I don't even know where to start this blog.
Should I write about Wrexham, a new city in Wales?
Should I write about our city break in Wrexham?
Maybe I should write about the documentary "Welcome to Wrexham"?
Hmm.. If you are still here, you will be pleasantly surprised to know that I will write a bit about everything.
Welcome to Wrexham - the documentary
What is it about?
From my understanding, Disney wanted to create a TV show about a football team in a low division and try to get it promoted to the Premiership. They needed someone with lots of money to spare and already famous since it's not cheap to own a football club.
Robert McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds accepted the challenge, and they both managed to buy the Welsh football team called Wrexham AFC (located in Wrexham, who would have thought!?) which has spent the last two decades in the National League (5th league).
Disney documented everything since the purchase of the football club and created this amazing TV show called "Welcome to Wrexham." I won't tell you in which division they are since you might want to watch the entire show. I know you can Google it; probably you already did.
It has three seasons with many short episodes, and they are still filming. I am looking forward to season 4!
Why did I start watching it?
As you can imagine, football in Division 5 is not my thing. Probably football in Division 5 is not anyone's thing unless you live in a small town/city and there is nothing else to do.
Bill got a recommendation from a friend to watch this documentary. He swore that we will really enjoy it.
Bill had to bribe me with crisps and chocolate to actually sit down and watch the first episode. But guess what? I was hooked straight away. I think we watched like 4 episodes back-to-back on that evening, and we finished the last 2 episodes on the night before our trip to Wrexham.
City break in Wrexham
How did we decide to go to Wrexham?
The idea came when we were having our pre-dinner drink at the Horse and Groom pub with Ben and Angus on a Sunday early evening.
Ben is on this crazy quest to visit all the cities in the United Kingdom. He created a blog where he rated all the cities to date and even created a top list. If you are interested, you can follow his journey here: https://benjaminevansauthor.wordpress.com/
Anyway, he said he only has two more cities on his list which he needs to visit. When we heard that one of them is Wrexham, we thought that we should organize a trip together since visiting Wrexham, a city which I didn't even know where it is on the map, would be a great idea!
The next day we identified a football game to watch in Wrexham and we planned everything around it.
Two weeks later, we were jumping up and down with excitment in the Wrexham stadium. How cray is this?
The trip
Bill and I decided to drive there. From Guildford, it took over 4 hours to get there.
Since Bill didn't want to miss parkrun (we drove up on Saturday), we stopped in Milton Keynes for the regular 5k around the park (parkrun).
Here is a photo of Bill running like a gazelle.
Just by luck, we booked a hotel which was just across the road from the stadium, less than 5 minutes away. It's a Premier Inn which is probably deserted when there is no football to watch in the stadium. I totally recommend it!
We arrived at our hotel at 1:30 pm, and the game was starting at 3. We went straight to the stadium, with a first stop at The Turf Pub.
Since this pub is featured in the documentary a lot, we've decided that this is the most famous pub in the UK and possibly in the world!
The football game itself was very good too. To our surprise, Wrexham won 4 - 1 against Northampton! I even got the first two goals on my phone, but don't expect good quality footage.
After the game finished, we headed into the city center to visit the cathedral (on the outside) and visit a few lively pubs/bars to have a taste of the Welsh beer.
I enjoyed trying different beers, but I wouldn't put it on tap in Surrey :)
The next day, we just wanted to go home, but we still visited a few squares in the center, took a few silly photos and on the way home, we stopped to see something spectacular.
If you find yourself around Wrexham, don't miss it! It's an aqueduct, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
If you don't know what it is, don't worry, I didn't know either!
When you are in a (narrow) boat and the ground goes downhill and then uphill, instead of building lots of locks to be able to get your boat through, these crazy people built an aqueduct, which is basically a bridge with lots of water in it!
It's very high up and the views are stunning, but I am not sure I'd be brave enough to cross it on a boat!
Our Wrexham adventure finished around 5 pm when we got back to Guildford to find a very hungry and angry cat waiting for us at home.
Is Wrexham worth a visit?
We definately loved our 24 hours in Wrexham.
Was it because of the strong connection which the city has with the football club?
Absolutely!
In fairness, we would have never come to visit Wrexham if Ryan and Rob hadn't bought this football club, transforming everything around it into what we enjoyed so much this weekend.
Would I come back? Well, that is a good question. I would come back for a football game, but I wouldn't stay in Wrexham. Chester is only 10 miles away and it's such a pretty city. Alternatively, I would stay in Liverpool, which is 1 hour away from Wrexham.
Don't get me wrong, Wrexham is cool; you can see it improving every day, but it's very small, reminding me of a town rather than a city.
We were laughing at the idea that many Americans traveled straight to Wrexham, maybe for a week's holiday. That would be a struggle.
I'll leave you here with some information lifted from Wiki about Wrexham! If you go and visit, let me know what your thoughts were!
Wrexham (/ˈrɛksəm/ REK-səm; Welsh: Wrecsam [ˈrɛksam])[citation needed] is a city[a] and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county of Denbighshire, and later the county of Clwyd in 1974, it has been the principal settlement of Wrexham County Borough since 1996.
Wrexham has historically been one of the primary settlements of Wales.[7] At the 2021 Census, it had an urban population of 44,785.[b][3] The core of the city comprises the local government communities of Acton, Caia Park, Offa and Rhosddu. In the 2011 census, Wrexham's built-up area was determined to extend further into villages like Brymbo, Brynteg, Gwersyllt, New Broughton and Pentre Broughton with a population of 61,603, while also including nearby Bradley and Rhostyllen for a population of 65,692 in 2011.[1][2]
Wrexham was likely founded prior to the 11th century and developed in the Middle Ages as a regional centre for trade and administration.[8] The city became the most populous settlement in Wales in the 17th century[9][7] and was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century. Prior to de-industrialisation in the 20th century, the city and surrounding area were a hub of coal and lead mining; the production of iron, steel and leather; and brewing.[10]
Today, Wrexham continues to serve north Wales and the Welsh borderlands as a centre for manufacturing, retail, education and administration. The city is noted for hosting Wrexham A.F.C. (one of the oldest professional football teams in the world); the nationally significant industrial heritage of the Clywedog Valley; the National Trust Property of Erddig; and the fine Tudor church of St Giles, which towers over the historic Wrexham city centre.
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