A Walk Round the Block

With the recent cold weather is had been hard to take the dogs out - but we have been braving the freezing cold and continued with our usual walk 'around the block'. This walk is about two miles long and is the one that many of our B&B guest enjoy when they stay with us. It is fair to say though that it is beautiful on a sunny summer’s day but is equally breathtaking on a bright and sunny snowy day.

From our gate you turn right and walk up to the Church at Gorsedd - we stopped en route to chat to the sheep and they always come to look at our Poodle Sam as they must think he is another sheep -

today we stopped in the churchyard to say hello to Les's parents who are both buried there. Turning left at the Church you then walk up a slight incline and walking a short distance until the next left turn into Monastery Road.

Walking along this straight piece of road to your right you can just see the A55 and the traffic racing through to Conwy etc. But beyond that you can see the Clwydian Hills majestically undulating and the top of Moel Famau just making out the Jubilee tower at the top.

A bit further on and you take the next left turn passing Pantasaph Friary and start making the steep climb to the top of the hill - the views are breathtaking here. And what a relief when you reach the top of this short but steep stretch. Follow the road along the top and you can see the sea and just make out the wind farm off the coast of Rhyl. We stopped to chat to a lady scraping her drive as she was off out at lunch time and was dreading the journey, we were able to assure her that the roads were clear - one of the things we really appreciate about living where we do.

Down the hill for the final left turn and you get a fantastic view of the Wirral Peninsula and the Dee Estuary, before returning back to Celyn Villa for a nice cup of hot chocolate.

Sunny Skies and Christmas Pudding

Well it has been a weekend of real contrasts. Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day and with the B&B a bit quieter, and no evening meal to cook, Les and I took the opportunity to go out for the day. Firstly we went up to Moel Famau to look at the work they have been doing to the top car park – although not quite finished it already looks so much better. The views from the top are always breathtaking but on a bright sunny day like Saturday it was wonderful and we could see for miles. We braved the steep, single track road down the other side and drove on via Ruthin to the top of the Horseshoe pass. By this time the dogs needed a walk so we had a stroll with them. The car park was full with others enjoying a wonderful day with the usual amount of bikers taking advantage of the good Welsh roads. A quick cup of hot chocolate and off we went again to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Thomas Telford's marvellous crossing over the river Dee, 100’s of feet below. 24 years ago we went over the Aqueduct in a narrow boat. We hadn’t long moved to Wales and two friends came with us on a week’s holiday along the Shropshire Union Canal – it was a great holiday – we both had Springer spaniels then and they loved jumping on and off the boat and running along the tow path as we chugged along. We walked over this time with Sam and Willis holding onto their leads tightly for fear of them jumping in the water.

Sunday was wet, cold windy and horrible. If an Alien had landed in Wales on Saturday he would have thought he was on another planet by Sunday, such was the contrast in the weather. Still not one to be idol I decided I would use the time to get on with a bit of Christmas preparation, so I got the Christmas pudding mix ready and made my Christmas cake. I always used Delia’s pudding recipe although double it up and find I get 2 x 1lb and 1 x l.5lb puddings from it. My Christmas cake recipe is one I have used for over 30 years and is always a success. Or it might just be the amount of booze I feed it with. Two things to tick off my ever increasing ‘To do list’.

Twinning Weekend

What a fantastic weekend we had with our French friends. Holywell Twinning Association celebrates 10 years next year with St Grégoire, nr Rennes in Brittany. During that time we have spent some fabulous times both in France and Wales. This year’s visit could only be describes as 'excellent' as we had such lovely weather. 35 weary French men, women and children arrived on Friday 21st May at 1.30pm and they were welcomed with many kisses from their host families. It was lovely to see our friends again and we spent a very pleasant couple of hours eating (and drinking) in the garden – catching up and practising our French.

Later – whist they rested I rushed around the kitchen like a thing possessed – preparing a buffet for 17 (I had thought it would be nice to have a few people round for the evening). Greeting the French with glasses of Pims was quite amusing – but they loved it. In fact some promising to buy some on the return boat back to St Malo. What a great night we had - in the garden till gone 9.30 as it was so warm.

A rest for me on Saturday as the guests departed for a lovely day at Caernarfon Castle and then on to Portmeirion where they had lunch in the Castell Deudraeth. No cooking for me at all as we finished up last night’s leftovers for lunch (I love leftovers) and we were invited out to dinner with other Twinning hosts. The only problem – the French complained it was too hot – after all they were in Wales!

Sunday we took our guests to lunch at the Glas Fryn in Mold where we all tucked into a good lunch and then up to Moel Famau for a much needed walk . Sunday night was the usual get together for everyone (about 65 of us) and we had singing and more food and plenty of wine. A very early start the next day – and we said goodbye to our French friends for another year. More kissing but with a few tears this time and promises of learning more French by next year!