Rally Antics

Not a typical weekend away as I was stopping at a boat rally. It's an event I've attended for many years, even though I no longer have a boat!

The rally was at the Blue Lias in Warwickshire. When we first started going there they had a caravan events field, but I generally stopped in what was known as the Donkey Field next to the canal. Since then this has been developed into a full facility caravan site, they've made a very good job of it, too.

Having arrived from work on the Friday it didn't take looking to down a pint and get booked in. Setting up Dai never takes long but this was also the first time I've pitched the awning properly for my guests to sleep in. It was a bit breezy but the pitch was well sheltered by a hedge. The only error was having the awning slightly too far from the camper which made getting the figure 8 strips tricky to get in to the j rail, the plus point though was they weren't going to come off again easily!

For the rest of the weekend Dai behaved impeccably, the awning worked as sleeping accommodation, just large enough to get the two camp beds in (really it could do with being very slightly larger). It was quite good being able to sit with the side door of Dai open and chat over breakfast out of the wind and rain. I took the awning down in the dry on the Sunday although I'll try and get it spread out to air as it won't be used again this year.

That's probably my last trip of the season, depending on booking train tickets to Perth. I've got a fall back of driving up there, probably stopping overnight on the way back. It will be interesting as my first winter trip.

The awning will definitely be used again. I think anywhere that I'm stopping for a few nights it will be useful as I'll be able to take more stuff such as the Cadac and a comfy chair.

Snowdonia Day 5 - The End

A belated post as having left the campsite and moved to a hotel in Llanberis I couldn't upload on either mobile data or the hotel WiFi. Although I stayed in Wales this was the last day in the campervan so this is the final blog post of the trip.

I'd part packed up on the Thursday night as I wanted a reasonably early start to get over to Llanberis. I was able to park in the hotel car park (I did check it was OK) which saved me about £7! I'd booked for the steam train up Snowdon, good timing as it was their 120th anniversary weekend. Originally the train was at 9:30 but they'd changed it to 10:30 which gave me a bit more time in hand. One advantage of being early is I end up talking to people, in particular I had a chat with the hog-roast man. Around 50 years ago he was there selling bunches of heather to the tourists for tuppence ha'penny, now he sells them pig sandwiches for £5 (and very good they are too, I sampled them later).

For me the steam train was definitely worth the extra over the diesel. Our loco for the day was Enid, the only survivor from the opening day in 1896 (literally, loco No. 1 crashed that day, the only significant accident they've ever had).



The heritage coaches have been rebuilt recently on original chassis, they're very well done though. It's not so much the visual impact of the steam, it's the sound. I mentioned this earlier in the week but there really is no better sound than an engine under load, and of course they're really working up the mountain.

The summit itself was in the clouds, and it was windy (although not as bad as the Saturday) but I did make the effort to climb the last bit to the trig point.



You don't get very long at the summit, around 30 minutes, as you have to return on the same train, I found the downhill run a bit nerve racking, although in truth it's quite safe. The loco and coach are not coupled, if the loco runs away an emergency brake will stop the coach.

After lunch and a couple of pints I walked round to the National Slate Museum. It's worth the entrance fee (there's no charge) and was interesting enough.



On the way back to the hotel I took a couple of photos of the Llanberis Lake Railway (I'll go back for a ride another day) and visited Dolbadarn, a fortified tower, just to complete the mix of castles and trains for the week.



The rest of the weekend was spent with friends old and new as we attacked the mountain to raise money for charity. Unfortunately Saturday's weather didn't match Friday and in the end the summit was beyond most of the walkers. We achieved our main aim though of remembering our late friend Carol and, as at the time of writing, raising nearly £3,000 for Children in Need and MacMillan.

The journey home was mostly along the A5 and was uneventful apart from a Volkswagen nearly taking me out on a roundabout. The campervan behaved impeccably throughout the week with no problems.

The only issue really proved to be storage again. Having to have kit for both the camping and the hotel, plus doing a bit of shopping, left me with kit stuffed into every available space, but I coped. It's something I'll be thinking about over the winter although at the moment unless I find a perfect unit I'm keeping Dai until the end of next season at least.

Snowdonia Day 4 - Castles and The Village with the Long Name

I decided to have a history day instead of railways, just for a change, I also wanted some non-tourist shopping (decent snacks for the next coupe of days) so I drove up to Conwy (or Conway as it used to be known).

You can't miss the history, partly due to the extent of the town walls which you're driving in and out of (in my case, while trying to find a car park with reasonable rates). I did find one just outside the walls.

The first thing, once I'd walked up into the town was coffee and Bara Brith. I also located a very good deli for later. I had a wander round, down to the harbour and round by the castle and walls.



Of course I was more interested in the bridges!



You can just see the end of the railway bridge as well in that shot. I did the shopping, including lunch, then headed down the coast, looking out for somewhere to stop and eat. That turned out to be Llanfairfechan, where I could park next to the prom for free. There was a breeze blowing but I had my Pork and Stilton pie and Cheese and Ham roll listening to the surf and watching the world go by. I have to say if I was going out onto the sea there I'd want something bigger than this:



He didn't go far offshore, presumably he was fishing, but even so, it's not a part of the coast to treat lightly.

The next stage was to pop across to Anglesey, just for the sake of it, and visit, as it says on their signs, The Village with the Long Name, Llanfair PG (not risking typing it all). Having missed the parking I looped round by a back lane to a level crossing, as chance would have it a train was due and the keeper was just shutting the gates (no automation here). It did give me a photo opportunity although in the end I only got one chance at this, I think it worked:



After opening the gates the keeper came for a chat, it can't be an interesting job really as he doesn't even have any control, he has to wait for the main box to pull off the locks (lever 37 apparently) on the gates.

I did get some photos of the now virtually redundant station as well before continuing back across to the mainland and down to Caernarfon. I'm quite impressed with my sat-nav's Welsh pronunciation. More driving around to find parking, as I didn't want to pay £5 for all day when I was only going to be a couple of hours at the most, but I got the last space in a small car park on the edge of the town. The weather took a turn for the worse with some brief rain, but it wasn't too bad. The castle itself is difficult to photograph as you can't get far enough away! It must have been terrifying for attackers to realise you'd be caught in a cross fire as soon as you approached the walls.



Tomorrow it's pack up and off to Snowdon. I'm just hoping the weather is good enough for the train to make it all the way to the summit, I'm not convinced it will be, then Saturday we do it the harder way, on foot.