still more about "I'm back"

It's been a few weeks now since I got back from that trip to the UK.
After Dalgellau, we spent a couple of nights in Porthmadog, still in North Wales. I don't remember much about that place. I wasn't keen on the "bed and breakfast" we were in. Nothing wrong with it, but I just wasn't very comfortable there. The name of the place was, if I remember correctly, translated as "The Old Bakehouse" but I can't remember the Welsh name. Breakfast was served in the "restaurant" attached next door--more like a pub that just closed down to give us breakfast before we left for the day.
We had a good trip down to Aberystwyth, which was really funny for me. I was there almost exactly sixteen months before. I stood on the same spot where I had photographed my son and husband in January 2017. And there I was with my daughter on June 3rd or 4th, whichever it was, in 2018. Aberystwyth is a very nice town. It has a beautiful beach--but not really good in January or even June. Kind of chilly in the Irish Sea.
We went to a historic mansion for tea. That's not a drink in the UK, it's more of an institution. Sometimes it's sandwiches and cakes, sometimes it's a full dinner. This time it was mostly cakes. And we had it outdoors, looking at the mansion. The mansion was chosen as a place to visit because some of our group wanted to visit a haunted house, and this one is said to be haunted. No ghosts for us, though.
The next day, we went to a slate museum. I found it very interesting, but the other three females just wandered around and didn't go. Too bad, because the slate museum had a few good ghost stories. Much better than the mansion.
Next day, Catherine and I took the train back to Gatwick airport, which pretends to be in London. We spent a night in a hotel, the Crown Plaza, which I don't recommend. Then, next morning, I flew home while my daughter flew to Scotland to spend a week there.

I'm Back Part Three

Still in North Wales, Dalgallau was of particular interest for a couple of reasons. First, it's the town where our host was born. Not only that, but the house that is now the B&B where we stayed, was once the maternity hospital. Taff was born in the very room my daughter and I stayed in. It sounds phony, but the host and hostess of the B&B assured us it was the truth. And in a town as small as Dalgallau everyone knows everything about everyone.
The B&B was very quaint. Each room had a particular character connected with a story. Our room was called "Secret Garden" and was decorated with flowers and animals. The room across from us was "Narnia" and another room was "Alice in Wonderland". Taff's room in the attic was called "Number Six"--which apparently has something to do with "The Prisoner", or maybe it's the other way around. I'm not familiar with that book.
This village was more accessible for me. I was able to walk around, have lunch in a tea house, and so on, while my daughter climbed mountains and followed streams to the sea.

Then we moved on to Porthmadog.

I'm back--Part Two

The second part of this year's trip to the UK was the Wild Wales Walking Tour. My daughter booked it, and I think she thought I'd be able to do some of the hikes. I hoped I might do one or two, but as it turned out, they were either too long or too difficult for this old lady. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Taff Roberts, the leader, was knowledgeable and always ready to share stories related to the places we visited.
I've been to Wales a couple of times before. When I was about twelve or thirteen, I visited my aunt and uncle and cousins in Swansea, staying with them for about a month, I think. Then, many years later, my husband and I drove through parts of the countryside, and another time travelled there by train. Just last year, February 2017, my husband and son and I took the train from London to Aberystwyth and had a couple of days there en route to Liverpool and beyond.
But this trip, was different. Catherine, my daughter, and I were in the company of Taff Roberts and two couples who actually knew him from their home town of Winona, Minnesota, where Taff now resides.
Our first stop was in Aberdaron. A little town on the tip of a peninsula way up north--but not quite in Anglesey. There we stayed in a modern styled bed and breakfast, and Taff's brother and sister-in-law joined us for a meal. We stayed there three nights. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into the town by myself because the road was long, steep and windy. So I mostly stayed in the B&B and read the book I'd brought along for just such an eventuality. (The book, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, set in London, England--movie notwithstanding--an excellent read). One day, however, Taff arranged for a taxi to take me into town so I could attend a church service. Anglican. I felt right at home. Then, while there, before the taxi came to take me home to the B&B, I visited the local museum.

Our next village was Dalgellau, (pronounced dal-gell-ai, the double L doesn't occur in English, but it's not difficult. Just put your tongue for the letter L, but don't use your voice, just blow around your tongue. Try it!)

on the road again

Well, not exactly the road. But traveling again. This time, no travel agents! (Why would I ever use one of them again? I'm not that stupid.) Nope, this time my dear daughter made all the arrangements. So, in just 12 more sleeps, she and I will board a plane for the UK. I guess we have to change planes in Calgary before we'll actually be doing that. Then we'll be in London for six sleeps and head off for North Wales. There, supposedly, I'm to go hiking. Well, I think I'll be strolling in the villages while she goes hiking. Once upon a time, not so very long ago, I would have enjoyed the hikes. Now pushing eighty, I'm not so keen anymore. I've been studying the Welsh language, though, and I hope to have some opportunities to see how well I've progressed in that area.
I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out.

Wales

It was the name. I just love it. Aberystwyth. American TV personality, Jon Stewart, of "Daily Show" fame, once said of Wales that it was so poor in natural resources that it had to import vowels. Looking at this city name, it's easy to see why he would say that. However, Wales is rich in real natural resources--and even in vowels. The word for Thursday, for example, is Iau.  All vowels!

My husband and I had been taking Welsh language lessons for about a year, and were still struggling with it. But it was fun to be in the country where it is spoken and English is tolerated quite nicely. We were there only a few nights, and wouldn't have minded a few more. Our hotel room, really a two-room suite, had a wonderful view of the Irish Sea.

One evening, we three were admiring the view, when suddenly we noticed some activity in the area around a pier. Then the air was darkened by a swarm, a flood, a murmuration of starlings. Some people say that this murmuration sometimes involves no fewer than about 50,000 birds, swirling and swooping like a black version of the Northern Lights. It was breathtaking.

One day, we went for a tour through the countryside, admiring the hills and mountains of this ancient and somewhat obscure land. If you ever watch the British television show, "Hinterland", this is where it's filmed.

Aberystwyth, one of our best stops on this trip.