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Published: June 30th 2016
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Well I finally got to take a ferry across the Mersey in Liverpool even if it meant listening to Gerry and the Pacemaker’s famous song “Ferry cross the Mersey” over the ferry’s loudspeaker 3 times. Very cheesy but I have to admit that I do like the song and know all the words!!
Pete and I are finding it fascinating listening to the different accents as we travel the UK, from the broad sound of the Yorkshire men to the Liverpuddlians who all sound either like the Beatles or Lulu (depending on their gender of course)! We are now in Wales and last night at our pub stop we just sat and listened to the locals conversing in Welsh with the occasional English word thrown in here and there presumably because it was quicker to say. The Welsh in turn have had trouble understanding my “hybrid” accent with my request for 2 cappuccinos translated as 2 cups of tea plus a request for a backpack misinterpreted as bag of pegs!!!
We treated ourselves to a typical budget seaside bed and breakfast a few days ago in Llandudno, pronounced Clandudno and were in hysterics when the receptionist informed us that
she had given us a room with a sea view and would wave the normal 10 pounds extra charge. However on climbing 3 flights to the very top we found that to see the sea we had to either stand on the bed or a chair as the window sill was about 6 foot high!
We have found lots to do on the isle of Anglesey from walking the length of Europe’s longest breakwater at Hollyhead, which took over an hour, to visiting a lighthouse where Puffins (so cute) and many other seabirds are presently nesting. We had to stop briefly at the village with the second longest name in the world to take a quick photo (no prize for guessing where the longest name is!)
Thirteen years ago, and on a short visit, when we visited Snowdonia National park we decided against taking the train to the top of Mt Snowdon due to low cloud and zero visibility so when we arrived yesterday, in beautiful weather, we planned today to actually climb to the summit this time. Unfortunately today turned out rainy, windy and with the threat of thunderstorms so once again we just drove on! We
instead took the scenic routes around,the coast, visiting a couple of castles on the way and were not disappointed as Wales is truly stunning with the west coast beaches having the best golden sand we have seen since touring the UK. Our stop tonight is in a layby on a high road overlooking the Irish Sea with the waves crashing on empty beaches below. With a glass of chilled wine in my hand and Pete with a cold beer life is wonderful!
Another all day rainy day so it wasn't hard to convince us both to hunt for another nice B&B but this one was much much nicer than the last and we had a wonderful time chatting to the owner and his staff and other guests so all in all a very enjoyable short stay and due to an early check in we managed to watch a bit of the old telly too? Plus the next morning as we left after a huge huge breakfast the sun was shining!
Parts of Wales are truly beautiful and green and the west and east coasts have some lovely sandy beaches. We have been up in the mountains around Cardiff
today but once again poor weather "drove" us into this pub where I have access to free wifi plus a glass of wine of course. The steak and ale pie wasn't too bad either!
After a quick drive around Cardiff we decided to head back to the midlands to avoid this UK rain! We would definitely taken a tour of the Millennium stadium but due to Beyonce playing there for the next few nights tours were cancelled!!!!!!
On to Shakespeare country and a tour of the bard's wife's family home and very nice it was too. Didn't actually know that she was 26 when she married Shakespeare who was only 18 at the time and also that she was 3 months pregnant. Scandalous!
Only 21 days and we will be back in Aus. Time has flown.
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Dawn Tonkin
non-member comment
Amazing
Dear Suzanne and Peter, We have really enjoyed reading about your wonderful trip. Thank you for including us in your blog. Dawn and Howard