30 June 2018 - Home

It’s good to be back home, although both MLW and I were a little apprehensive about returning when we got near.  The YCM was looking forward to the Sylvanians all meeting the new addition to the family so couldn’t wait to get home.

We slept pretty well at the hotel, despite the YCM partially falling out of bed then sleeping with us in a queen size bed and managing to turn herself 180º during the night, with none of us really noticing.

We had a lovely breakfast, I really don’t know where MLW puts it.  She eats loads more than me.

They then went for a swim as I acted as hotel porter and made several trips to take the bags etc. to the car.  What I may not have explained before is that we have a plug in cool box, so along with the bags, I have to take the cool box as it has the milk, cheese, butter and obviously the tonic water.  It runs whilst in the boot of the car, but during this month of great weather, whenever we’ve stopped the cool box has also come in to be plugged into the mains.  Another thing to carry.

We had a fairly uneventful ride home, until we got to the road works at the end of the A50.  We decided to head up the M1 and come through Nottingham.  As we were in town, we managed to go via Boots and the YCM had a vaccination (handled with her usual

stoicism) and as per usual, we had an ice cream.

We arrived home and the lawns are looking lovely, thanks to Wendy and Christian.  Then comes the great unpacking.

I unpacked the boot, then the front of the car, then the roof box. MLW and the YCM emptied the back seat carnage.  Then we finally got the roof box off my car.  The YCM will miss my car’s ‘hat’. Whilst it’s been really useful, it has done nothing for my street cred!  

My car is now either ready for a full valet, or after having a 4 year old living in the back for a month, I may just get it torched and start again.

Again with the weather, we’ve managed to get a few wash loads done and dried.  Without any food in the house, MLW and the YCM were despatched to hunt and gather fish and chips and milk. The village animals (including the 2 new goats) have been visited and the home play park verified. All’s well with the world. 

We’ve officially ended the holiday by putting up our fridge magnets. 

So what of our trip?

We have travelled 2101 miles in one month.

Covered England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Wales.

Towns, cities, villages, coast, hills, lakes and mountains have all featured.

Of the 29 nights away, we spent 3 in camping pods, 2 in an Air B&B, (I know Faith, they’re just not safe) 4 nights in hotels, 2 in B&Bs and 18 in the tent.  

The YCM has coped remarkably well with sleeping in a different place every few days and keeps pulling out snippets of the trip to tell us about so hopefully she’ll remember the experience. Nursery have the treat of being shown a ‘mermaid’s purse’ on Tuesday! 

Would we do it again?  Like a shot.  We’ve all enjoyed it and you can be content with surprisingly little when you want to be.

29 June 2018 - Whitchurch

The school children were quieter than mice this morning.   We managed a lie in until 7.30.

Breakfast was bacon wraps, however I treated myself to some black pudding too as it was my last time cooking breakfast on the trip.

We took our time packing up and getting ready, managing to pull in a game of twister.  MLW and the YCM walked down to town whilst I took down the tent and picked up our stuff out of the fridge.  We had made the right decision to move today as before I’d left 4 more cars had turned up, 3 of them were in a group so I can’t imagine it would be a quiet weekend.

We met up in town, visited a café and had a walk up the high street.  What had struck us was that tonight we were staying in a fancy hotel but didn’t have any appropriate clothes for a ‘nice’ restaurant. 

We visited some charity shops or exclusive boutiques as MLW calls them. She got a nice Fatface dress for £3.50. I got a Pringle shirt for £2.00.  The YCM did really well getting a summer and a winter outfit for £1.35, and she fed Gloucester the dog a gravy bone! 

We set off for Whitchurch.  The hotel is part of a golf/spa complex.  Very comfortable but very golfy as these places are.

We checked into our room and then went for a swim. The pool was lovely, and had a themed shower. After swimming we got dressed for dinner and headed down to the restaurant.

The meals were excellent and the YCM’s dinner was served in the same style as the adult meals which was fantastic. Although, we’ve decided to ask all places we go to not to pre-heat the plate for the children’s meal. Why would you do that?

After dinner we had a stroll around the golf course, admired the local wildlife (squirrel, rabbit and several birds) and returned to our room to bed. I’ve been gifted some feathers and fluffy tree pollen.

There’s another beautiful sunset this evening.

Tomorrow will be the 30th of June and our return home so we’ll post up tomorrow and include some sort of summary and maybe at some point we’ll add some relevant pictures to all of the posts.

28 June 2018 - Bishop’s Castle

More bacon wraps for breakfast after being woken by loads of kids walking backwards and forwards from the toilet block from 5.30. 

On the way to do the washing up I noticed an unusual fellow camper and went over for a chat. 

She was a very interesting lady touring around the borders of England and Wales on a small, vintage Ferguson tractor. She too was coming to the end of a month’s holiday and had had a great time and a few exciting moments along the way. 

We got in the car and went off to Shrewsbury.  It was better than I remember it. We had a walk around the centre then had a walk through the park until we found the play park. 

After a quick play we went off for a boat trip on the River Severn. 

Lunch was purchased whilst the YCM went and played in the splash park in her pants. 

After a lunch break it was back in the water then dried off for some more regular playing. 

Obviously there was ice cream involved. 

We arrived back at the campsite and had dinner. MLW and the YCM had an after dinner stroll whilst I cleared up. 

Tomorrow will be our last day!

27 June 2018 - Bishop’s Castle

Today we had bacon wraps for breakfast after an early rise thanks to the YCM. 

We got our stuff together, took down the tent, packed the car and set off to pastures new. First stop was Llangollen for a little shopping then we stopped at Trevor for lunch. We had lunch down in the valley looking up at the aqueduct. Out voted, I drove up to the Trevor visitors car park so we could walk over the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. With an ice cream obviously. 

The YCM waved and received waves from the boats coming over and then spent quite a lot of time feeding the ducks. 

We set off again and after about an hour,  arrived at our new campsite.  

Whilst I put the tent up MLW and the YCM went exploring. They found the very clean and nicely kept toilets and showers, the kitchen area and fridge. They also found some ducks and came back for the left over duck food. Result. The site also has trikes to borrow, so the YCM has been brushing up on her skills.

When they got back I’d got most things sorted and we were ready for a walk into town. Bishops Castle is a bit of an eccentric town. It has two breweries, loads of different shops and painted houses. Not just painted but ones with spots or two zipped or jigsawed together. It’s really quite lovely. However, it was pretty much closed on a Wednesday at 5.00pm. 

We walked around in the shade then went to the Three Tuns for dinner. We had to wait a while as the chef didn’t start cooking until 6.30 but it was worth waiting for. The YCM did a great job working through her puzzle book.

After that it was a slow walk up the hill to the campsite. 

The YCM went off to bed as she was very tired and MLW and I managed to sneak a shower in. 

26 June 2018 - Llanrwst

Hot. Left the front door open last night so we weren’t as hot as we could have been but we were up by 7.30 before we were desiccated.

Today was porridge for the ladies’ breakfast. I passed on breakfast but made up for it later.

Before too long we were out and on our way to Blaenau Ffestiniog.  Got a return ticket to Porthmadog and boarded the train. It’s a steam hauled service. The YCM is interested in trains and had been reading the Talyllyn railway books in the Thomas the Tank engine series.

The journey was longer than I remember from last time we caught the train. They must have extended the line.  Also, the line links up at Porthmadog with another narrow gauge line (the Welsh Highland Railway) which runs to Caernarfon via Beddgelert. (Note to  MF & DT. Could make a circular Snowdon route using the railway).

 The journey was great. You get to see lakes, mountains and waterfalls. Loads of scenery to take in.  It really is worth doing.

We walked through Porthmadog found a café and decided on an early lunch. MLW and I had an all day breakfast and the YCM went for fish fingers.

Did I mention it was hot?  The YCM and I had an ice cream and we walked back via a toy shop (buying a small Sylvanian Family dog with slide for distraction purposes on the hot journey back) to the station. 

We only had 10 minutes to wait until the train departed and the lovely journey was reversed.   I found that my head lolled a lot more on this journey and I don’t remember seeing as much. 

I awoke when someone mentioned ice creams. MLW had a Solero and magnanimously shared it with me and the YCM. It saved our lives. 

We hadn’t seen the steam engine on the way back as the train carriages were getting busy, so we hung around to watch the engine change ends. It also filled up with water. There were two highlights to this for the YCM. Firstly, the coupling mechanism was a lot simpler than the Oxenhope railway. Secondly, she waved to the whole train, from driver through to last carriage and was very pleased with her achievement.

We then popped to the Co-op for stuff for tea and breakfast, cold drinks and the YCM had a Calypso. Turns out we’d done this at school pick up time, and after 5 minutes of peace, calm and cool the place was rammed!

Then we came back to the campsite. MLW sorted drinks for all and I checked with the campsite reception as to whether they took card payments. They didn’t.  So, whilst the YCM and MLW had tea I drove into Llanrwst to visit the Post Office talking cash point. It seems I may have been distracted by the New Inn and a pint of Marston’s Saddle Tank. 

I returned back, paid our camp fees and found the YCM and MLW ready to go for a shower.  It was gin o’clock so I indulged with a few ‘tea’ type items and listened to the football in the car whilst the YCM was put to bed. 

Who knows what we’ll do with the rest of the evening. 

25 June 2018 - Llanrwst

We woke up in what felt like an oven. The tent gets so hot in the morning with direct sunlight all morning. And this is at 7.00am when we got the ‘is it morning?’ question.

I got up before they stirred too much, and had a shower.  The YCM had an appointment to help let the animals out at the farm (ducks, chickens and sheep were let out and fed).  She was also able to collect some of the eggs that we bought for breakfast. 

Breakfast was eggs then,  scrambled for me and MLW and a Bobby Bear (boiled) egg for the YCM.

I did the washing up and MLW prepared lunch and we set off for the seaside. 

First, Colwyn Bay, bit stoney, then Abergele, bit rubbish so we ended up in Rhyl, which was a bit chavvy really.   Still, the YCM and MLW managed to enjoy a paddle before we had lunch.

We then drove to Llanrwst and MLW found a play park for the YCM.  They also had a fresh water paddle in the river.  Much better than the sea had been. I went for a haircut.

We met up and had another play in the park and then another paddle in the river.

We returned to the campsite for showers, gin (only 1 of us) and dinner, a game of frisbee and football and then to bed.

Tomorrow we’re going to play on trains ...

24 June 2018 - Llanrwst

I was awoken by a lot of baas. Shortly after by a small person asking me if it was morning yet. Technically yes, waking up terms, no!

The YCM was taken to the toilet whilst I tried to slumber but it sounded like the farmer next door needed to rotate some rocks in a cement mixer as he hadn’t quite finished the job last night. I got up and put the kettle on. 

The baas had come from all of the sheep being rounded up for shearing.   No idea about the rock in the cement mixer.

We decided to go to the Ffestiniog Railway. We drove to Blaenau Ffestiniog and noticed that we could park quite easily,which made us think. A quick look at the timetable told us that Sunday was a rubbish day to go on the railway and that, funnily enough, Tuesdays were good. We amended our plan. 

I decided to pick a lunch venue. A café I’d visited a few years ago on a motorcycle trip. A café with a rabbit village. We lunched and watched rabbits, despite it being nap time for rabbits. A guinea pig was also spotted. The café also had a variety of lever-pulling, button pushing, handle turning activities to do.

Then we headed for Llangollen. The YCM was in need of a play park fix. I managed double ice creamage whilst the YCM had one which was finished off by MLW. 

We walked along the river (literally in the case of MLW and the YCM, who hopped along the exposed rocks) and watched some white water rafts.  The canal was calling us so we went up to the  canal and watched the horse drawn boat for a while and then had a stroll along the canal. 

We walked back through the town, obtaining our lunch items for tomorrow’s day out and a box of lovely fudge. The YCM has declared the vanilla variety edible.

We returned to the campsite without any sheep incidents.  Dinner was served. Tonight we’re trying Rhubarb and Ginger gin. Even MLW had one!!! Well, half a one in any case.

After this the usual evening routine of teeth cleaning and washing up. 

We’ve had a nice relaxing day and someone is particularly shattered. Perhaps no one will wake up before 6.30 tomorrow!