Adventures in Wales

What a summer I have had! Sorry about the quietness on my behalf, I have just been enjoying life. I have done lots of new things, and plenty of old. I have spent a lot of time with Axel but also spent time with my family! Not just my mum and sister, but also some quality time with both my uncles! Got nearly 2 weeks with my uncle who lives in America and my sort of aunt, and a weekend with my uncle who lives here in Sweden, and even better; I got to see my mum spend time with both of her brothers! This hasn’t happened for about 10 years! But frst I#m gonna tell you about our trip to Wales.
(Plenty of pictures at the end of this entry, just scroll down)

When we landed in England (the day after we saw Toto if you read my last update from the airport) we went to pick up a hire care – which I must say was the biggest pain in the backside EVER! Never sort out a hire car on the internet and NEVER do it though a cheap website, it ended up costing us a whole lot more, me getting extremely cranky and having a blood sugar drop, Axel having to wait outside and after I don’t know what…an hours or so, we eventually got our car. Never again! But off we went, towards Wales! We had only planned a few stops and the first being our little B&B in Caernarfon, where we arrived in time to have a 2 hour walk at Caernarfon castle. What a beautiful castle it was. SO much still in takt, a great start! I however didn’t know just how excited Axel would get about seeing these castles! Haha! Very many pictures were taken, and later when it was dark we had to go back for more pictures, and I thought I was snap happy, it was nothing compared to the castle trips! Haha. Caernarfon is a really beautiful place, right on the coast with those tight old streets and cute little old buildings. Well really it was like this everywhere we went.

The following day we jumped in the car and drove south to our Airb&b home in Coed Y Glyn. Of course on the way there Axel had planned in a stop at Harlech castle as well haha. The couple we stayed with were so nice! We left our bags, sorted out our backpack with plenty of snacks (mainly for me as Axel knows how I get without food and is good with planning ahead haha) and off we went to Cader Idris. The scenery all of was just so stunningly breathtaking, however driving in Snowdonia national park the roads were tiny, and in that moment I was so extremely grateful that I’d insisted on getting a small car! Stone walls on once side with cliff on the other of bushes and trees haha. When we got there, we started walking up what looked like a hill, and I was quite cheerful, admiring the surroundings, the cute streams, beautiful trees, little bridges and paths, and talking to the sheep. When I started getting tired I asked Axel “How far is it?!” To which he said, “it’s up the hill I think”. When we got up the hill Cader Idris wasn’t there. Again I asked “how far is it?!” and again he said “it’s up the hill…i think”. I kept my mood reasonably high, when the energy was still there and I was high off the surroundings..and probably different type of oxygen, I would even sing. Axel got to hear Wethuring heights “Heathcliff, it’s me, your Cathy. I’ve come home. I’m so cold! Let me in-a-your window.” Followed by Pocahontas Just around the river bend, which I know faaar too many words to so I sang more or less the full song *embarrassed yet soooo proud*. And eventually when the mood started dipping, and energy levels fell I had to try to encourage myself by singing Ice cube “you can do it put your back into it, I can do it put my ass into it” . Ahh yes, pure entertainment…I think haha! If nothing else then an odd mix of songs! The story goes on and I kept repeating like an impatient child “how far is it?!” and again he said “it’s up the hill…i think”. Oh how he had the energy with me I don’t know. By the way that went on at least 8 times! Anyway, eventually I was getting extremely moody, so the picnic we brought to eat when we got there we had to eat somewhere along the way and I don’t even know if it was half way or what. You see, when Axel told me he wanted to go to Cader Idris he showed me a picture of a lake, now I didn’t think more of it and didn’t read anything about it just said “yeah sure of course” I mean who wouldn’t, it looked beautiful…It wasn’t until we got up a few of these “hills” that I realised Cader Idris wasn’t a hill….it was a mountain!!!! And not just any mountain, but Wales second highest mountain. Can’t say I was overly pleased when I found out, poor Axel had to keep going with me too, and I did yell at him for not telling me and he just responded calmly ” I thought you realised” haha, no I did not! Not only this but he decided to take the piss out of me while climbing this mountain because of what I was wearing. I didn’t think it was so funny, and as I said, I thought I was seeing a lake, so I was wearing jeans, trainers, a denim jacket and a scarf. The scarf was his favourite laughing matter…and the denim actually, however I was very grateful I had my scarf with me as we got higher to the top and the temperature started dropping. We were so luck with the weather that day though. At first it was a bit cloudy but the higher we got, and the later in the day it got, the sky cleared up showing plenty of blue, a nice sun and allowing us to see the amazing views – which unfortunately our pictures don’t do justice! After plenty of little rest stops we started reaching the top, and Axel insisted on going close to the edge only to hear me yell “Don’t go so close to the edge! The wind is strong! You can fall down and die!” and to then lighten the mood a bit I said “you can’t die until you give me all your passwords or make sure all your money goes to me” haha such a charming girlfriend right! Poor guy wanting to see everything and having this winy so and so with him. We eventually reached the top – which was terrifying – where there was a slight wind (although it felt so strong) and I barely dared stand up right. I need to add that I am scared of heights so not really a great mix being up on a mountain haha, but as I had got so far, I had to get to the highest point of the mountain to get a picture. Oh we have many funny photos and videos from this, where it took me forever to stand up, but eventually I did and we actually got some nice pictures! So yeah another first to my list!

I HAVE CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN!

The feeling of having managed this was amazing! I felt and still feel so proud of myself, specially since I had no idea what I actually was doing until it was too late to turn around haha. Definitely a memory I will hold dear for life, and I will be forever thankful for Axel who put up with me and brought enough energy supplies to keep me going for the full walk up and down, no wonder his backpack weighed a ton on the way there! No wonder he needed to go for a dip in the stream to cool down. That stream was freezing, I dipped my toes and it felt like they turned to ice, but he just went all in haha. Oh, I nearly forgot, due to all the food Axel supplied me with – which was very needed – Stevie got rather full too…so I can officially say that Stevie got emptied on the top of a mountain! Haha, disgusting? Nah the sheep do it all the time, I just found a rock out of sight and bobs your uncle, I could carry on with a happy empty Stevie! Its a good job I always have paper and wet wipes with me, definitely a recommendation to everyone!
On the way home we drove to Barmouth and had a gorgeous tapas style dinner, every dish was amazing and we were so full after it. Maybe it was after all the work, but I do actually think the food was genuinely good there. We drove along the beach front which was so pretty as the sun set before heading back to our Airb&b for a good nights rest. Our host family had this lovely energetic dog that – of course – took a strong liking to me and when I was cuddling with him in the hall way he ran off into the dining room. I heard him doing something so I thought he was bringing me a toy, then I saw his head peak out from the door, look and me and then disappear again and made more noise. This happened a few times before he stood and the door and I realised he wanted me to come with him. I walked into the dining room and he took me to the corner where his bed was and started digging away the blanket and looked at me. He wanted me to get in his bed! Hahahaha oh how I laughed! Such a cute dog!

Next day we got up and headed to Criccieth castle (and some other one that I can’t remember the name of) and then carried on towards Llandudno where we we hoping to stay our last night. The only place where we hadn’t booked anything, a bit risky, specially with it being a Saturday night but I had completely forgot about that.We had looked online and everything was all booked up apart from a really expensive hotel, but I didn’t want to spend that amount of money. Anyway, we got there and decided we would walk along the streets and hope that a little B&B might have a vacancies sign up. We parked the car and stared walking, the first few places were a no go, and then there it was, probably the only place in town with a vacancy! SO I quickly got it sorted and it turned out someone had cancelled in the morning due to the bad weather. Luckily this bad weather had passed so not only did we have a room, we also have blue sky. Yay, win win for us! We decided to go for a walk and hopefully go for a little swim in the sea as Llandudno is a seaside resort. We got down to the beach and I chickened out, I went in just above my feet and decided that was enough for me, but Axel being determinerad kept going and went for a swim. It was very amusing as I heard people saying “Look he’s going for a swim” like he was a mad man…well I guess in a way he is but never the less haha. It was amazing how much the tide came in just over the amount of time that we were there, I had to move out stuff 3 times to make sure it didn’t get drowned. Axel was truly amazed by the tide in Wales, which apparently is the second largest in the world and can differ with up to 13 meters I was told, so I can understand why he was amazed really. One minute boats were in the sea and the next they were stoop on the sand…can’t have been great for the boats really, but I guess can’t be the end of the world either as their owners left them there anyway haha. Llandudno was beautiful, and at night reminded us so much of Nice promenad, with the beautiful stony beach, wide side walk and big old buildings lit up enough to give it a welcoming sparkle.

Last morning and we drive up towards Conwy for our last Castle visit. And my I would say we started with the second best, the ones in between were ok and our last one was the best. SO much of Conwy castle was still in take, all the towers and walls for the different rooms. You could really get a sense of how it was laid out and what it might have been like to live there. And the views from the towers were amazing, however once again my fear of heights kicked in as we walked around the tops of the towers with the steep drop down and low edges every now and again. I am such a wimp!

There is so much to see in Wales, it is so beautiful. We only had 3 days and drove round and saw quite a bit, but there is still so much more we want to see. We stayed in small villages and it all felt so real. These old authentic little houses and narrow cobble roads, cute little pubs and the people. We were very happy that everyone we met in the north spoke very clear and were super easy to understand, which made it easier for us both. The nature was unbelievable, like stepping into Lord of the rings or something. We have so much more to see and would definitely like to go back agan. The weather was also on our side, blue skies almost every day, which felt completely unbelievable. One of the most entertaining things along our drive was using google maps, with the Swedish setting. That poor maps woman had to try to read all the English and welsh road signs but in Swedish, it was hilarious! Definitely gave us quite a few good laughs on our way!

Changing and caring for Stevie wasn’t a problem, small bathrooms but as long as there is a sink for me to stand by I am not fussed! WE could eat everything we fancied, and drink anything we fancied, and we didn’t even have any leaks…until the airport…but that’s part of the next story, haha.

We drove back to Manchester to drop the car back off with the awful car letting people, and went back to the airport were we were to jump on a bus, to another bus to eventually a train which would eventually take us to Hull…
I think I’ll take the rest of our summer holiday story another day!

For now, here are a few pictures from our trip! Took about 1000 pics so not really very easy trying to pick out which to include but here are a few either way 🙂