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Published: April 24th 2014
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Woolly says – with a few days waiting in Aberystwyth before catching our flight home I decided that Jo would benefit from some time out and a bit of fresh air, not to mention leaving the pile of tissues that seem to follow behind us. With freshness blowing around us we wandered down the hill to the town. Having been to Aberystwyth a few times now to visit daughter Zoe for some strange reason we have managed to miss visiting the castle on each trip. First things first a snack was in order, well I mean breakfast was over an hour ago! Having tucked into a few slices of the traditional Bara Brith – not as good as Jo’s home made one – we wandered through the small streets admiring the architecture and watching the seagulls swooping overhead.
What Woolly means is that he hid in my jacket to avoid the seagulls! Woolly says – but they hate me and always seem to use me for bombing practice! The castle although in ruins still dominates the skyline of the town. From the Iron Age there are records of a fortification being perched here until the
castle was constructed in the early 12th Century. Llewellyn the Great built the original castle and following new work and further fortifications it was at one time ranked among the greatest in Wales. Standing proudly high above all is the North West gate, looking out over the sea, with parts of the inner bailey showing the effects that the sea can have on structures. Recent gales made the locals think that the remains would not be standing for much longer, so I watched my head for falling masonry, while Jo snapped away, I imagined the Welsh accents that would have surrounded me as the knights and warriors of old strode along these walls. There might not be much left of the buildings but it certainly provides an atmospheric back drop to the Victorian seaside town of Aberystwyth.
With pictures taken and no information to read we sat on a bench and watched the sea below us, the visit seemed to have been very short but then again we weren’t standing round changing lens caps and waiting for people to move so that Ian could take his pictures. Ian however would have approved as it was free! Woolly says – since Jo wouldn’t let me on the play area I suggested a visit to the museum having spotted a sign earlier, with the sun dropping behind a cloud it might prove to be a bit warmer. Another freebie (more snacks for me with the money saved!) and in we went. Set inside the old theatre there was a wealth of information; Jo started reading and after twenty minutes was still going without having moved an inch. I shuffled her along telling her that we could possibly cut out the knowledge on farming, baking and dentists and focus more on the traditional ways of life. This being agreed we found an array of traditional Welsh hats. The Welsh hat first appeared during the 1830s and was adopted as part of a traditional Welsh national costume, based on a tall stovepipe-style
hat, similar to a
top hat, it is still worn by women, and particularly schoolgirls, in
Wales on
St David's Day today.
With Woolly eyeing up the hats and muttering about his wardrobe we carried on past the display of harps and onto a section about the famous Eisteddfod competitions. Dating back to the 12th Century the competition forms a festival of poetry and music which is still popular and highly acclaimed today. Showing Woolly the revered chair used for the
Chairing of the Bard one of the most important events in the Welsh Eisteddfod tradition. This takes place at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and is always on the Friday afternoon of Eisteddfod week. Winners are referred to as Y Prifardd ("The Chief Bard"). The custom is known to have taken place as early as 1176. A new Bardic chair is specially designed and made for each Eisteddfod and is awarded to the winning entrant in the competition, our family has twelve Bardic chairs between them. Woolly says – I WANT a chair! With my skills and musicality I could be a winner, is it like the X Factor? Fame waits for no mammoth and before I had a chance to dream of wearing the winning crown or sitting on the special chair I found myself in a section of the museum devoted to the seventies in the area and the migration that had taken place from other areas in the UK. Jo seemed fascinated to read the hundred or so people’s stories that
surrounded us and kept telling me about why they had moved here and the life they had left behind on their quest for a better way of living, the first three tales were fine but I felt my eyes glazing as Jo droned on for a further three quarters of an hour before finally stopping for breath. Rousing myself I suggested we go and meet daughter Zoe and help her with serving the ice creams from Don Gelato’s Shop on the pier. It wasn’t my fault that my paws got into so many tubs and I was obliged to lick the rather nice rum and raisin, bubble gum and banana flavoured mess off my paws, I slipped!
Having removed the mammoth from danger and the angry stares of the customer’s daughter Zoe joined us to take the cliff railway to the top of Coniston Hill to check out the views. Woolly says – A train! Such joy, opened in 1896 the longest funicular electric railway in Britain looked like an interesting proposition. With a view that went straight up the mini trains really didn’t look strong enough to make it to the top, having
checked the tracks, added some string to a couple of points and paid for our tickets we sat and watched the views appear and to be fair they were pretty outstanding. Alighting at the top of the vista I peered cautiously across the bay to the castle and over the town itself before deciding that it must be at least dinner time by now!
To save passing tourists the pressure of having to share their picnics with a hungry mammoth we took him by the paw and ordered from the restaurant. Not the best experience….. Woolly says – it was pants, the food took forever, it didn’t taste very nice and wasn’t very hot, they had even missed the ears of Jo’s Welsh rabbit!
….
not a place we wanted to try again. The views were outstanding but with little else to do we took the only option and descended on the little train and back to the town itself. Our first day out and a new situation as adventurers without our hero Ian, it was strange, very strange, but we did it. Woolly, Zoe and I would like to thank the hundreds of friends, family and people who read our last blog and sent such warm wishes to us, your wonderful comments have helped to provide comfort to us in this terrible time and we THANK YOU all xxxx
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Tara Cloud
Great first adventures without Ian--congrats!
Wow, what wonderful sites right in Zoe's backyard! I love the competition of music and poetry rather than one of brute force (sports), and how impressive that your family has won many times! I also love those museums that help you imagine being in another era, and that funicular railroad sounds like a very fun ride. Best wishes for many more adventures!