Problem 1: No seatbelts in the back seat. OK, not exactly no seatbelts, just nowhere to make them click. Fortunately the 3 boys thought this could be easily fixed by switching the two back seats round. As the girls huddled round to ward off the cold the boys quickly found they could remove the two seats. They were not so quick however, to re-fit them on the opposite sides of the car! In fact, after 15 minutes watching them fiddle around with no success, Sharyn and I took over with Karen providing an extra pair of eyes. In a little under 2 minutes the first seat was slammed into position. The boys were just being too gentle. After our demonstration we offered them a chance to regain a little pride and gave them a go fitting the second one. The second attempt was little better than the first so much more quickly they were thrown out of the car to let the pros finish the job!
So, with that little challenge overcome it was time to repack the car.
First stop -Warwick Castle. A quick decision was made that it wasn't worth £18.50 for a quick look round. Instead we settled on takeaway drinks and wandered along one side of the castle wall. Second stop was in Shrewsbury for a little shopping (hats & gloves) and lunch. Final stop before reaching our destination - Pwliheli for more provisions. It was great to finally reach Nefyn and extract ourselves and all our luggage from the car. We were welcomed by our lovely Welsh hostess with the following words, "You girls will find your way around in here" (the kitchen). We quickly discovered that the fee we paid for linen did not include towels and that there were no tea towels or other dish washing implements in the kitchen. Our Welsh hostess was quite shocked and surprised by our disorganised state (I had brought my own towel). With the last minute changes to numbers only 6 beds had been made up. So, she returned next door to the house to fetch some extra linen. Andrew jokingly asked the girls if we had brought our pot mitt. Said hostess soon returned with towels, tea towels and much to our entertainment a pot mitt!
Despite the chilly temperature and gale force winds we wrapped orselves up and headed for the beach. It is always nice to return to the coast, even if the beach is stoney and its minus 5 degrees taking into account the wind chill factor. We walked along to the far end of the beach and then came back along a path overlooking the beach. It was super windy, we were in fact blown up the hill. So windy that my hat blew off and disappeared into a paddock with horses. The two Marks jumped the barbed wire fence to search for it. As it was getting dark and our tummies were rumbling we had to call the search off. The leaders of the pack, Karen and Andrew had disappeared into the distance unaware of the dilemma. An executive decision was made for the remaining 5 to head to the pub. On the walk down to the beach there was a discussion about dinner. All the girls had unintentionally left the house with no money - boys shout! Surprisingly we didn't find Karen and Andrew propping up the bar. Just as the two Mark's were being sent on a search of a different kind Karen and Andrew strolled in. We enjoyed lovely meals at the Nanhoran pub. Unfortunately they were out of Pavlova for dessert but I can highly recommend the Hot Chocolate with Baileys!
Caernarfon Castle
As you can imagine it takes a while for 7 people to get up and organised in the morning. In fact, I reckon longer than 30 Tawa kids and a bunch of teachers! The main event on Saturday was horse-riding in Snowdonia National Park. Unfortunately our stop in Caernarfon was only long enough for shopping (a new hat for me, postcards etc) and hot drinks. It was a nice drive through the countryside to reach our horse-riding destination. As I don't actually remember the last time I was on a horse I was slightly nervous about our afternoons adventure. By and large this was unnecessary as due to my size (and probably the level of experience I declared on the form signing my life away) I was introduced to Maisey. A somewhat impatient horse, she was chosen to lead the group. This meant on our two hour walk I was led the whole way by one of the guides. No opportunity to really test whether or not my hold on the reins had any control over the horse. In sight of home there was one wee incident. Karen's horse Carla and Maisey had a wee scuffle. Apparently giving each other a boot. I contemplated how I could dismount, landing on my feet of course, which seemed all the more challenging with a girl holding the reins. My second instinct kicked in which paid off. Hold on for dear life! It must have been quite a site for the others behind me.
Stomach pains had set in while on horse back. So en route home I had a lie down in the back of the car while the rest of the party enjoyed dinner in Porthmadog.
Fun on Easter Sunday morning. An egg hunt was laid and there was plenty of chocolate to share around (thanks Sharyn, Karen and Rachel!). These cute finger puppets came with the M&S mini eggs. Aren't they adorable?
You can't really say you've visited Wales unless you see a castle. So on Sunday it was back in the car and off to Conwy. The picture below of Mark G, Karen, Sharyn and Rach was taken in some wee village along the way.
Finding lunch on Easter Sunday with 2 big football games on was easier said than done. Eventually our party which had swelled to 11 (we met up with 4 of Andrew's friends) settled on overtaking the back half of a pub in Conwy. After lunch we happily paid £4.50, much more reasonable than Warwick, to explore the castle in cool, drizzly conditions.
A quick look at the Knights shop across the road from the castle turned into a delve into our family histories. A guy kindly plugged our surnames into his computer which duly spat out details about our past. What our names meant, where our families were from, family mottos, crests and how many convict relatives were sent to Australia. The guy couldn't answer my question about how the Calvert's got to NZ!
The long drive home had to be broken up with a stop somewhere. I was happy when we decided on Portmeirion, pictured above and below, which was designed and built by architect Clough Williams-Ellis. He wanted to show how a beautiful natural environment could be developed and enhanced by thoughtful planning. Many of the materials were recycled from other architectural work he was undertaking.
Hwyl fawr from Wales!
Portsmouth is renowned for its Royal Navy history. I had a fabulous day exploring the Historic Dockyard with Sharyn, Mark and Mark. The picture below was taken on board HMS Warrior otherwise known as 'The Black Snake' due to the 65m long armoured box that protected her guns and machinery.
After lunch we explored the HMS Victory, the world's oldest commissioned warship. It was on board the HMS Victory that Lord Nelson died during the Battle of Trafalgar. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures as this was when my camera began its temperamental power tantrum.