Vermilion
Original Flavour
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2006
- Posts
- 7,379
So, I dunno if any of you noticed, but I have been absent from the board for a week. Fiance and I have been in Wales and we had *such* a good time! So now you all get a blow-by-blow, run away now if you get bored easily.
Monday: Up at 6am, I made sausage and egg sandwiches while the fiance did all the heavy lifting of camping gear down three flights of stairs and into the car! We got going, a quick stop to pick up chewing gum, sweeties and chocolate (hrmm) and we were on our way. Four or five hours later we arrived at a misty field at the base of Tryfan mountain. The field was dotted with a few gently flapping tents and populated with free ranging chickens making tock tock noises.
We set up the tent, quite successfully, considering it was my first time camping, then sat and ate the picnic lunch I'd packed. We then went climbing halfway up Little Tryfan until I got too tired (I mean seriously - a whole mountain on my first day? Pah!) then came down and made the tent all snuggly. We cooked boil in the bag lancashire hotpot for dinner (surprisingly good, actually) then got ready for bed. I love being in a fluffy sleeping bag when it's all chilly. I read half a page of my book, then passed out at 9pm. Even the cows mooing on the mountain and the chickens wandering around the back of the tent didn't wake me.
Tuesday: Woke up at 6am and had great fun setting up the camp stove to make hot chocolate and do sausage, bacon and fried eggs for breakfast. It's amazing how hungry you get just waking up in a tent - must be all the fresh air, cos you don't even have to do anything and you're ravenous!
We visited the town of Beddgelert on our journey and Fiance told me the Legend of Gelert, The Faithful Hound which I got sad about, but soon cheered up when I found a shop that sold homemade fudge and bought myself three large blocks which I stupidly ate in one morning, giving myself the worst sugar headache of my life.
After Beddgelert we drove on to the coast, to a campsite at the foot of another mountain called Bird Rock. We spent the afternoon at the beach which, despite the sun, was a chilly, windy place to be and the water was icy cold. We went back to the campsite and set up the tent in a sunny spot by a hedge, then willingly paid 50p for a hot shower. After so much activity dinner was especially good - tomato soup and a bacon sandwich followed by Cadbury's tinned chocolate sponge. Yum!
This time I passed out at 8.30pm. Gee, fresh air is *exhausting*.
Wednesday: Up at 6.20am. Porridge, cereal and fried egg on toast for breakfast, followed by 'accidentally' dropping all the aluminium pans and cutlery on the way to wash them up in passive aggressive retaliation for the gang of teenage girls who saw fit to squeal all night...
By 9.30am we were halfway up Bird Rock - it only took me an hour (and the fit and healthy Fiance manages it in about 25mins, so that's pretty good!) and it was, like, 900 feet up! We had lunch at the top (so much fun making fire on the top of a mountain). Photos will follow, you lucky lucky people!
By midday we were already back at sea level having packed up our tent and climbed a mountain. I felt so smug and self-righteous!
That afternoon was spent driving to the Elan Valley where we took a major detour to drive along the side of a resevoir - oh. my. god. The most amazing scenery I have ever seen. Again, photos will follow, but neither words, nor pictures can do justice to the beauty of that drive.
We got to the next campsite, a farm where they feed red-kites, but about 5pm. This field was at the top of a hill, instead of the bottom and the views were very different from the mountainous area, but just as beautiful. No showers or indoor plumbing at this site, apart from the loos that were far far away so I washed my hair under the (very cold) standpipe, much to the interest of a blue-eyed Border Collie who (apparently) watched me very intently with his head on one side.
BBQ pork for dinner, followed by bananas in custard - it worries me a little that so many of my holiday memories seem to be associated with food... mind you, the holiday was pretty much dominated by food - we were hungry the whole time!
Another early night and another early morning later...
Thursday: Sausage sandwich breakfast followed by more car packing, then off to the South West to go stay with my aunt. We visited Fishguard and another resevoir with a big dam (the Fiance likes his dams...) then a chilled evening with my aunt and sleep in a proper bed.
Friday: We headed off to St. Davids and ended up taking a boat out to an RSPB owned island where we went bird and seal watching and just enjoyed the views from the middle of the sea - we could almost see Ireland!
I got freckles on my nose from the sun and Fiance got his feet pecked by chickens who reckoned he was holding out on the Dorito front...
Saturday: Very laid back because some plans had fallen through. We visited a local cheesemakers, tried and bought many many cheeses (yum) then went along to St. Davids for some surfing. Water was a bit cold, so we came back earlier than expected and just hung out a bit. In the evening we went to a local pub for dinner and I had the best steak of my *life* - seriously.
Sunday: Packing and driving home, though we stopped off at a small village in Hereford where Fiance's Grandad claimed his family had come from - we found 4 graves with the same surname as him, so now I'm all immersed in genealogy research - very exciting. It's like being a detective, but without anyone trying to bump you off if you find out too much!
So yeah... that was my week away. Did I go into too much detail?
Very sad to be back. it was so nice having Fiance to myself, no distractions, no responsibilities, no schedule to fit to and lots of open air... I like being free-range.
Oh well, at least we came back to good news - our sick friend is talking now and is able to twitch his knee a bit!!
Nice to see you all again...
x
V
Monday: Up at 6am, I made sausage and egg sandwiches while the fiance did all the heavy lifting of camping gear down three flights of stairs and into the car! We got going, a quick stop to pick up chewing gum, sweeties and chocolate (hrmm) and we were on our way. Four or five hours later we arrived at a misty field at the base of Tryfan mountain. The field was dotted with a few gently flapping tents and populated with free ranging chickens making tock tock noises.
We set up the tent, quite successfully, considering it was my first time camping, then sat and ate the picnic lunch I'd packed. We then went climbing halfway up Little Tryfan until I got too tired (I mean seriously - a whole mountain on my first day? Pah!) then came down and made the tent all snuggly. We cooked boil in the bag lancashire hotpot for dinner (surprisingly good, actually) then got ready for bed. I love being in a fluffy sleeping bag when it's all chilly. I read half a page of my book, then passed out at 9pm. Even the cows mooing on the mountain and the chickens wandering around the back of the tent didn't wake me.
Tuesday: Woke up at 6am and had great fun setting up the camp stove to make hot chocolate and do sausage, bacon and fried eggs for breakfast. It's amazing how hungry you get just waking up in a tent - must be all the fresh air, cos you don't even have to do anything and you're ravenous!
We visited the town of Beddgelert on our journey and Fiance told me the Legend of Gelert, The Faithful Hound which I got sad about, but soon cheered up when I found a shop that sold homemade fudge and bought myself three large blocks which I stupidly ate in one morning, giving myself the worst sugar headache of my life.
After Beddgelert we drove on to the coast, to a campsite at the foot of another mountain called Bird Rock. We spent the afternoon at the beach which, despite the sun, was a chilly, windy place to be and the water was icy cold. We went back to the campsite and set up the tent in a sunny spot by a hedge, then willingly paid 50p for a hot shower. After so much activity dinner was especially good - tomato soup and a bacon sandwich followed by Cadbury's tinned chocolate sponge. Yum!
This time I passed out at 8.30pm. Gee, fresh air is *exhausting*.
Wednesday: Up at 6.20am. Porridge, cereal and fried egg on toast for breakfast, followed by 'accidentally' dropping all the aluminium pans and cutlery on the way to wash them up in passive aggressive retaliation for the gang of teenage girls who saw fit to squeal all night...
By 9.30am we were halfway up Bird Rock - it only took me an hour (and the fit and healthy Fiance manages it in about 25mins, so that's pretty good!) and it was, like, 900 feet up! We had lunch at the top (so much fun making fire on the top of a mountain). Photos will follow, you lucky lucky people!
By midday we were already back at sea level having packed up our tent and climbed a mountain. I felt so smug and self-righteous!
That afternoon was spent driving to the Elan Valley where we took a major detour to drive along the side of a resevoir - oh. my. god. The most amazing scenery I have ever seen. Again, photos will follow, but neither words, nor pictures can do justice to the beauty of that drive.
We got to the next campsite, a farm where they feed red-kites, but about 5pm. This field was at the top of a hill, instead of the bottom and the views were very different from the mountainous area, but just as beautiful. No showers or indoor plumbing at this site, apart from the loos that were far far away so I washed my hair under the (very cold) standpipe, much to the interest of a blue-eyed Border Collie who (apparently) watched me very intently with his head on one side.
BBQ pork for dinner, followed by bananas in custard - it worries me a little that so many of my holiday memories seem to be associated with food... mind you, the holiday was pretty much dominated by food - we were hungry the whole time!
Another early night and another early morning later...
Thursday: Sausage sandwich breakfast followed by more car packing, then off to the South West to go stay with my aunt. We visited Fishguard and another resevoir with a big dam (the Fiance likes his dams...) then a chilled evening with my aunt and sleep in a proper bed.
Friday: We headed off to St. Davids and ended up taking a boat out to an RSPB owned island where we went bird and seal watching and just enjoyed the views from the middle of the sea - we could almost see Ireland!
I got freckles on my nose from the sun and Fiance got his feet pecked by chickens who reckoned he was holding out on the Dorito front...
Saturday: Very laid back because some plans had fallen through. We visited a local cheesemakers, tried and bought many many cheeses (yum) then went along to St. Davids for some surfing. Water was a bit cold, so we came back earlier than expected and just hung out a bit. In the evening we went to a local pub for dinner and I had the best steak of my *life* - seriously.
Sunday: Packing and driving home, though we stopped off at a small village in Hereford where Fiance's Grandad claimed his family had come from - we found 4 graves with the same surname as him, so now I'm all immersed in genealogy research - very exciting. It's like being a detective, but without anyone trying to bump you off if you find out too much!
So yeah... that was my week away. Did I go into too much detail?
Very sad to be back. it was so nice having Fiance to myself, no distractions, no responsibilities, no schedule to fit to and lots of open air... I like being free-range.
Oh well, at least we came back to good news - our sick friend is talking now and is able to twitch his knee a bit!!
Nice to see you all again...
x
V
Last edited:
Sounds like you had a wonderful time.
