Last night, 7 GoodGym runners (and an honourary GoodGymer - a relative of Aimee's) made their way to Caerphilly for the annual fireworks display at the castle. Being warned by Lucy of the likely chilly evening, everyone turned up appropriately attired - gloves, hats, scarves and big warm coats - it felt quite festive!

Full steam ahead....

Adam, Lexi, Aimee, Aimee's cousin, Ben and Lucy met at Cardiff Central station, bought their tickets, headed for the platform (which wasnt platform 9 and 3/4 as Ben suggested it may be) and boarded the train. Chatting away excitedly, the handing out of nibbles commenced with some Galaxy Counters and the first cans/bottles of tipples were opened - woo! At Heath High Level, Fiona boarded the train to join the party. With the train now very busy and seats all filled up, Fiona had to stand in the aisle for the journey which luckily was only around 10 minutes. Arriving at Caerphilly, we made our way to the front of the station to meet Emma. After a little consideration as to whether we had time for a quick drink at the Wetherspoons we decided to head straight down towards the castle and get our perfect viewing spot and do our sparklers which Lucy had brought along for us.

We found a perfect little location with an unrestricted view of the majestic looking castle and were about to get the sparklers out when alas, we heard an event marshal telling some people nearby to us that sparklers were banned from the event - boo! But we decided that we would keep them and use them before our next group run on Tuesday and maybe even try to spell out GoodGym with them - hooray! Instead to fill the time between the then and the fireworks starting, more nibbles were handed out. We had a blooming marvellous selection from nuts and crips to Haribo sweets and Welsh cakes - thanks all for bringing them along. These snacks were washed down with a warming tipple too.

Firework time..

7pm and it's time! Excitement and anticipation is in the air when the compere announces a countdown over the speakers.. 10, 9, 8 etc until 1 and then he tells us we need to do better!! So the countdown begins again but this time in Welsh (we all looked at eachother hoping at least one of us could join in). Due to a lack of knowledge of the Welsh language on what we presumed to be 1, bang, the first firework went off. What followed was twenty minutes of colourful and varying types of fireworks set (somewhat off key at times) to accompanying music. At some points it looked as though the castle was on fire but it was a truely beautiful sight! We had slight concerns for the welfare of the poor swans and ducks on the water of the moat surrounding the castle who probably wondered what on earth was happening and began gathering in huddles. We also agreed that the fireworks in Caerphilly have a somewhat fragrant aroma (ask someone who attended about that unique scent).

Applause and to the pub..

After a round of applause for the wonderful display, we headed as quickly as possible (only to avoid the crowds of course) to the nearest pub. On entering we were pleasantly surprised at the amount of space inside and that we could get to the bar to order drinks. This however seemed to be a false sense of security and the one barman against at least 20 customers led to a fifteen minute wait to be served. Thinking it would be the most helpful thing to do, Lucy took everyone elses drink order so that she could order all of the drinks at once. Well... this went a little wrong when the pub had sold out of Estrella and tonic water and had a distinct shortage of glasses. We ended up with red wine in warm tumblers and some of us must have looked dodgy as we were given plastic cups. Asking for a bill in order to establish who owed Lucy what I think was a step too far for the poor busy barman as he handed over a copy of the card payment receipt just with the final total. Not wanting to cause him any more stress Lucy said it was fine and we would just divide the total between us. As a side note - either pubs are very cheap in Caerphilly or he made an error entering the drinks we had on his till but how could we check? We made our way out into the beer garden to sit and have a natter. It was an extremely varied converstaion in which we discovered that Emma has never seen an animated Disney film, that Ben can do a magnificent Mickey Mouse impression and that it was Aimee's first ever celebration of Guy Fawkes night. We also covered the upcoming Christmas party and Snowdog group run coming along in December.
Fearing we would begin to start losing our fingers to the cold we decided to make our way to the train station. Emma bid us farewell and headed back to her car. On reaching the station, we discovered the next train was in 35 minutes so guess what?? - that left time to pop to the Wetherspoons over the road after all. For some this was more about using the toilet and keeping warm than another beverage. Adam having not had any change to give to Lucy for his drink at the earlier pub, bought her one back in the form of a pint of cider. Given the time restrictions, some help from Ben, Lexi and Aimee's cousin made sure that it was finished before we had to go. Good job guys!

Cheeky Nandos

We went back to the station and boarded the Cardiff bound train. There was time for a quick train selfie before Fiona had to leave us at her stop. On reaching Cardiff Central, and once Ben had figured out how to get out of the ticket barrier with the correct return ticket, we headed for Nandos in Brewery Quarter. Eager to get out of the cold and by now feeling pretty hungry, Lexi and Lucy bounded on ahead and got a table organised for the six of us. After much chicken, halloumi, chips and garlic bread we were all stuffed and feeling tired (especially Lucy who almost fell asleep at the table) and it was time to say goodbyes and head home. Safe to say we all had a banging night :)