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Published: August 26th 2022
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Ziggy found herself being driven out of Wrexham County Borough to the nearby county of Denbighshire . So what were we doing going out to Ruthin a town we lived in for 7 years ? We were picking up a CARN card which would allow us access to all the records offices that were part of this Archive scheme . We had once had CARN cards . The old blue and white paper copies with our address on the back and signature and with a photo stuck on the front . Gone were those days . Now an application had to be made on line , a photograph uploaded and an appointment made at a records office to pick up the card once identities had been checked . We only had a choice of two days to do this . Monday and Tuesday at Hawarden - closer to home or Thursday and Friday at Ruthin . The offices used to be open four days a week now they only open two days . Covid probably I guess .
The drive took us through the Nant y Garth pass . What had changed ? The trees seemed taller since we last
drove through two years ago looking at bungalows to buy . The school at Llanfair DC had shut and was boarded up. The children moved to another bigger school nearby . A new estate had sprung up in the village almost doubling the population overnight . The barbers was still open and full of customers and the upper class Tommys hairdressers was still going strong . We talked about how we loved living in Ruthin. The convenience of the shops, the post office , more pubs than you could shake a stick at . Restaurants and coffee shops galore . As nice as Bangor on Dee is there is little infrastructure . Walks are few and far between unless you take the car out and drive to another location a bit further out of the village No coffee shops , A hairdresser open a couple days a week . We agreed that Ruthin had a lot more to offer but we did like Bangor too.
Cae Ddol was full of mums and children . The children played on the skate park or the play equipment . Parking cost a £1. The cafe on the corner had long gone and
was replaced with a Chinese takeaway . So things had changed in Ruthin . We did not miss the hills to be fair . Bangor was flat . That was a blessing . The river had dried up in the recent hot weather . The pond a mud filled hole . The records office had not changed . Up the stairs we walked , through the old gaol with its cells . We picked up the cards and headed for the local Tesco to pick up some Euros for our trip .
I remembered the quote from my calendar which comes up regularly that things are difficult before they get better . We had started on Plan A - Turkey. Ditched Plan A when the insurance company would not play ball . Plan B - all of Greece . This was maybe the wrong decision as September in Greece would be hot and parched . Plan B ditched . This was made more difficult as the ferry company had moved our Ancona departure from 3 to 4pm. Not a great problem in itself as we would be able to go round Ancona and see what it had to offer . The biggest bugbear was the fact that the boat was now stopping at Corfu which added another hour to the already 17 hour crossing . We could spend some time looking round the boat , eating in the cafe , showering but it was going to be long night . We moved to Plan C- how about driving home . We could do Albania and Romania. Our insurance company covers those . That would mean visiting the bridge at Arta, Kasoria and Thessaloniki before heading north into Bulgaria . We picked up our euros and set to looking what the journey home overland would look like . Plan C on the cards for now . Any books at home about Romania or Bulgaria ?
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Jackie
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Romania & Bulgaria
No sorry!! Havent got a book on either of these as we have never been to either one ...yet!! They are not in the Schengen Agreement so very tempting!! We are driving to Spain in Sptember...... until December. That will be it then I think!! Unable to go back for the January - March as we have done in the past...due to Brexit and the Schengen Agreement!!