Week 56 - 3rd to 9th November

Monday 3rd - day 372

Hurray we have had a beautiful bright sunny and warm day today – quite different than a few days ago!! We are particularly grateful for the brilliant sunshine today because we are off to visit Portmeirion, “miniature architectural designer village” in vibrant colours!

We had a few surprises on arrival, as it was quite tucked away from its neighbours, and it was not as large as expected, but it did not seem to matter once we were in there.
It was completely higgledy piggledy, with no plan at all to the design, just lots of different styles and types of buildings – including a Campanile and Dome(!) tumbling down the hill to the bay. We had a quick recce first then went for a little lunch at the café, before taking our time and walking slowly round to absorb the celebration to Architecture as designed by Clough Williams-Ellis – a man of style and taste, and wearing yellow stockings and plus fours!!
Once we had examined all the buildings we went for a walk round the surrounding woodland. There was a path that ran round the coastline, with some very fine views of the estuary, all enjoyed under a cloudless sky, (and the possibility of a good sunset)
We wandered round the rest of the gardens, as the sun began its descent, and came across a small Japanese garden, made up of a group of Acers by a small lake with a red bamboo bridge over it – the trees were a fabulous array of beautiful vibrant reds, russets and ambers. They were so worth seeing in their own right, but once we were satiated we walked back to a small bay to sit and watch the red ball of sun sink slowly into the sea.

Tuesday 4th - day 373

Alas the glorious weather left us again, apparently the whole country is sitting under a blanket of cloud, and certainly that is true of Snowdonia National Park. We were hoping to ride up to the summit of Snowdon on the narrow-gauge railway and walk down, but we were not to be successful for two reasons – 1. the summit (nor any of the rest of Snowdon!) was not visible, and 2. the next train going up was due in March! So we left Llanberis and drove back up the pass to Pen-y-Pass and after a quick sandwich we set off along an old miners track up to Llyn Llydaw lake, which sits just below the summit of Snowdon (or so the map suggests!!)
The clouds were down, making it all very atmospheric. There was a shrouded stillness, as any noise that might have been had been muted and hushed in the mists; having said that we were also quickly away from any other signs of life except fellow walkers and the occasional raven!
We walked to the other side of the lake and sat for a while listening to the quiet, and watching the mists drift down over the rocks above the aquamarine waters. I love moments like this -just us, completely alone, (once the workmen had gone) only the sound of the wind, the light fading lending to the eerie quiet, and the splendour of the bleak quartz slashed rock faces above us.
We were back as light was almost faded, and we sat with our warming mugs of tea (lifted from our fast disintegrating picnic box) watching other walkers return soggy to their vehicles, before driving back to the caravan for the latest news of the USA Presidential Election – oh may Obama win!!

Wednesday 5th - day 374

We woke to a bright new day of hope, no the sun was not shining, but the news that Barac Obama had won, and the (still) most powerful country in the world was celebrating a new dawn and a new hope, had its own ripple effects over in our little corner too! It must be an especially good day too for black Americans, considering how far they have come since slavery and segregation. We learned that it was only 40 years ago that Martin Luther King gave his seminal speech “I have a dream”!
Well apart from that optimistic thought we were once again facing a dull day of low cloud and grey skies, not great for going back into the heart of Snowdonia, but that is what we are doing, as we were visiting Beddgelert (Gelert’s Grave, so named after the dog that Prince Llewellyn had slain, thinking that he had killed his baby son, only to discover the dog had killed the wolf who was trying to take his son.)
As we neared the village we drove past Llyn (lake) Dinas and were treated to a rare sight. There was no wind and the lake was like glass, causing mirror image reflections. We (along with other travellers) just had to stop and enjoy it for a while, before driving on.
We had a wander round the pretty village before heading back to Llyn Dinas to have our picnic lunch. The idea was to walk from there, but the weather suddenly brightened, the temperature rose and the little spot that we occupied was sheltered so we just sat and enjoyed the beauty of the place. We had deadlines today alas, and had to be back in Llandudno before 5pm to pick up the Land Rover that had been in the garage for a couple of days having work done to it following its service, and before the launderette closed. We were also going into town to watch the fire work display, so we had to keep moving to be standing by the pier ready at 7pm!
Surprisingly for us we achieved this, and indeed had time to hang our clean laundry on the maiden back at the van before heading into town.
We parked up near the pier, but were a little concerned to find only a few people there before us, and apart from several “warning shots” there was little activity for 30 minutes, until just before 7.30pm (and just as we were starting to feel the cold!) everyone gathered – right along the prom, up where we were at the pier, and even up Happy Valley towards the Great Orme. We knew this, as out of the darkness were seen sporadic little splashes of Sparkler lights!
The fire work display was the work of a professional team, and boy were they spectacular. For 25 minutes the explosions of colour, shape and noise captivated us all. Intriguingly, there was still no wind (where is it when it is needed) so the thick plumes of smoke that would otherwise have drifted off in the wind, were left hanging in the air, making it harder to view some of the sequences clearly. But there was enough going on to keep us enthralled, and one of us clicking – he managed a record of over 100 shots, which later took him a fair while, and some pain, to reduce to 18 photos! We finished the evening eating greasy fish and chips on the prom – like all true seaside holiday makers, before heading back to the caravan for some hot tea to degrease the system.

Thursday 6th - day 375

On the move again today, we have enjoyed this little site by the stream, but will be glad to move to an area that provides us with some modern convenience, one of us has found it a bit tricky, not having access to TV or radio or internet or phones, so we are hoping for some relief in Pembrokeshire.
We had a long and rather tiresome journey driving slowly through some very lovely countryside on some narrow and windy roads. We nearly came undone in Fishguard as there were a lot of signs warning vehicles longer than 43ft (just a little longer than us) to turn around. We continued cautiously however, and only just made it through the narrow windy roads through the town. There was a joint sigh of relief when we got safely (and unmarked) on to the final road. We ended the journey in a bit of a flurry though, as the instructions were not very helpful, and we had to turn in a small car park before asking the site owner if we were really meant to go down the narrow single track road that had a “dead end” sign at the entrance, especially as it was now getting dark (and we were almost out of petrol) and we really did not fancy trying to reverse back up onto the main road. It took a few tries to get him to confirm that we were indeed meant to go down that road, and we were quite glad to find him standing at the (narrow) entrance of his lovely little site, all neatly and cleanly laid out to hard standing pitches, each with their own services.
Once settled we were relieved to find that we do have TV (terrestrial) and Radio 4, but were a little frustrated to find that we are still without mobile phone connection, which means no internet, where are you Vodaphone! Drat, drat and double drat – we will be off in search of the internet café again – how inconvenient!

Friday 7th - day 376

Today was a day of cleaning and sorting and catching up on admin, and we only went out later in the afternoon in search of a Vodafone shop to try and sort out a large bill.
Alas there was no Vodafone shop to be found, nor an internet café, so we spent an hour in a noisy pub catching up on info on Icesave and Halifax, and doing the emails. We had a bit of good news though, as we read that the financial compensation scheme seem to be setting up the process for releasing our savings, which is good news indeed. The headache that each of us left the noisy pub with was not though!

Saturday 8th - day 377

We drove back to Aberaeron today, to explore it further as it had looked very colourful when we drove through the other day on the way to our new site. It was further away than we had expected, but it was worth making the effort.
It was worth the return! Aberaeron was a colourful Regency harbour town with a wide stony bay, visited today with parents assisting excited children to fly their colourful kites.
We had a good wander round then treated ourselves to a little shared fish platter at the newly refurbished Harbourmaster – delicious, but costly!!
We still needed to sort out our huge phone bill, so we headed back via Cardigan, looking for a Vodafone shop, but no success (and lots of heavy rain by now!)
It continued to deluge, but undaunted we stopped by to check out Newport Bay, (in the dark!!!)
So we stayed sat in the car, in the driving rain and howling wind (so strong it rocked our 2 ton Land Rover!) looking through the windscreen wipers and headlamps to the glint of sparkling raindrops being driven horizontally across the windscreen, down the beach to the wild seas. (see photo!!)
Not everybody’s idea of fun I am sure, but we enjoyed it enough to get out the teapot and have a leisurely cuppa while we sat and looked out at the view, before returning to our cosy warm (and noisy) caravan.

Sunday 9th - day 378

The storms raged again through the night, and it has rained and rained until we are wading through water to get to the latrines! But undaunted we were walking today. We have been told that Dinas Head is worth a visit, so with sandwiches packed we set off for Cwm-Yr-Eglwys, a little hamlet by a sheltered bay, which boasts a ruined church which was blown down in a storm in the mid 1800s.
We got completely togged up in water proofs and made a welcome return to the coastal path. We were reminded of the narrow squelchy pathways, the uneven and steep steps and the ferocious wind that met us as we rounded the headland, but it was so invigorating to be out there. The whole walk round the headland was not very long and we were back at the car in an hour and a half soaking wet, but so refreshed and glad to be alive!
We ate our sarnies in a steamy car, then rather than going on to visit Fishguard we drove back to the caravan through sleet and storm, and were back before 5pm for the first time in our entire trip, and enjoyed the rare treat of a quiet read before preparing tea.