Welsh Loose Ends
Or should that be Loose Welsh Ends?
No matter, as I sorted and put my photos into folders, I came across a few which have so far escaped the record.
Such as the photo I took of the soberly dressed (!) chap who stood in the direct line of the approaching steam train on Porthmadog Station. I know, I didn’t need to share my frustration but it provides another memory prompt at least 😉
It ought to be recorded too, that he did as I did and stepped aside as soon as he’d taken his photo!
Porthmadog Station was quite a source of small stories, including that of the mystery of the “Four Wheeled Coupled Double Bogie Locomotive with 8½ cylinders” . Now, I know very little about steam locomotives but I have a basic working knowledge of engines and just could not work out how one could possibly have 8½ cylinders! Sitting nearby were a couple of railway employees, so I took the opportunity to ask for an explanation (please).
“Ah,” said the first chap, “you’re not the first person to ask that question. What we really need is a marker pen to add all the “ (inch symbols) that were left off the poster. The cylinders in question are 8½ inches in diameter, they have a 14 inch stroke and the driving wheels are 32 inches in diameter. Those inch symbols do a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence”
We left with a greater understanding of not only the dimensions of the James Spooner Locomotive but of the difficulty of finding a black Sharpie pen around here😉
In places like Porthmadog, I often take a photo of shop fronts, especially if it’s as colourful as this one. I hadn’t seen Porthmadoc as a seaside town, however, so was a little curious.
The popularity of the brightly coloured fishing nets became apparent as we crossed the bridge and spotted a few families fishing on the harbour wall. They seemed to be catching small crabs, but what troubled me was the carefree way those adults were allowing the children to stand and lean over the edge of such a high wall. Surely an accident waiting to happen there?
Returning to the car, we stopped for a few minutes in a large and bustling souvenir shop. Once again, I’m always curious about what’s on offer in such places. What do people take home as a memory of their holiday, I wonder? Well, here in North Wales, it appears that gifts for the pet sitters at home are in demand, as the number of alternatives with “Thank you for looking after my dog”, or “feeding my cat” were many and varied as were gifts for the pets themselves.
The real curiosity however, was the abundance of Scottish Shortbread and tartan blankets! From Wales? Weird.
In the Portmeirion gift shop, there were far more appropriate souvenirs on offer in the form of bars of Siocled.
Moving on to landmarks of a more historic nature, the castles of North Wales are deservedly popular places to visit, though as we passed by Criccieth castle, it didn’t take us long to feel thankful that we’d both “been there, done that” some years ago! Scrambling around hilltop forts wasn’t on the plan for today.
Had we had a little more time, however, we both could have been tempted to explore Conwy Castle a little more closely. Magnificent, isn’t it?
We drove through Conwy on our way from Llandudno, the popular Victorian seaside resort I had been particularly keen to visit. We had spent the morning exploring The Great Orme, that headland beyond the pier and the Grand Hotel in the photo above.
We drove up to the summit in our car, but there were alternatives in the form of the Great Orme Tramway
or a cable car, but on this rather misty and overcast morning, neither appealed!
The weather meant we didn’t hang around long up there, but enjoyed a rather more leisurely drive down via the Marine Drive, spotting the small b&b there perched on the cliffside, a great place to stay for those with a head for heights!
Leaving Llandudno, on this our last day in Wales, however, I’d earmarked one last place to stop. Trefiw Woollen Mills was something I’d looked for on several visits; a working woollen mill making traditional Welsh Tapestry. What a great place to find and how satisfying to bring home a really Welsh souvenir from there too.
Wherever we went on this trip however, we remarked (and took photos of!) the most magnificent hydrangeas.
The most eyecatching were the rich jewel like colours of purple and blue,
but in Portmeirion, I had to take a photo of this white one so I could ask Amy for the name. How I wish they’d grow in our garden - except it’s limestone and sadly, far too well drained.
As we set off for home, I simply had to take a photograph of the magnificent flowers in the drawing room at Plas Dinas, where we enjoyed the final night’s stay of the trip. In complete contrast to the delphiniums I’d remarked upon as we left Portmeirion, this arrangement was outstanding and the creation of a local florist, who, the manager said, comes in every five days to create something wonderful. Wow.
Back home now, after a jolly few days not so far away. What fun we had!
