usually  they give you tools but this doesn't have one   so that is an l i'm gonna have to take this  to the nearest bike shop wherever that is   it could be about 20 miles away and get it fixed  so yeah looks like i'm pushing this i was gutted   this meant the adventure was over i followed  the roads to try to get my bike repaired   the gods seemed to be on my side though i think  she wanted to come loose so after one day yeah   pretty crap i don't think it was done up right  yeah just ripped the end of the thread out of this   oh stranger wow i can't believe it quite  literally a mile down the road it was a   campsite i went into it and it was this builder  working on a farmhouse had lots of tools around   so i asked him have you got a socket set  and he was like oh let me do it for you mate   you are a legend mate if you're watching  this thank you just go to the show if you   ask you'll get it so you can see pedal's back  on and he's really just saved this whole trip   i'm gonna just keep going hopefully make it  to a town called raider i think it's called   stock up and maybe a coffee i'm over  the moon with that let's keep going i was having so much fun it was like this is crazy well that was funny just this guy pulled up  next to me up there he was on like a motorbike   he's like do i watch you on youtube  i was like i don't know mate do ya   so apparently he does that's weird like  in the middle of absolutely nowhere so uh he said weigh your head and i said this  way so once you get over the hills it's downhill   from there until the next kind of town  man i'm literally low on water really low the roads are an absolute dream that valley was something else wow that guy was right as soon  as i got over them hills   they just come straight down that's  brilliant eventually found some water   in a public toilet not something you  say every day i made sure to filter it i'm dehydrated got some nut butter as well really good stuff up can have a rest and then i think we're about  seven miles away i think he said ah i'm gonna   pick out i might get there if if shops are  still open i might get myself a nice cold one i could do another fish and chips i don't  know i'm just fantasizing right now but yeah   i've enjoyed it i'm tired but  i've really enjoyed it so far nice bench no keep going the downhills was something else now i  realize why so many people enjoy cycling yes civilization a town could only mean one thing fast food   singapore fried rice some chips  and a coke sitting next to a road i can't wait to eat all this i sat  at the bench with my fried rice   and i felt really good about myself now  time to find a place to come tonight cyclist dismount beautiful why must why am i stopping on a bridge get off it load  of sheep look at this weather now so good it   was pouring down it looks so dry ancient coach  rolled ahead scenic but rough and muddy when wet keep climbing the bearer saved in my pack  was well needed that night legs are eating this morning i'll tell you that so i just camped down here last night just  in a nexus farmers field next to the river   why i think it is that's the  next town we're heading to pretty sure that town down  there is called wolf wells another couple miles maybe yes i'm leaving wilf wells behind  it's a nice little town that   i stopped at a cafe got myself a coffee  chilled out for a bit look to my maps and now fingers crossed the elevation profile said half  the next 80 miles that's how long we've got   until cardiff the next about i don't know  20 to 30s relatively flat fingers crossed   hopefully i'm going to enjoy this but it goes  uphill and then you go down towards cardiff so   yeah weather's really nice i'm sunburned a little  bit my lips are a bit chapped but i'm feeling   good uh supplies were all right uh i go for a  little town villages now anyway so yeah let's go the cycle routes were so easy to  follow a blue sign with a red number it was good to see the old-fashioned  red telephone box is still in use this is creepy look how the  trees have grown just like that a little chick i've got small  eyes oh what the it can fly hello mate look how small that is where is he oh here oh i was gonna pick it up and just hold it this looks like a chocolate river from willy wonka  it's just so brown and chocolatey i want to drink   it but probably get poisoned this is amazing this  cycle path oh i would love this all the way but   suddenly it ends i'm gonna go uphill   what is that i thought i was graffiti i thought  someone had spray painted ask beware frogs about what is this i've never seen that anywhere in the uk i started to feel feral so i put myself  into a campsite and got a hot shower you know you've done well that day  when you don't remember falling asleep i was up bright and early for  what would be the last day i'd sometimes walk with the bike to  stretch my legs i couldn't believe it   it was like being in slow motion the great thing about covering so much distance  was that you could always grab a bite to eat in   town rather than carry that food in your  pack the first sign for cardiff appeared   i was on the final stretch of the  adventure and i got a new burst of energy   it's probably from the fast food to be honest for the past half an hour i've just been in heaven   this path it's just straight out of the last town  i was in i've got something to eat in a coffee   i didn't want to jinx it i didn't want to  record it because it might stop but it just   keeps going and going just a flat psychopath all  the way to cardiff fingers crossed it's amazing the miles just kept tumbling i was on the outskirts of the capital of  wales cardiff was in sight quite literally i followed the psychopath and  i got into the city center   worlds away from the hills of snowdonia  national park that i just previously experienced you