1989 Corwen
- Sat 1989-08-05 {12899}
- Then off to Corwen,
following the A5 all the way, except for a bit where it disappears in
Telford. About 240km and 1210-1550. Cottage cute, whitewashed with black
woodwork. Inside kitchen & bathroom under a "bed-balcony" at one end, &
a full-height sitting room at the other end. Wood-burning stove; other
heating metered electricity at 7.5p/kWh (no - it was free - see 890812).
Visit Corwen for maps, drive thro' Horseshoe Pass, eve to eat in
Llangollen in a pub. Service deplorable, food dull, but fortunately not
expensive. Journey down \theta driving Nova, lots of traffic. Cottage
has a bedroom window ~1m from the carriageway of the A5 - it's
double-glazed, but it can't do much for the trucks. Short walk down to
the Dee, but \theta's foot suffering from all her walking last week on
campus. Warm sunshine in MK, dull by afternoon in Wales.
- Sun 1989-08-06 {12900}
- To Snowdon. Drive to Llanberis, book on 1300 train (1.5h wait), filling
in mean time by visit to local ruins of castle, looking out over
Dinorwig scheme (or its outward signs). Takes 10.5L each and 1h to get
to the summit; bottom was warm & sunny, top was cold and in cloud. 1/2h
at top, then 1h down again. Pass trains at 3 places on way, sometimes 1
"train" runs as two separate parts on one ticket. Paper slips used to
control single-line working. All trains 1 loco + 1 coach, narrow-gauge
rack & pinion. Ours & most others a steamer, some diesels. Steamers
have high-mounted cylinders, driving tiny coupled wheels & pinion via a
reducing crank. From ~100m to (summit) 1085m (nearly) so about 950m up
in ~6500m along, ave 15%. Even allowing for variation, I doubt if any
part was steeper than Plough Hill. Then over Britannia bridge (as
re-built 1970s, now carries A5 over railway), to Beaumaris to look at
sea, then home over Menai suspension bridge & A5 - crawling mostly.
Sunny in morning, warm & cloudy in afternoon, with a few glimpses of
sun. Nova gave 6.4e-8m^2 at first fill.
- Mon 1989-08-07 {12901}
- A walking day. Started dull & slightly wet, but fine & sunny from
then on. 1st via Llandritto Pale, Llargynog, Pen-bart-favor,
Llanrhoeadr-ym-Machout to Pistyll Rhoeadr - a waterfall, and walk 4km
over the scenery, then back by road for a pint in the cafe/pub/B+B
adjacent. Then back thro' Llanrhoedr-y-M, via Llanarmon DC, Pandy to
Ceiriog Forest, of FC conifers, and walk 5km around in a circle. Then
over some tiny roads to Froncysyllte for a walk over the aqueduct & back
(another 1km). Overall >10km. Then home for a rest. Eve to "Crown" in
Corwen. We were 2 of 3 customers, but they called in the cook just for
us. Enjoyed the meal.
- Tue 1989-08-08 {12902}
- Seaside. Colwyn Bay (on promenade by Old Colwyn), then walked up to
Rhos-on-Sea & back again (6k5m). Bought a pair of cheap trainers to
replace the uncomfortable old plimsolls. Lunch that we took with us.
Then I went in the sea (warm) & \theta paddled, and we watched the tide
come in & watched it go out again. Not all that many people for a hot,
sunny day in August. I came home very red, with glaring T-shirt & shorts
lines. Bought a Welsh dictionary. Nova got 6.5e-8m^2 this time, with lots
of slow, low-gear climbing on steep, winding roads. Ate in, I cooked.
- Wed 1989-08-09 {12903}
- Dominated by rain, varying from heavy to torrential. 1st
to an "Archaeological Trail" at NE of (artificial) Lake Brenig. Saw
remains of 2k->4k year-old stone huts, ring cairn & burial mounds, but
driven away by high wind and rain. Decided on an inside activity, so
went to Llechwedd slate caverns, N of Blaenau Ffestiniog. Short Q to
pay, then 1+1/4 h queue to ride the tramway, fortunately q'ing under
cover. 20 min trip on 0.6m-gauge tramway with guide to explain activity
in various caverns. Trains went outside at places, so we still got
soaked. But interesting to see how slate was won before modern open-cast
system became possible. Tried to book Royal Hotel in Llangollen at ~10h,
as advised by the manager last Sat, but "fully booked" - so took pot-luck
& went out to "Goat" on the A5, about 8km W of Corwen, at a
pub/restaurant. We were the only ones there at ~19h, presaging a repeat
of Monday, but more arrived, the food & service were good, it was a free
house, so we didn't do badly after all. \theta drove. It
has stopped raining by 21h, but the forecast for the rest of the week is
not good. We got our seaside trip in just in time. Today the cloud was
so low that we were almost in it on the A-road passes, at no more than
about 400m, Snowdon would have been a dead loss at 1085m.
- Thu 1989-08-10 {12904}
- To Holyhead, to say I have now driven the full length of the A5 (also
the A1, A2, A3 and A4, but not A6 yet) - looked over the harbour, then
had lunch looking over South Stack, on NW side of Holy Island; a very
pretty & quiet bird sanctuary; with heather covering the cliff-tops,
over a rugged coast-line below. Sea quite calm today, visibility very
good in the clear sunshine - ships visible out to specks in the
binoculars. Surface of sea in direction of sun a beautiful display of
dancing points of light (attempted to photograph this, but probably
unsuccessfully). A seagull landed right in front of us on the cliff-top
to beg for food. Then on, following SW coast of Anglesey as far as
possible, to Sea Zoo, on SE of island, facing Menai strait. See various
sea-fish & invertebrates (esp lobsters & oysters) swimming about in
tanks. Nothing really big or spectacular, and labelling and description
of exhibits pretty poor. Then on again to
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgagerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, to take
pictures of the station name-plate (and \theta to buy a pullover) and to
buy fuel (Nova 6.3e-8m^2). Then on yet again to Caernarfon, to look
around the Castle. It's quite warm by that time. Then head for home, but
long queues on Llanberis pass and in Betws-y-coed (caused by a policeman
on point duty). Eat in, with a bottle of fizz. Weather duller towards
evening.
- Fri 1989-08-11 {12905}
- Last full day; rain AM, sun PM. To Bala lake railway, a 60-cm?
narrow-gauge line laid along a standard-gauge alignment abandoned in
1960s, about 6km along the S coast of lake Bala. Rain held off during
trip, from Bala to base at Llanwchllyn & back again. Little B
saddle-tanks & a miniature main-line look-alike diesel. We had steamer
"Holy War". After trip, drove around lake, taking pix of next train at
various points on line; it only goes at about 15 km/h - easy to pass
even using single-track roads. Raining heavily then. Then home, \theta
sitting in while I walked by Dee and on footpaths on other side of A5
(5km). Sun shining by then. Take-away fish & chips from Corwen.
- Sat 1989-08-12 {12906}
- Home. Car loaded and away by 0850. Notice was wrong, fuel & electricity
was included. Home via A5, M54, M6, M1 in 2h50m, 50 min shorter than all A5
route out. I drove. Mostly sunshine.