A Series of Unfortunate Events

The next stop in our visit to Wales was Fishguard, which is a tiny town on the southwest coast. The only practical way there was by bus. Several buses actually. Now, being the main planner of this trip, I (KK) was responsible for checking bus timetables, stops, and everything in between. And this was where the first unfortunate event occurred.

We successfully completed the first and longest leg of our trip. The next bus stop was clearly marked, and we did get on the right bus. However, I had the wrong stop. Instead of looking at the stop online, I had looked at the end destination of the bus. As we were stopped at the intended bus stop, every gut feeling I ever had was telling me to get off, but I didn't. So, we ended up in Carmarthen, about an hour and a half away from Fishguard by train.

Why do I mention the train? We looked at all the bus timetables in Carmarthen, which were all in Welsh, naturally. And we had at least two buses to catch to get to Fishguard. Then, I remembered that there was a train station in Carmarthen. And we had Brit Rail passes. Hurray! We hurried over to the train station.

We encountered our second unfortunate event. The next train to Fishguard wasn't scheduled to arrive for another two hours. So we holed up in the waiting room and waited...and waited...and waited. Finally, two hours had passed, and we were on our way to Fishguard!

However, the third unfortunate event occurred when we got off the train. Fishguard is about a mile away from the station. Easy distance right? Wrong. It's flat for about 1/10 of the mile and the other 9/10 are uphill. Not gentle uphill either. Straight up. And this after traveling all day, the frustration of the bus fiasco, and the fact that we were going to have to drag our weary bodies plus luggage up that cliff. And don't forget that we had hiked up Mt. Snowdon the day before.

Needless to say, we made it to the hostel in one piece (barely).

The next day was much better. We slept in, went on a coast walk, and barricaded ourselves in our room to plan and watch movies. Perfect.

The morale of this story, though, is that for every unfortunate event there is a fortunate one. God was looking out for us, even in our mistakes. He knew that we wouldn't get off at the right bus stop but arranged for us to get to a city with a train station where we could use our passes. He also knew that we were going to have to wait at the train station for a long time but allowed us much needed time to write more posts for you guys. Finally, He knew that we were going to have to walk up the cliff to get to Fishguard but gave us the strength and endurance that we have been developing over this trip to get us up it. And supplied us with a room to ourselves for our stay, a nice sunny walk, and a day of watching movies. So, remember that when you are in a series of unfortunate events. there are some fortunate ones waiting for you just around the corner.