A Visit to North Wales

A few weeks ago Jayne and I enjoyed a short, end-of-summer break in North Wales. Before our visit becomes too distant a memory, I thought I'd tell you a bit about it and share a few photos.

As we've done several times before, we stayed at the Tremeifion Vegetarian Hotel in Talsarnau, which is between Maentwrog and Harlech. It's also directly opposite the Italianate village of Portmeirion, possibly most famous these days as the location where the cult 1960s TV series The Prisoner was made.

Since our last visit, Tremeifion had changed hands. John and Maureen (the previous owners) had - much to our regret - moved on. The new owners, Barbara and Kevin, soon made us feel at home, however; and though it seemed a little strange at first, we soon got used to their slightly different - but by no means inferior - way of doing things. It helped, too, that we had met some of the other guests before (Hi there, Angie and Barry!). It's only a small place, and you inevitably get talking to the other visitors.

Being late summer, and being North Wales, we had a mixture of weather. On our first day it was lovely, and we took a short drive across the estuary to visit Portmeirion. Here's a picture of the centre of the village from high up...


And here's a closer view of one of the houses, beautifully lit by the bright sunshine.


Jayne always enjoys visiting Portmeirion. In this picture she's standing just in front of the art gallery, which I think in The Prisoner was Number 2's house...


The next day was a total contrast. The rain set in early, so we decided to make the best of it and have a day out on the Ffestiniog Railway, which runs between Porthmadog (just up the road from Portmeirion) and Blaenau Ffestiniog. Here's a picture of Porthmadog station...


And here's our train waiting at the platform. You can see how dull the weather was...


It was raining all day, which limited the views from the train, although we did see some pretty spectacular waterfalls. We had a leisurely lunch at a pub in Blaenau, watching the rain driving past the windows in slow-moving, pale-grey bands like ghosts. Sorry, no pictures of that, but I don't think any still photo would have done justice to it really!

On our return we took a few more pictures at Porthmadog Station. Here's a locomotive 'steaming up'...

And here's a picture Jayne took of Porthmadog harbour. I begged her for a copy of this photo, as I love the contrast between the flowers in the foreground and the grey, washed-out waterfront behind.


Well, I hope you enjoyed this brief account of our Welsh mini-break. If you're looking for somewhere peaceful and beautifully located for a short break, I highly recommend Tremeifion. Neither Jayne nor I am strictly vegetarian, but it's no hardship to go without fish or meat for a few days when the quality of the food and hospitality there is so good!

A Visit to Guernsey

At the end of March, Jayne and I enjoyed a short break in Guernsey. I thought perhaps you might like to hear a little bit about it, and see some of the photos I took.

For those who don't know, Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands, a small group of islands between Britain and France. Guernsey (like the other Channel Islands) is a British Crown dependency, though it's not part of the United Kingdom. Guernsey is the second largest Channel Island after Jersey, which we visited a couple of years ago (see this post).

We stayed at a hotel called the Bon Port, which is in the parish of St Martins, in the south-east of the island. Being so early in the season, it was very quiet. Indeed, on our first night we were the only guests in the hotel! It was a good break, though, and great to be out and about breathing the sea air rather than sitting in front of my computer as usual.

Although the weather could fairly be described as mixed (at one point we were caught in a hailstorm!), we didn't let it stop us seeing what the island had to offer. We had a day in St Peterport, the capital, where we spent some time exploring the historic Castle Cornet and its museums.

On another day, when the weather was bad, we took the rep's advice and hopped on a number 7 bus, which took us all around the island for just 60p (about $1). This was a great way of seeing the whole of the island's coastline. It illustrates how small Guernsey is that, even with regular stops and starts, the entire circuit took little over an hour.

Photos, then. Here's a picture of the two of us enjoying breakfast at the hotel. Note the freesias, for which Guernsey is famous.


Here's one of several tableaux in the museum at Castle Cornet, showing how the castle barracks might have looked in the 18th century (I think). And yes, we did ask if it was OK to take photos!


This is a tea-room which we discovered while walking along the cliff path from the hotel. Those mugs of hot chocolate were very welcome!


You can see more of the photos I took in Guernsey on my Picasa album page.

Finally, here's a video clip of the view from the balcony of our hotel room. It's not the most exciting video you'll ever see, and the quality isn't great, but it may give you some idea why we thought it was well worth paying the extra for a sea view!


If you are receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to watch the video.

Incidentally, if anyone else is thinking of visiting Guernsey, I do recommend the Bon Port. Not only does it have a great location with spectacular views, the food is also first rate. It is a little bit remote, however, so if you're not keen on walking I'd recommend hiring a car, or else booking somewhere a little closer to the main bus routes!

Spring is in the Air

I thought those of you in the northern hemisphere especially might enjoy seeing these photos I took in our garden over the weekend...





Spring is definitely on the way :)

My Christmas in Cyprus...

As some of you will already know, this year Jayne and I spent Christmas week in Cyprus. It was our first visit to the island, which for those who don't know is in the eastern Mediterranean. We stayed in Paphos, which is a quiet but popular resort. It's also a World Heritage Site because of the amazing Roman ruins and mosaics that are still being discovered there.

We had a great week, and I thought you might like to see a few of the photos I took. The first one is a view of our hotel - The Pioneer Beach - by evening.



Although the hotel we stayed at was for adults only, we had a visit from Father Christmas on Christmas morning. Here's Jayne standing beside him. I think he was the smallest Santa I'd ever seen!


The Roman mosaics at Paphos were truly astonishing. I thought there might be half a dozen or so, but there are literally hundreds, many of them incredibly well preserved considering their age. The photos I took don't really do them justice, but here's one showing close-up details, which reveals just how intricate they are.



We were lucky with the weather during our stay. Here's a typical sunset...



And here's one of the beautiful tapestries at the Kykkos Monastery, which we visited on a coach trip. Yes, that really is gold leaf!


I hope you like the photos. If you wish, you can see a lot more I took on this Picasa web page.

I'd definitely like to visit Cyprus again before too long!

Autumn Colours of Burntwood

OK, so it's not exactly New England, but Burntwood (where I live) is looking quite picturesque at the moment. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday, when I sneaked out of my office for a few minutes...




If you are receiving this post by email, depending on your settings, you may need to visit my blog to see the pictures. You can also see a few more pictures I took by clicking here.

Today it is cloudy, and gale-force winds are forecast for tomorrow. So I suspect that by the end of this week, most of the remaining leaves in the trees will have gone!