Camping in Wales

One of my friends had noticed I had not blogged for ages and got in touch using other means !

This has spurred me to sit down and mash the keys 😊

So current state of play, I am not too happy at work at the moment, so the weekdays are a bit of a low point. Weekends are not so bad, I usually have things to distract me.

Got blood tests on Friday morning, I am keen to see what my levels are, I am possibly expecting my Oestrogen to be too high now that I am on testosterone blockers.  We shall see !

I do think i've had a bit of a boob-spurt too, seem to be less finger room in the bra's - not a scientific method, but a method at least :)

 

Adventures !!!! 

It's been a fun filled month since my last post.

Wales was the high point, it was a 'Womens Drivers Social Club' meet, we were all mostly in classic or at least old cars.  Camping for four nights at 'Bryn Ffanigl Ganol Caravan and Camping Park' 

I was taking my friend Charlotte, she had not been to the group before, or been camping in many years, or done long distances in Josephine, so it was a bit more of an unknown for her !

Wales Day 1

We had planned to leave on the Friday morning, stopping off for lunch in Chester, then on- wards for a quick detour to see her father who lives near Chester. It seemed rude not to pop in since we were so close.

The journey over the Pennines was very good, we had nice weather and although we had gone a fairly non-motorway route using Woodhead pass we made good time.

On arrival in Chester we had a lovely lunch in a nice cafe - had originally looked at the posh food places in the market, but they were too fancy for my simple tastes. How hard is it to do a jacket potato !!!

Spent an hour or so with her father and partner, consumed some nice fruit tea, then on-wards towards the campsite. I think we arrived at 5ish , the traffic was pretty bad with it being rush hour on Friday.

After getting the keys from the nice site manager we drove up a steep hill to the end of the site where the non-electric pitches were.

Then came the fun of putting up the tent - a brand new one never been out of the bag. It was a 'bell tent' design with a long central pole that facilitates standing in the centre of the tent - at least if you are a heffalump like me, Charlotte is taller 😆

It only took us about 30 minutes, which I thought was good considering we were researching knots, and trying to figure things out as we went.

My friend to her horror did discover that the toilet block had loud piped music blaring, which was a bit of a downer.  We assumed it was to stop people sleeping in them ! - we had decided to use the disabled as per my previous po
st. It was at least very modern and clean.  

I had brought cooking equipment and a selection of easy to cook food, so we did that next - I think it was a pasta and sausage affair. 

After unpacking the car and getting the airbeds blown up we were not feeling particularly energized and had a quiet night. Some of  the other ladies did have a bit of huddle and socialized for a bit, but figured we would get chance the next few nights to do that. 

We didn't sleep too well, although it had been a sunny day, there was no cloud cover and it got rather cold !  The sleeping bags we had brought were sadly lacking, way too thin. The pillows were bad too - so we vowed to go shopping for some additional warmth the next day.

Wales Day 2 - Anglesey

Breakfast was consumed, with hot beverages - I had to boil a saucepan of water as my
tiny kettle was not sufficient.  Charlotte had brought some biscuits she had made, and also jam. I had not had chance to buy eggs on the way, but they were a nice alternative.

The plan for the day was a group drive to a motor museum in Anglesey , were we would stay for most of the day, then a scenic drive back to the campsite. 

I spent some time getting my 360 camera attached to the back of the car, then we sort of formed a formation to get going.  The instructions were a little vague, but i was meant to be following a white beetle, so I did that :) 

The drive was fun, lots of tunnels which do sound good when you go through them, although we were keeping to a steady pace so nobody got left behind.

We arrived at the museum  at 11:30ish , and managed to mostly park together. 

The museum was fab, lovely staff and cafe, and plenty of exhibits.  I won't bore with all the photo's I took, there was a lot to see.  We had lunch first, then wandered around with some of the other ladies, and spent a good few hours there.  

We decided to forgo the scenic drive back, and go our separate way as we needed to find better sleeping equipment. So we headed off before the rest. First to a farm shop to buy eggs for my standard breakfast :)  - also got some real apple juice and some Welsh bread, i I forget the name. 

Then we set the sat nav for Dunelm !  figured this would have bedding, our aim was a duvet to go over the top of us and provide more insulation. 

We got that, and also some pillows and some throws to put over us while sat out on an evening, then headed back to the site.  We were the 1st to arrive by some time, some of the other girls had mechanical issues and a puncture, and had been helping each other out to get back ! 

Wasn't much we could do, so we had some food - there was meant to be a communal cook later on, but we were hungry and wasn't sure if there would be a delay so we did some rice and sausage.

The others did eventually get back - aside from one car which took a long while to get fixed !  Food was cooked, and we ended up sat around with everyone in a big circle. 

We had a few beverages with the food, and spent a while chatting with everyone, it was really nice.  The throws were not that warm though, and as it got colder we did decide to head off to the tent - we were not the 1st though.  I think if i do camping again in May I need an oodie !

Wales Day 3 - Llandudno

This would be a day where no driving of Josephine was required. There was a big transport event in Llandudno - which has terrible car parking. So the plan was to take everyone to a nearby train station in as few cars as possible. Then we would get the train in, spend the day there, then train back etc.

We ended up in Tashe's mum's Mazda 2 :)  which had been borrowed for the day. 

After the short drive, and short train journey we ended up in the town centre, and were given instructions on where to meet later. There was a vintage bus ride around the Great Orme, and we had to be at the transport festival to meet the other ladies for that. 

There were lots of things we could do during the day, but I had always fancied going up the Greate Orme on the tram, and Charlotte is a fan of these too, so we decided to go get some lunch, and then ascend the headland ! 

I found us a vegan cafe that did intresting food, and we had our fill, and a beverage. Then we walked along the front - there were some supercars doing a bit of a show along the front so stopped and watched these for a while.

Upon arriving at the tram station, it was clear there would be a bit of a wait. I think we ended up waiting about 30 minutes.  The ride up was fun, you have to stop half way and change, which broke it up a bit.  

At the top, the cafe was a bit disappointing, and it was very windy, so wasn't feeling too great about the plan - but we stumbled on a food van doing really nice food and drinks in a very out of the way location - and also two other members of the group using it !

We sat on a bench and had a nice natter with them, it was out of the wind too, so very pleasant.

After this I decided i didn't want to queue for ages at the top tram station, so we walked downhill , past the mines to the intermediate station. This meant we were nearly at the front of the queue when the next tram was coming up ! 

We trundled down on that, and then made our way back into town. My gas had run out, so we nipped into an outdoor shop to get some more bottles too.

Then along the front all the way to the vintage transport showground.  We paid to get in, found some more food - pulled pork sandwiches !  then met up with the other ladies. 

After this, we did some waiting for the vintage coach that was to take us around the town, and then around the Great Orme.  It didn't seem like we waited that long.

The coach was fab, it had air ducts, which were very pleasing, it had been a hot day.

The trip around town, and around the Great Orme was really fun, we were all in a group at the back of the bus. We were very near the front of the convoy of vehicles and we could see it stretching miles behind us.  

By the time we got back into town, we actually crossed paths with the tail of the convey which hadn't even made it to the Orme yet !

We got off in the town, and did spend a while watching the tail of other vehicles go past, which was fun.  Then we headed into a nearby large pub to get some food until it was time to get to the train station and head back to the campsite.

The food wasn't bad, and had a few ciders.  The train back was good, and we got a lift back in the same car.  Unexpected conversations about octopus bum holes were had  😂

There was a gathering when we got back, but it was dark and cold and we just ended up saying goodnight fairly early.

 

 

Wales Day 4 - Home time

The others were going to the zoo - I hadn't bothered booking this part of the weekend, as I wasn't that fussed about trailing around while worrying about getting home.

So we were going to head back to Yorkshire via Chester and have a little explore and find somewhere nice to eat instead.

We ended up at a pub near the river 'The Boathouse & Riverside Rooms'.  We arrived shortly before they were doing food, which was very good, as it got busy very quickly and we were able to get our orders in first :)

After a really nice meal, we did some walking along the river, and along the walls, and a nearby park to help settle the food.  The walls were fun, we only managed a short section of them.   

Soon we were back on the road heading mostly the same way as we had come.  Traffic wasn't too bad and we made good time !

 

Then the adventure was at an end - well for me, Charlotte had to drive home to Hull !

It was a really good weekend , and I am glad it went so well.  Had been looking forward to it for months.