Wales 2015
Greetings! The family and I spent a fairly eventful 5 days in Wales this last week. I say eventful as it was the wife and I's 3rd wedding anniversary on Tuesday, and the breakdown of the car on the way home.
Anyway, we went to Talacre, stayed in a nice big caravan 2 minutes from the beach. The drive down was pleasant enough, with only a little rain on approach to Connaghs Quay to dull the mood a little. We headed straight for the beach on day 1 after arrival, to be greeted with this glorious view:
The surrounding dunes were quite natural and protected to enable natural wildlife to flourish, including some rare lizards (which I spotted but didn't manage to photograph as they scarpered pretty quickly into the bush):
The kids loved the beach itself, building castles, digging holes (OK that was me, tried but failed to get further than 3' deep due to the water levels) and burying me and the wife.
The lighthouse is apparently the oldest in Wales and is said to be haunted. Didn't spot any apparitions, but did capture this photo at around 20:30 one evening, quite nice views can be had on that beach:
The Tuesday was our wedding anniversary, and despite my previous hints at climbing Snowdon going unresponded, the good lady wife thought we should go up. Granted she intended to go up by the train, but at £27 each we thought balls to that and went up properly, much to my pleasure!
At the bottom:
A few on the way up:
Despite seeing many of these, I saw no Welsh lamb on any menu in any restaurant we ate at, disappointing:
The Gateway to the Summit:
We heard the thrum of distant engines and what should appear over one of the hills but an RAF Chinook on a training exercise. It circled hills, landed, popped up and down, practiced manouveres and more for a good 10-15 mins:
A quick photo of the rack & pinion train:
Clouds getting closer:
The bridge at halfway point where the train crosses over:
The views were pretty spectacular despite the dull weather:
We got to the cafe, and the weather turned very wet, and neither the wife nor step daughter wanted to continue any further, again much to my disappointment, another time perhaps for the very summit.
The car started to play silly buggers that evening, and decided not to start at all the next day so we had the AA out. Sticky fuel pump he said, and after whacking the tank whilst I turned the engine over, it burst into life. We had a lazy day at the beach on Wednesday therefore, and thoroughly enjoyed the day except for the now sunburned wife! Lobster doesn't cover it.
Thursday we went to Ruthin Gaol in favour of a castle (Conwy) as it was close by and we didn't want to push the car too far. Ruthin Gaol is now no longer a working prison, but a bit of a museum for the Victorian jail and is also the local records keeping office. Some cool stuff was in the prison:
Old prison bath:
It was also used as a wartime store:
Some shots of the Victorian block:
Re-enacting prison education:
Coffin of a condemned man:
They had the 'Condemned Man Cell' open, which was eerie to say the least. There was an opening that lead to the gallows, and there was a heavy atmosphere in that room. I didn't stay long, and I couldn't take a photo and cannot explain why.
A good visit none the less. Ruthin also has some of the best car parking fees around! 50p for 4 hours! Bargain. We wandered up through the old town which was really nice, old buildings, windy streets and plenty of history. The old castle still stands, with some of the medieval walls still around, the gardens in place and the later 17th/18th century bits very well preserved indeed.
The next day was home time. We were going to spend the final day on the beach before heading home but the weather had other ideas, so we started to head home. 3 miles outside Talacre, the fuel pump died completely, so we spent a lot of money and upgraded our AA cover and took a slow ride home in a recovery truck! Josh loved it as he loves tow trucks, he saw it as an adventure.
So there we have it, a good holiday was had by all, and we'll be back next year no doubt!
Greetings! The family and I spent a fairly eventful 5 days in Wales this last week. I say eventful as it was the wife and I's 3rd wedding anniversary on Tuesday, and the breakdown of the car on the way home.
Anyway, we went to Talacre, stayed in a nice big caravan 2 minutes from the beach. The drive down was pleasant enough, with only a little rain on approach to Connaghs Quay to dull the mood a little. We headed straight for the beach on day 1 after arrival, to be greeted with this glorious view:
The surrounding dunes were quite natural and protected to enable natural wildlife to flourish, including some rare lizards (which I spotted but didn't manage to photograph as they scarpered pretty quickly into the bush):
The kids loved the beach itself, building castles, digging holes (OK that was me, tried but failed to get further than 3' deep due to the water levels) and burying me and the wife.
The lighthouse is apparently the oldest in Wales and is said to be haunted. Didn't spot any apparitions, but did capture this photo at around 20:30 one evening, quite nice views can be had on that beach:
The Tuesday was our wedding anniversary, and despite my previous hints at climbing Snowdon going unresponded, the good lady wife thought we should go up. Granted she intended to go up by the train, but at £27 each we thought balls to that and went up properly, much to my pleasure!
At the bottom:
A few on the way up:
Despite seeing many of these, I saw no Welsh lamb on any menu in any restaurant we ate at, disappointing:
The Gateway to the Summit:
We heard the thrum of distant engines and what should appear over one of the hills but an RAF Chinook on a training exercise. It circled hills, landed, popped up and down, practiced manouveres and more for a good 10-15 mins:
A quick photo of the rack & pinion train:
Clouds getting closer:
The bridge at halfway point where the train crosses over:
The views were pretty spectacular despite the dull weather:
We got to the cafe, and the weather turned very wet, and neither the wife nor step daughter wanted to continue any further, again much to my disappointment, another time perhaps for the very summit.
The car started to play silly buggers that evening, and decided not to start at all the next day so we had the AA out. Sticky fuel pump he said, and after whacking the tank whilst I turned the engine over, it burst into life. We had a lazy day at the beach on Wednesday therefore, and thoroughly enjoyed the day except for the now sunburned wife! Lobster doesn't cover it.
Thursday we went to Ruthin Gaol in favour of a castle (Conwy) as it was close by and we didn't want to push the car too far. Ruthin Gaol is now no longer a working prison, but a bit of a museum for the Victorian jail and is also the local records keeping office. Some cool stuff was in the prison:
Old prison bath:
It was also used as a wartime store:
Some shots of the Victorian block:
Re-enacting prison education:
Coffin of a condemned man:
They had the 'Condemned Man Cell' open, which was eerie to say the least. There was an opening that lead to the gallows, and there was a heavy atmosphere in that room. I didn't stay long, and I couldn't take a photo and cannot explain why.
A good visit none the less. Ruthin also has some of the best car parking fees around! 50p for 4 hours! Bargain. We wandered up through the old town which was really nice, old buildings, windy streets and plenty of history. The old castle still stands, with some of the medieval walls still around, the gardens in place and the later 17th/18th century bits very well preserved indeed.
The next day was home time. We were going to spend the final day on the beach before heading home but the weather had other ideas, so we started to head home. 3 miles outside Talacre, the fuel pump died completely, so we spent a lot of money and upgraded our AA cover and took a slow ride home in a recovery truck! Josh loved it as he loves tow trucks, he saw it as an adventure.
So there we have it, a good holiday was had by all, and we'll be back next year no doubt!
