Back to the Brynarth Country Guest House and the stoic and friendly lady had arrived back from the hospital and the bar was open and the room was lovely and Shaun the sheep was resting in Kim’s lap. Two aerial photos graced the bar and we noticed the dates were identical to ones our client had of their farms – it turned out that they differ by 40 years – the first was done by the father of the second and they made fascinating viewing with such a time frame. The B&B was going to feature on the TV Show ‘Three in a Bed’ but the husbands sudden illness meant they sadly had to cancel – they would have probably done quite well provided Mrs Manuel had returned home.
The Welsh language I always thought as English with all the vowels removed or replaced with Y – but there was the Welsh word for SLOW which appears on all roads – I asked the barmaid how it was pronounced as I said I was learning Welsh during this trip and said how do you pronounce AFAR – she looked confused – especially when it is actually ARAF. Still better than the Scottish dual language signposts where they seem to be making up Gaelic words for no good reason and it was shown to confuse drivers.
Breakfasted with some train journeyers – who were going around by small train and enjoying it. We left to the graveyard and impressive gate of Strata Florida (wher ehte Holy Grail was supposed to have been) and onward to th Devil’s Bridge. This is a series of waterfalls and 3 bridges where a path leads you down to Jacobs Ladder an extremely steep set of steps down to an impressive arch bridge where you climb all the way up with sore feet and knees 45 minutes passed fast if not painfully.
Aberystwyth was impressively lovely especially with the sun out – a university town it reeks of culture and the smell of tapas drew us in. Great beer and tapas fuelled us to walk back along the windy promenade admiring the colourful buildings – some of them uni residences (sea view).
Northwards we passed through lovely countryside and reached Marford, outside Wrexham – a town where the cottages were made with crosses to protect them from evil and with eyes for windows – previously thatched they are a delight to see. The Trevor Arms is also protected with crosses so we didn’t linger.
I like to break up long journeys so the Thornborough Henges were a diversion – albeit you see more of them from Google Maps – they represent Orion’s belt, with 3 henges interconnected, from the time they were built. And the final treat was Anish Kapoor’s new 2.3m sculpture – the largest in Britain, and although not as iconic as the wonderful Angel of the North – it is a fascinating piece of sculpture changing views as you walk around its enormous bulk – from butterfly net to vagina, possibly in reference to the working girls who plied their trade on these grounds. The impressive thing of course is still the Middlesbrough Tranporter Bridge which was in operation and stands out like an angel of the north.
We returned through Wooler to the wail of sirens from 2 ambulances and 2 police cars heading south at speed possibly responding to the Wooler caravanners distress at the English keeper letting a US ball through – some people can take things so seriously… I rather liked the idea that to celebrate erectile dysfunction month people should fly a white flag with a red cross on it out of their car window – there did seem to be a lot of celebrants…
I was much surprised by Wales – by the genuine friendliness and warmth of the people, by the quality of food and drink, by the wonderful coastline and colourful towns and villages, and a diverse landscape. I’ll be back.
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