Weekend trip.

 I feel a fraud, with all your expectant comments our weekend trip might just be a bit underwhelming. On Friday morning at 8am, we got on a local minibus to Southampton, where we met a coach for our first coach trip. Its a good first trip as we were last on the minibus and met the coach at it's last pick up point, making ours the shortest journey time, some people had already been on for almost three hours, the coach journey started in Brighton.

After a long drive with a couple of stops we arrived at Llandudno, north Wales, we have visited here once before, a few years ago, once we sorted our room for the next two nights, it was late afternoon so we walked along the promenade, it was dry, but cool and blustery. It looked much as we remembered it, with The Grand hotel commanding the view, we stayed there before, but it's beauty had faded to the point we called it The not-so Grand.

Saturday was another early start, our trip included two different stops, firstly we took the scenic route through Snowdonia, which is so beautiful, all along the way the mist hugged the top of the mountains, much the way it has done every time we have visited. Just stunning views, we did not stop, so I'm not sure what the sword means, on checking Google, there are many interpretations of King Arthurs sword in the area. 

We then had a trip on the train to the top of Snowdon, it took an hour to reach the summit, hubby took the photo below, it captured our journey, the mist hugged part of the route, here you can see down into the sunny valley below, there is the reflection of the carriage. At points the mist cleared and the views below were stunning. 

Once we reached the summit we had 30 minutes to wander, as you can see it was all misty at the top, nothing to see. The views on the way up and down were worth the trip, we were lucky the summit was open, it had been closed earlier in the week. The area was full of walkers, all ages, loads of dogs, all happy to have reached the top, we enjoyed a hot chocolate drink, there was limited food and a small souvenir shop, which I did not attempt to get close to.

Saturday afternoon the coach took us to Betws-y-coed a beautiful small town/village, very touristy, full of places to eat and shop, it was close to Swallow falls, which we had visited before, but a bit far away to walk to, in the two hours visiting time, we did see a small waterfall in the town which because of all the recent rain was full and flowing. Neither hubby or I enjoyed the full two hours, it was too long for us, a fact reflected in so many others on the coach as there were loads coming back earlier. 

Sunday morning we spent wandering around the town and beach area, there was a huge sporting event going on, much of the promenade was used, we watched loads of people doing a triathlon, cycling around great Orme twice, swimming in the sea and racing along the promenade, we witnessed the winner crossing the line, it was cold, windy but dry. The town centre is much nicer than many, they still have many branded shops along the long main street, with just a short walk to a newer area with loads of bigger modern stores. We never saw a drop of rain over the whole trip, how lucky are we.

All afternoon and into the evening was on the coach, we both spent most of our journey times reading, it was nice to arrive at our destinations not exhausted, giving all the stress of driving to someone else. The coach was not full, which probably made the journey not so loud, no children just people our age. 

Would we do it again, it's a good question, we both have mixed feelings, our hotel was better than we expected, the food was good, with a few choices on each course, our room very clean and comfortable. Having the trip up Snowdon all pre-booked and not having to worry about parking was brilliant, all the carparks as we drove by were all full, but we did not enjoy the afternoon trip. I'm not sure I would want to do another, I would use a coach to get to distant locations, or if there was another excursion I was interested in, but I would check to ensure we did not spend hours on pick up stops, Southampton is a good location as it's at the bottom of the M3 which leads up through to loads of routes north and west.  

Wales

 We have been away for a few days, back to Wales, staying locally to hubby's sister and brother, our trip primarily to visit hubby's elder brother after all the worry of his health in Spain, who is now back to brilliant health.

 Husband on one of our walks.

Hubby is from South Wales, his home town of Abertillery is full of coal mining history, almost every family had links to the pits.

In his grammar school years, there was a pit disaster at 6 bells pit,  this is a monument to those who never came home. It's only a few years old, set on the old mine location. 

Towering above everything, hubby is in photo for scale, his family had no loss at the time, hubby's dad would not allow any of his older brothers to work underground. Reading the names in the base is really sobering, I'm from Somerset, so this is all very different for me.

Just because it's pretty.

I love dry stone walls, 

and loved this bench.

We are headed for home today, an easy drive, motorway most of the way. Hubby enjoyed seeing his family, we bumped into loads of his school friends, so many people never left the valleys.  Loads of walking, a couple garden centres, and nice meals out, the weather gods were kind to us.

It's been a restful few days, just what we both needed, I check home and Grace each day, our lovely neighbour comes in to feed her and sits for a while. I have been reading your post but sadly not able to leave comments using my phone.

Now back to home life, family and gardens, hubby purchased me a lovely gift for the garden, photo in next post.

Weekend break.

We spent a couple days in Swansea, staying alongside the old docks.

 A mixture of old and new

 I love the older boats

A beautiful beach, but too cold to walk along it. 

 Friday was not good weather wise

 Hubby outside the castle ruins. 

 Another view

 This city is a complete mixture of styles.

 Could not resist this photo, 

so many of you have bucket list, 

and no we did not go inside. 

Hubby had a reunion lunch on Saturday in Swansea, a place I have never visited, so we went for an extra night, parked the car, and walked around the city.
Thursday we stayed in the dock area, and found the beach, we enjoyed a lovely walk.
Friday was very wet for most of the day, but we were able to get around, it is a city of mixed fortunes, the dock area have loads of new blocks of flats, with lots of tiny eating places, it was lovely there. The city center, was typical of so many centers, loads of shops closed, with another shopping area a little further away. I really can't understand when you have an interesting location, how they do so much work and then allow the center to slip into decline. Everywhere we went it was clean and tidy, there were loads of interesting buildings and artwork, I have gone past the need to shop when we are away, but all the empty shops does make anywhere look poorer.
We did find a fantastic choice of restaurants, our meals out were all really good, there were a couple of places which we would liked to try but we did not have enough days.
We enjoyed our trip to Swansea, but not sure we would go back there.

Windsor Castle and afternoon tea

We have had a special day out

here the presentation shown on BBC, 

we were not allowed to take photo's

(Colours are their flags)

 A Welsh Guardsman welcoming the visitors

Windsor castle behind him.

 The long walk

here we parked our cars

 Closer to the castle 

 On duty, these Guards men were everywhere

 A naughty photo inside before it all started.

 Afternoon tea

It was a fantastic day, all dressed up in my new frock and posh hat. 

We had a lovely view of everything inside the castle walls, the lawn was just perfect green with stripe, all very posh. The weather was kind, it was cloudy a couple of times, but no rain. We were under the flight path and close to Heathrow airport, planes went over regularly.

 Hubby enjoyed seeing his old regiment, The Welsh Guards on show. 

This is the closest we have ever been to our Queen. 

One fun moment, we were sat on the back row, with a great view, behind us, just as the guards were marching in was Sophie Rayworth, she was there to make her report for BBC news, lovely lady, very friendly.
We walked back along the Long Row, to huge tents, the Irish Guards band was playing to entertain everyone. The afternoon tea was set out perfectly, with tables covered with huge white clothes, The chocolate brownie was to die for, I did think I would share it with hubby, but after the first nibble it had to be all mine. The small bagel perfectly made, sandwiches with no crusts, with a scone, cream and jam.
The drive home was under 2 hours, we stopped and had our evening meal out, a lovely end to a perfect day. It was a pleasant surprise for hubby to get this invitation, it's a day we will remember for a long time.
At home all the rain is helping the lawn look good, and every thing is growing well in the garden including the tomato plants I put out last weekend. Off now to have the rest of a plesent evening with hubby.
I also had a surprise email, more about that next week, but it made me smile.

South Wales

Guess where we have been for the past few days.

 As part of hubbies birthday celebrations 

we wanted a few days back in his homeland of South Wales,

 I love Porthcawl, we had a perfect afternoon here.
A couple of Arty shots !

 The rest of the time was spent in the Brecon National Park.

 Stunning, beautiful

 Blaen y Glyn Falls, we had a pleasant walk through the woods to the falls, 

after the past few night's rain the falls lived up to their expectations. 

 Craig-y-Nos Castle, our hotel for the break

It is in fact a Victorian Folly full of loads of stone, and carved wood.

We had a room in the courtyard.

This location is a work in progress, we took the tour and once off the ground floor and public area's, the castle inside has been left derelict, it had been used as a Polio hospital in 1940-50's, and most of the fabric of the building had been ripped out. The owners have to earn the money to complete the restoration, they estimate they require another 3 million.  

 The Theatre, the only place with the original fittings, work has been done in here, but only to stop the decay. The house was purchased by Adelina Patti, who shared it with her partner whilst waiting for her 1st marriage to be annulled by the Pope, which took seven years, back in the late 1800's. She was a singer and actress, this was her hide away.

 From the roof, look at the sky, weather wise we were very lucky.

 I did manage to do a bit of stitching, just a few of the baubles required for my Christmas cards, I have decided to sew all the baubles the same design, I have to infill these with the gold thread. It is much quicker to stitch the same design and by using the different colours I hope they will not become boring. I will start the gold sewing tonight, the final of the British Bake off is on, so I hope I won't make any counting errors.

We were very lucky, it rained heavy most nights, but the days were dry and not too cold. We did spend a nice evening with one of Kev's mates from his time in The Welsh Guards. It was lovely to hear them catch up and gossip, they are part of a Facebook page so they do converse often. We brought home a huge pile of home made Welsh Cakes,  we have been nibbling on them for the past two days, and still we have loads left.
I manage to purchase my gold, with white backed card for the Christmas cards, this will increase the cost of the cards to just over 50p each, but they should look much better. I also got a few bits and bobs for use later.
Paula, Cwtch is a Welsh word for cuddle up, I know you would ask!

Walk the Walk, Pen y Fan

On top of the world.

On Saturday 3rd October,
Kev and I walked to the top of Pen y Fan, which is 886 meters above sea level,
and the highest peak in the Breacon Beacons, South Wales.
Typical of Wales, the weather was unkind,
it rained and the wind was very strong,
but cold and wet we made the 8 mile climb up and back in 1 hour 40mins.


Below is us at the start point, ready for what ever was to come.

At the start of the walk at 8.20 am, it looks bad,
but people were hiking for a good cause and we joined them.
The views from the top are said to be wonderful,
but sadly we were unable to see anything
the mountain was surrounded by mist the whole time.

At no point were we going to give up,
I have never walked in these conditions before, but with Kev beside me,
younger and older walkers everywhere,
we kept going.
Everyone enjoyed themselves,
we passed people who cheery encouraged us to keep going.

This is taken near the top,
403 walkers braved the day, we are raising monies for the Welsh Guards Afghan Appeal,
Kev is ex Guards,

We are proud to be apart of this appeal, I will remember this day for a long time.

As for our move, back to the real world,
our house looks like a tip, a third of our items are in store,
we have loads to pack and place into store this week.
But two weeks time we move!!