Home Sweet Home

Thursday 24th September 2020 - Kendal.

We have got home safe and sound.  One stop at Lymm Truck stop for coffee and pop master and we were home in rainy Kendal by lunchtime.  As we drove home we decided that another trip to North Wales and Snowdonia was necessary to complete the Wales experience.

Two surprises waited for us as we walked into the house, the first was two dead starlings in the hall.  They must have entered through eaves of the roof and forced an entry to the bathroom via a ceiling light.  They had made quite a mess around most upstairs windows and the front door.  The second surprise was that the boiler was not working.  

Janice has done a wonderful job removing bird poo from the upstairs and the hall and our wonderful next door but one neighbour, who happens to be a heating engineer has repaired the boiler.  

We have had a great trip and minor inconveniences can’t upset us.  

We are now looking forward to staying at home for the rest of the year.  We are positive that a Brexit deal will be sorted with the EU and a vaccine is imminent for Coronavirus.  Meanwhile we will wear the masks and cross our fingers.

It’s bye bye from us till next time.

More Summer Wine!

Wednesday 23rd September 2020 - Abersoch.

Here’s the silly list of famous Welsh people:-

Shirley Bassey - Singer

Richard Burton - Actor

Ryan Giggs - Footballer

Ruth Jones - Writer and Actress (Gavin and Stacey)

Anthony Hopkins - Actor (Hannibal Lecter)

Rob Brydon - Comedian (Would I lie to you and Gavin and Stacey)

Hugh Edwards - Newsreader

Ruth Maddock - actress (Hi-de-Hi)

Katherine Jenkins - Singer

Terry Jones - Monty Python

Gareth Edwards - Rugby Player

JPR Williams - Rugby Player

Michael Sheen - Character Actor

Griff Rhys-Jones - Comedian/Presenter

Gareth Bale - Overpaid Footballer

Rowan Williams - retired Archbishop of Canterbury

Colin Jackson - Athlete (110metres hurdles)

Sian Lloyd - Weather presenter 

Geraint Thomas - Tour de France winning cyclist

Max Boyce - Comedian/singer

Alex Jones - TV presenter (The One Show)

Aled Jones - Soprano/ Presenter 

Mary Hopkins - Singer (Eurovision Song Contest, came second)

Cerys Matthews - Singer (Catatonia) & Radio Presenter

Not too difficult I hope but there may be a few that tested you.

I had an embarrassing incident yesterday that I didn’t get in the blog.  Because it was cool yesterday I had worn long trousers for the first time of the trip and I had needed to use a cycle clip when we cycled into Abersoch.  You may have guessed where this is going?  When I was getting ready for bed....I realised that I was still wearing  the cycle clip!  There is a joke about a man with a certain stomach related problem who needed to wear cycle clips.....but I won’t go there....and no, I haven’t got a stomach related problem!  It did make us laugh.

After overnight rain, today was a super day.....far better than the cloudy forecast.  It has been sunny spells all day and though it is blustery it was warmer than expected too.  We had planned to cycle to Aberdaron whatever the weather and packed a lunch as normal.  I say as normal because it was ham and coleslaw sandwiches for the third day running.  Yes, it’s me who made the sandwiches.  Ham and coleslaw has become a constant sandwich filler for this trip since I mentioned that was what my Mum made for me on the beach in Little Haven 45 or more years ago.

The cycle ride was probably the hardest ride we have had on the trip, only 26 miles in total but a lot of up and down hills with a strong wind but we had nothing better to do.  We had some extra Covid restrictions yesterday and like many people I was a bit confused about the rules.  I was concerned that face masks were needed in cafes, so.......

Here I am trying to squeeze a slice of Bara Brith in the side of my face mask.  It’s a good job I’m very resourceful when it comes to food!  I have now found out that I didn’t need to wear the mask whilst sitting at the table.

The small village was less commercial than Abersoch and probably better for it.  Like most seaside places it was a steep hill out.  I caught Janice in a rare moment of what she calls ‘taking in the view’ but I call it ‘pushing’.

On the way back we saw Hell’s Mouth Bay again from the far side.  I can confirm that the Mouth is bigger than mine.

It’s so big you can’t even see the teeth!  Great views of the mountains in the distance too but it doesn’t show up too well on the photo.

Back to the van for a little prep for setting off back tomorrow and maybe a slurp of final Summer Wine.

The trip as a whole has been fantastic.  We had a week before the blog started in Suffolk seeing Oscar (grandson) and family.  Then we came straight across country to the Land of my Grandfather (only just).  It felt like ‘Bread of Heaven’.  We have been blown away by the beauty of the coastline in particular.  I also have a particular love for castles too.  From Abergavenny we came down to the coast at the Gower.  Janice was in need of some coastal walking and that’s just what she has had.

Pembrokeshire is even more gorgeous and the nostalgia of holidays with my parents brought back lovely memories (including, but not only, ham and coleslaw sandwiches).  We recreated my days on the beach at Little Haven and the weather was so kind that I had two swims in one day.  It was super to see Andy and Lene and spend time walking and cycling as well as reminiscing about our early Police careers.

We travelled up the coast and were impressed with every place we stopped.  Fishguard, Aberaerron, Barmouth and Harlech were all stand out places with pretty harbours or massive golden beaches.  The Lleyn Peninsula from Criccieth to Abersoch has not disappointed either because the beaches match up with anywhere in the world.  Perhaps most importantly we have had mainly sunny warm weather, which is now why we are going home.

We will need to face our own four walls again but hope we don’t get a full lock down again.  We live in a lovely place so we will cope with whatever we need to.  We will hopefully be allowed to visit the Lakes and get some good walking in near home.  We certainly intend to bag a few Wainwright’s.

I will send a brief blog to say we have arrived home but otherwise this is it.  I hope those of you brave enough to complete the blog have enjoyed it.  It will certainly be good for Janice and I to look back upon and remind us of our fab trip.  I hope that I haven’t insulted the Welsh nation with my silliness.  Don’t worry I will be fully sanitised by the time I get home......and I thought it was wine that I was drinking!

Last of the Summer Wine!

Monday 21st and Tuesday 22nd September 2020 - Abersoch.

We are making it official.....our Summer is definitely over as of today.  Yesterday, Monday, was the last day of a long sunny period.  We have been sooo lucky with the weather.  We have decided to come home on Thursday.

We picked up some shopping in Pwllheli and stopped for coffee at Llanbedrog.  On the way down to the beach I was recognised by Simon, an ex-colleague from Kendal Traffic Police and his wife.  It was nice to see someone from work, even if I can’t quite remember his surname.  

In the days league of beaches this was number 3 from 3 but it was pretty damn good.

We moved on to the CL near Abersoch and settled in for lunch.  It is probably the site with the best view of the trip, with a view towards Abersoch and a couple of islands.

We cycled into Abersoch which is a thriving holiday village with a busy sailing and power boat harbour, plus a couple of fab beaches.  You know a town/village is thriving when it is a certain range of shops on its high street....they include.....Fat Face, Joules, White Stuff and Crew & Co as well a good selection of cafes and deli’s.  The swish, multi-million pound, modern houses on display are also a good sign of wealth that we haven’t seen in any of the other pretty towns we have visited.

No 2 beach of the day was....

No 1 beach was.....

I don’t think these beaches can be beaten anywhere....and I mean anywhere.  Especially on such a day.

I confess that we had our end of holiday celebration three days before we actually come home because we can sit out in glorious sunshine and drink our G&T’s.  Maybe we should be drinking wine for the title to be correct but who cares....not us.  Perhaps we should compare ourselves to Compo & Nora to complete the image!

Today was rather different.  Grey and cool and breezy.....but importantly it has been dry.....well until we got back to the van anyway.

Our day was filled with walking around the coastal path from Abersoch to Hell’s Mouth.  The photos show two Hells Mouths.  One is mine and the other is the bay of that name.  On a better day with the tide out, showing its golden sands, it could have been a beach contender.  It is quite remote with very few parking places...making it a particularly quiet beach.  The walk was certainly bracing but all the better for it.

One more full day to go.  What a great trip.  

Just as a little bit of entertainment, we have listed a number of famous Welsh people.  Do you know them and can you identify what they are famous for:-

Shirley Bassey

Richard Burton

Ryan Giggs

Ruth Jones

Anthony Hopkins

Rob Brydon

Hugh Edwards

Ruth Maddock

Katherine Jenkins

Terry Jones

Gareth Edwards

JPR Williams 

Michael Sheen

Griff Rhys-Jones

Gareth Bale

Rowan Williams

Colin Jackson

Sian Lloyd

Geraint Thomas

Max Boyce

Aled Jones

Alex Jones

Mary Hopkins

Cerys Matthews

I will give answers in the final blog.

Lloyd George knew my Father!

Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th September 2020 - CL near Criccieth.

I promise I won’t go on about boilers....other than to say, it seems to be working fine.  I must have over reacted!!

More days of fantastic weather.  It is constantly sunny with a cool breeze but the afternoons feel positively hot.

The reference to David Lloyd George is because his childhood home was at Llanystumdwy, about a mile from where we are staying.  He was also buried here.

For those that don’t know, he was the last Liberal Prime Minister between 1916 and 1922 and he held most other Government positions in a long career.  He is the only PM who had English as a second language.  The blog title is a reference to rumours about his promiscuousness.  The only words were “Lloyd George knew my Father, Father knew Lloyd George!”, it is sung to the tune of Onward Christian Soldiers, with an innuendo that Lloyd George might have know my mother and if so he could be my father.  I hope that makes it totally clear....I know why foreign people find it difficult to understand English when we mean the opposite of what we say!

On Saturday (after paying homage to Lloyd George) we walked into Criccieth with its lovely ruined castle and sweeping pebble and sand beach.

We had our picnic with this view. Later I tried to ‘eat out, to help out’ by having a nice piece of coffee and walnut cake.

I will do anything to help the economy.....as long as it involves eating.

Today, we cycled past Criccieth into Porthmadog.  The harbour is very pleasant.  It is an old shipbuilding port that exported slate from Snowdonia to all parts of the world.

We moved to the next bay, Borth-y-Gest, for lunchtime.  It was rather prettier than Porthmadog and much quieter.

It may not be obvious but this is a picture of Janice talking with a plum in her mouth.  I thought she has been acting rather more ‘elite’ of late.....or according to a recent crossword answer she is U, which is code for upper class, rather than ‘Non U’, which is code for me (riff raff).  Apparently, people who are U say words like ‘napkin’ instead of serviette, or ‘lavatory’ instead of toilet.

We returned to Porthmadog to see ‘Ivor the Engine’.  Do you remember the children’s cartoon programme.....I bet you do.  I say that because the town is a starting point for the Ffestiniog narrow gauge railway and the West Highland railway too (it has little to do with Ivor the Engine other than maybe some inspiration).  We tried to remember the characters from the programme.  I will list the ones we could remember at the end of the blog so you can try and remember them too.

Sadly, this engine was called Linda, not Ivor.  What a disappointment.

Whilst Janice is strictly First Class, I am definitely Third Class or as I prefer to call it Economy!

Here are character names....don’t get mixed up with characters from Thomas the Tank Engine!

Dai Station

Jones the Steam

Evan Evans the choirmaster

Idris the Dragon

I’m sure there must be many more.  Think yourself lucky I didn’t ask you to name characters from Captain Pugwash!

The Prisoner.

Friday 18th September 2020 - Near Criccieth.

We had a couple of issues last night.....No 1, the boiler seemed to be overheating (no, not Janice)!  No 2, we ran out of gas (well only on one cylinder).  

No 1- we noticed that some hot water gushed from the overflow pipe underneath the boiler.  So, we checked the boiler.  It was working on a hot setting from the gas system.  The boiler seemed to be extremely hot.  Additionally we have previously had an intermittent leak from a pipe over the top of the boiler and it was leaking a little again.  The top of the boiler was soft and disformed.  We were a bit panicked and turned the boiler off straight away.  The water was piping hot and we quickly showered to use up some of the very hot water....we were concerned that the boiler was over heating.  

No 2- At the same time as the above was happening the gas bottle ran out of gas.  No problem really as we switched from the 6kg British Calor Gas bottle to the 13kg French gas bottle......we are bilingual with our gas bottles, we use British gas in Britain and French gas abroad.  The only problem is that their seems to be a national shortage of 6kg bottles of Calor gas.....I don’t know why? So, we knew we had to go in search of a new bottle.

This morning we awoke in our beautiful wild camp car park overlooking Harlech Castle, next to the beach.  It was even better because it was nice and quiet in the morning.  We had breakfast and  after 8.30am Janice started calling gas dealers and I called the boiler manufacturer to report the problems.  It seems that the boiler may not be quite as bad as I thought.  They say it is very hot to the touch and normally releases some water to relieve pressure.  The deformed cover is only cardboard and is probably due to the leak!  

Janice (after three negative calls) traced a dealer in Porthmadog (Port Mad Dog as Janice calls it) that didn’t have any 6kg cylinders but we’re expecting  a  delivery at 11.30am but still couldn’t guarantee that they would get 6kg cylinders because of the shortage.

We carried on with our morning plan which was to visit Portmeirion.  If you don’t know it’s an Italianate village on the Welsh coast.  It was used to film a 1967 TV series called ‘The Prisoner’ starring Patrick McGoohan.  For most people younger than me that information will mean nothing.  To tell you the truth, it’s at my limit of memory.  I think it was a weird psycho, thriller, spy series that I won’t even try to explain, but it was rather different to other programs of the era.... so quite memorable.  Maybe the setting was the star rather than the storyline.  Anyway, Portmeirion still trades on the connection to the Tv programme as well as a fairly dated style of overpriced pottery!  Am I selling the place to you?  Don’t be put off it is a very pretty place in a stunning location.  I will let the photos do the talking.

It is rather surreal.  We had a good walk around. Including the coastal footpath and the woodland footpath.  It is a must visit location in this area.  We don’t particularly like the pottery but I admit to having a Portmeirion butter dish.  The views of the estuary and the Snowdonia mountains make it even more special.  I could have managed being a prisoner here, I think.

We were away before 12 and headed straight to the Calor Gas garage which turned out to be a caravan dealership as well.  Whilst I spoke to the lady in the shop the delivery van arrived and......yippee.....it had 6kg bottles of gas.  Job sorted.  Also, I had a little chat with one of the caravan engineers (I don’t know what they call them really) and he checked the leak on pipe in the boiler and he gave it an extra tweak that seems to have stopped the leak.  Double whammy!  I decided that we would continue to use the boiler and keep an eye on the water temperature.

Hope I haven’t bored you too much with the minutiae of our boiler and gas but these things are important.

We moved off to our new CL for the next three days.  It’s between Criccieth and Pwllheli (there should be a competition for pronouncing it properly)! We had a sunny afternoon of doing very little and a couple of G&T’s later.

Men of Harlech.

Thursday 17th September 2020 - Harlech.

Another super dooper day was in prospect.  We awoke from our slumbers in a Dolgellau car park and moved off to find a lay-by nearby because we wanted to cycle along a traffic free cycle path to Barmouth on the coast.  The cycle path ran alongside the Afon Mawddach estuary.  It was soooo beautiful.

This bridge was only a tiddler compared to the one below.


The railway bridge is half a mile long with glorious views in all directions, especially in this sunshine.

Our thirteen year old Wales guide book told us that Barmouth was a bit like Blackpool.....well, I think the guide book did it a dis-service.  The beach was brilliant, wide and with dunes.  The mountain scenery was great.  The town was pretty with a good range of shops and cafes. 

This photo was looking back at the town from the beach.

OK it did have a small funfair and an amusement arcade but to me it was the perfect British holiday combination.  I felt so pleased that I practiced a waltz on my own.  We had our lunch on the beach and cycled back to the van.  We travelled onward to Harlech further up the coast to satisfy my craving for a castle.....I had been in withdrawal for a few days.

Janice set the sat nav for a car park near Harlech but I ignored the directions to head for Harlech village and the castle.  It got rather tricky in the narrow lanes especially when a bus came the other way.  We managed to reverse a bit and squeeze through.  I nearly went down the steepest street in the world at nearly 40% gradient according to the Guinness Book of Records.  Seven miles extra driving I found the car park we had aimed for in the first place.  

What a lovely place.

View from our car park.

The castle was built by Edward I of England but it fell to Owain Glyndwr (not Owain the slightly camp North West weatherman) in 1404 who crowned himself the King of Wales.  It was recaptured and was held by the House of Lancaster for 7 years before it was captured in the War of the Roses and the song the ‘Men of Harlech’ recorded story of the siege.




I’m not saying it’s steep but......

In the evening we walked on the beach for the sunset.

We finished the evening with a glass of whiskey sitting in the front seats of the van with all the lights off.  Looking ahead at the lit up Castle and we sung ‘Men of Harlech’ with the passion of a quarter blooded Welshman (remember my Grandad was born 100 yards into Wales).

Three Pages North.

Wednesday 16th September 2020 - Dolgellau.

This morning was a damp and misty start so we got moving north.  We had a journey planned to stay at or near Dolgellau in the southern area of the Snowdonia National Park but we wanted to see something along the way.  Funnily though we couldn’t see much at all in the mist as we travelled.  However, we were confident that the sun would break through. We left Pembrokeshire into Ceregidion, we passed Cardigan without even buttoning up.  We stopped for coffee at Aberaeron.  It turned out to be a colourful harbour and thriving small town.  I say colourful because the houses were all painted different colours.  It seems to be a common thing to do in the area.  Maybe the Welsh Government got a bulk purchase from Dulux and passed the contents around West Wales whereby each household could get one free tin of paint.....or maybe the Welsh are painting themselves out of the recession.

It wasn’t just that row of houses....it was all the houses of the town and they all seemed to be freshly painted.....it could have been a National lock down activity.  Anyway, the town was a thriving little place with a decent range of shops.  We frequented the fishmonger and purchased half a lobster for lunch.

Aberystwyth was particularly beautiful as the sun had broken through but we couldn’t find a parking place for the van on the front...and we drove the full length.  Our lunchtime stop turned out to be at Borth overlooking a long sand and pebble beach.

Our lunch may not have been the height of sophistication but it was very tasty.  Borth of us really enjoyed it!

We left Ceregidion into the old county of Merionethshire and into Snowdonia.  The road took us inland and over a mountain pass with Cader Idris towering above us on the left.  It is almost as tall as Helvellyn in the Lakes but seemed taller.  As we descended the other side we arrived in Dolgellau.  It was a small town of stone built solid looking buildings and very different from where we had been in Pembrokeshire.  We particularly noted that it had a lot of pubs and restaurants.  I think it is a base for many mountain walking holidays.  The long stay car park looked very inviting and we found our place for the night at the far end next to the rugby club.  The sun was still scorching so we had a little sunbathe in the car park (we were the furthest vehicle and we were hidden from view by the vans position).

You can see the summit of Cader Idris in the distance.

It is quite surprising how different areas of the same country can feel so different.  We have, after all, travelled 3 pages of the AA Road Atlas from Fishguard and I think we will definitely be entering ‘Welsh Wales’, where locals routinely speak Welsh.  We had expected to see some of the towns we passed to be rather depressed looking but so far they haven’t.  I don’t suppose there is much industry or employment in the area.  There seems to be a communal effort being made to make the areas appeal to tourists, ie by painting houses pretty colours.  Maybe they will benefit from the ‘staycation’ boom that is currently happening.  There are certainly plenty of motorhomes driving around and many of the sites I have contacted have been full.

To Rosslare.....to be sure!

Monday 14th and Tues 15th September 2020 - Lower Hasguard and Goodwick.

We wouldn’t have believed that the weather would be go good.  Monday was particularly nice and we had planned a short cycle to Little Haven again for a swim and lunch out.

I had carefully checked for the presence of Japanese Whaling Ships!


Just as I remembered it.

Nice portion at the Castle Inn.


We walked to the viewpoint that could not be surpassed anywhere in the world.  I have been to the Balcon de Europa at Nerja in Spain and the Point de Europa at the southern tip of Gibraltar and neither were better (maybe equal)!


We walked over the headland to Broad Haven and I had another swim.  You can tell that it must have been a warm day.  The cycle back from Little Haven was a little testing but we did enjoy our super seaside day.

Today (Tuesday) we upped sticks aiming to wild camp somewhere near Fishguard.  I have never been before but expected a working port.  We actually aimed for Goodwick, which is next door to Fishguard (or is it Goodguard and Fishwick?).

The ferry to Rosslare goes from Goodwick and it was in harbour when we arrived.  We have previously thought that we could do a tour of Ireland after doing South Wales and we were tempted to book the ferry and drive on today if they had places.  Janice ‘googled’ the coronavirus quarantine issues for Ireland and sadly we would have been expected to have a fixed address to stay for 14 days......not really possible.  Had it been possible we would have gone and I did toy with the idea of pretending in the blog that we were going to Ireland....I could have spoofed it for a couple of days!

The interesting history of Goodwick is that it is the site of the last invasion of the  British Isles.

In February 1797 a French Army landed on the shore near Goodwick and 1400 soldiers embarked.  The story is that they were a bit of a ramshackle bunch of Regular and Irregular soldiers, plus a large contingent of convicts forced to join.  There were some skirmishes with a hastily gathered defending militia but apparently local women dressed in Welsh National costume of red shawls and tall black hats and they marched up and down a nearby hill so that the French would see them and think they were a squad of Regular British soldiers.  The French eventually surrendered because they thought they were about to be overwhelmed.  A local woman Jemima Nicholas is credited with single handedly capturing 12 French soldiers armed only with a pitch fork and holding them inside St Mary’s church in the town.  I had to include the photo to make you know I haven’t made it all up.

We parked up the van on a nice large, flat, free car park and we walked around the coast to Fishguard itself.

It turned out that Fishguard wasn’t a working port it was a beautiful quaint harbour.  We were amazed by the way it was so pleasant and not commercialised at all.  The main town was up a hill and out of sight, so it might be less attractive but we were happy with what we could see.  The day was hazy sunshine and pleasantly warm so we did a coast walk as well.

We had to finish off the walk with a ‘compulsory’ ice cream.  This was Mango and Mandarin flavour.  It was superb.  It’s just a pity I wasn’t arriving in Rosslare having my first Guinness!  We will definitely do Ireland, it’s on the list.