I'm posting some pics here, but you can find all the photos on Flickr.
Corn Ddu and Pen-y-Fan
Ysgyryd Fawr
Gospel Pass and Twmpa
Llanthony Priory camping
So that was our visit to Wales!
Showing posts with label wales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wales. Show all posts
13 January 2013
WALES, JULY 2012
We went to Wales in July for our 10th anniversary. We stayed one night in the Hunters Moon Inn (where we stayed back in 2005 for our anniversary!) and one night in a campsite beside Llanthony Priory. Amazing! We climbed Pen-y-Fan/Corn Ddu (from a different direction than in 2005) and Ysgyryd Fawr, visited Hay-on-Wye via Gospel Pass where we climbed Lord Hereford's Knob (a funnier name than Twmpa, it's proper name) and generally had a great weekend.
28 November 2009
13 October 2008
I'M NOT CHIRKING MY RESPONSIBILITIES
F and A had very awesomely borrowed some books and maps and we decided to go on a decent sized walk near Chirk - mainly because I am fast becoming a bridge-spotter and the walk passed beneath the Chirk aqueduct and viaduct towards the end.
We set off after a relaxing morning full of cups of tea and showers, picked up some snacks, and drove down to Chirk. Many jokes (or chirks) were made about the name, and we were all chirking with laughter when F said she thought she could smell hot chirkolate. We soon discovered the scent was not our imagination and that Chirk is in fact home to a Cadbury factory!
The walk took us up through the grounds of Chirk castle (I believe it's one of the oldest continuously inhabited/functioning/utilised castles in the UK) on a permissive path that was only open for a couple more days, and past many sheep. We all donned our raincoats as it drizzled for a wee bit, but after another half an hour or so F and I took them off again. We were once again fortunate with the weather.
Cnce at the top of that hill, we were treated to lovely views over the Ceiriog valley, into which we then descended.
The guidebook took us up the other side of the valley wall for a way, providing some good views of the castle (I didn’t get any good pics), before we came back down and followed the river through the woods for a while. We scoffed down the yoghurt covered nuts and other snacks on the way.
Emerging from the woods, we got our first glimpses of the viaduct and aqueduct up the other end of a long paddock. As we got closer, we were lucky enough to see a couple of narrow boats make their way slowly along the viaduct.
It was very cool. You’ll just have to trust me and the pictures on this one! By the way, the viaduct is the taller and newer bridge.
After we finished, we all jumped back in the car and D drove us back to Chester, where we had a quick freshen up and then went to the local for a pint and some dinner.
A had to leave to go back down to London, so we said goodbye and spent the evening inside – F working on a paper for submission, and us reading and doing travel admin type stuff. We had a lovely time in Chester, and it was so good to see F again and to meet A. Fun-fun-fun!
You can find more photos of the walk here.
We set off after a relaxing morning full of cups of tea and showers, picked up some snacks, and drove down to Chirk. Many jokes (or chirks) were made about the name, and we were all chirking with laughter when F said she thought she could smell hot chirkolate. We soon discovered the scent was not our imagination and that Chirk is in fact home to a Cadbury factory!
The walk took us up through the grounds of Chirk castle (I believe it's one of the oldest continuously inhabited/functioning/utilised castles in the UK) on a permissive path that was only open for a couple more days, and past many sheep. We all donned our raincoats as it drizzled for a wee bit, but after another half an hour or so F and I took them off again. We were once again fortunate with the weather.
Cnce at the top of that hill, we were treated to lovely views over the Ceiriog valley, into which we then descended.
The guidebook took us up the other side of the valley wall for a way, providing some good views of the castle (I didn’t get any good pics), before we came back down and followed the river through the woods for a while. We scoffed down the yoghurt covered nuts and other snacks on the way.
Emerging from the woods, we got our first glimpses of the viaduct and aqueduct up the other end of a long paddock. As we got closer, we were lucky enough to see a couple of narrow boats make their way slowly along the viaduct.
It was very cool. You’ll just have to trust me and the pictures on this one! By the way, the viaduct is the taller and newer bridge.
After we finished, we all jumped back in the car and D drove us back to Chester, where we had a quick freshen up and then went to the local for a pint and some dinner.
A had to leave to go back down to London, so we said goodbye and spent the evening inside – F working on a paper for submission, and us reading and doing travel admin type stuff. We had a lovely time in Chester, and it was so good to see F again and to meet A. Fun-fun-fun!
You can find more photos of the walk here.
11 October 2008
. . . AND THEN TO CHESTER!
The thing about B&Bs is that you can never be sure what you’re going to get. We’ve stayed in delightful B&Bs in old cottages and inns, we’ve stayed in clean but soulless rooms in boring streets. We’ve been welcomed and looked after by hosts in a way that one would usually expect only from family or friends, we’ve had courteous and professional greetings, we’ve had relaxed and obliging hosts, we’ve stayed with people who don’t really give a crap. You have to be open minded about what kind of room you will get, what the service will be like, what kind of breakfast you’ll be served. Because the joy of B&Bs is that they’re not hotels, they’re (usually) not chains or franchises, so they’re highly individual and occasionally very idiosyncratic. Of course, there is no excuse for anything being less than adequate, but once you reach the stage of ‘good enough’, it’s almost as if anything goes.
This has very little to do with the particular place we were staying in Hay-on-Wye, which had cheerful and accommodating hosts, an adequate but not-fancy room with a comfy bed, and filling but not-healthy breakfasts (the full breakfast came with fried bread, while orange juice and fried mushrooms were about as fresh as it got – the UK has a very different approach to breakfasts from Australia). Our breakfast on the day we left was spent listening in on the conversation of the two older-middle-aged men sitting on the table behind us – “When I was sailing in the Bahamas in 2004 . . .” and “. . . in Pakistan, we had to all file into this big hall, shake his hand and then take tea with him . . .” and on the subject of walking, “The Ridgeway, you say? Far too much traffic in that part of the world if you ask me!” They were walking Offas Dyke Path.
Anyway, we set off with a little trepidation (after Google maps had led us somewhat astray in Bristol and on the way to Hay-on-Wye), and at first our fears seemed unfounded, and we made good time as the dense fog rose and became low cloud in an otherwise clear sky. But we soon found ourselves driving around in circles (through beautiful countryside, I might add), and I got gradually more and more pissy (I hate when I don’t have a good map!) until we went back to the nearest village and bought a road atlas at the petrol station. One good thing came of all this annoyingness, though – when we finally made it to a highway, we passed a cyclist . . . riding a penny farthing! It was so awesome I made DB stop so it could overtake us and I could take another picture.
We arrived in Chester in good time, and got to see the Lovely F, her partner and her two cute (and very vocal) cattens! Yayyy!
F and her partner, A, plied us with tea and took us on a brief tour of Chester, walking along the old Roman walls, looking at the cathedral from a number of angles, and photographing what is “possibly the second most photographed clock in Britain”. Now that is nothing if not a claim to fame!
But they knew where we REALLY needed to go. The Cheese Shop was fabulous, and we bought 4 cheeses for a picnic – an organic brie, a sheep cheese, http://www.colstonbassettdairy.com/ Colston Bassett stilton (it was too good in Bristol to let it go by!), and Shropshire Blue by the same makers. We also got some bread and fruit and set up a delightful picnic in a quiet park by the river.
We were pretty stuffed by the end of it, but walking the whole 200 metres or something to the other bank cleared some room for an ice cream cone – which we had to get, as we had decided to take one of the pedal boats out onto the river. Hee! It was a lot of fun (possibly mainly because F and A did all the work, while we lounged in the back), and a lovely way to see a little bit more of the town.
I had been slightly concerned when we first arrived because everyone seemed exceedingly well/over-dressed. It all became clear, however, when F let us know that the races were on. That evening when we went out the town was full of women clutching at walls and falling down flights of stairs (this actually happened in our restaurant, accompanied by the terrific smashing of a bottle of champagne at the bottom), and men in pink shirts and pinstrips vomiting in laneways. It was all class. Despite this, everyone was fairly jolly (I guess it was early in the night), and F’s apartment – which hovers on top of an archway over a lane/entryway) was nice and cosy and quiet, and we slept well that night!
This has very little to do with the particular place we were staying in Hay-on-Wye, which had cheerful and accommodating hosts, an adequate but not-fancy room with a comfy bed, and filling but not-healthy breakfasts (the full breakfast came with fried bread, while orange juice and fried mushrooms were about as fresh as it got – the UK has a very different approach to breakfasts from Australia). Our breakfast on the day we left was spent listening in on the conversation of the two older-middle-aged men sitting on the table behind us – “When I was sailing in the Bahamas in 2004 . . .” and “. . . in Pakistan, we had to all file into this big hall, shake his hand and then take tea with him . . .” and on the subject of walking, “The Ridgeway, you say? Far too much traffic in that part of the world if you ask me!” They were walking Offas Dyke Path.
Anyway, we set off with a little trepidation (after Google maps had led us somewhat astray in Bristol and on the way to Hay-on-Wye), and at first our fears seemed unfounded, and we made good time as the dense fog rose and became low cloud in an otherwise clear sky. But we soon found ourselves driving around in circles (through beautiful countryside, I might add), and I got gradually more and more pissy (I hate when I don’t have a good map!) until we went back to the nearest village and bought a road atlas at the petrol station. One good thing came of all this annoyingness, though – when we finally made it to a highway, we passed a cyclist . . . riding a penny farthing! It was so awesome I made DB stop so it could overtake us and I could take another picture.
We arrived in Chester in good time, and got to see the Lovely F, her partner and her two cute (and very vocal) cattens! Yayyy!
F and her partner, A, plied us with tea and took us on a brief tour of Chester, walking along the old Roman walls, looking at the cathedral from a number of angles, and photographing what is “possibly the second most photographed clock in Britain”. Now that is nothing if not a claim to fame!
But they knew where we REALLY needed to go. The Cheese Shop was fabulous, and we bought 4 cheeses for a picnic – an organic brie, a sheep cheese, http://www.colstonbassettdairy.com/ Colston Bassett stilton (it was too good in Bristol to let it go by!), and Shropshire Blue by the same makers. We also got some bread and fruit and set up a delightful picnic in a quiet park by the river.
We were pretty stuffed by the end of it, but walking the whole 200 metres or something to the other bank cleared some room for an ice cream cone – which we had to get, as we had decided to take one of the pedal boats out onto the river. Hee! It was a lot of fun (possibly mainly because F and A did all the work, while we lounged in the back), and a lovely way to see a little bit more of the town.
I had been slightly concerned when we first arrived because everyone seemed exceedingly well/over-dressed. It all became clear, however, when F let us know that the races were on. That evening when we went out the town was full of women clutching at walls and falling down flights of stairs (this actually happened in our restaurant, accompanied by the terrific smashing of a bottle of champagne at the bottom), and men in pink shirts and pinstrips vomiting in laneways. It was all class. Despite this, everyone was fairly jolly (I guess it was early in the night), and F’s apartment – which hovers on top of an archway over a lane/entryway) was nice and cosy and quiet, and we slept well that night!
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