A Day on the Welsh Highland Railway

My Dad is staying with is for a few days so we asked him yesterday what he would like to do. In typical old person speak (he is 83) he said 'I would like to go up Snowdon on the train before I die'. Well after getting the violin out and looking at the weather forecast we decided that the better option was to go on the Welsh Highland Railway.So despite the heavy rain this morning we set off with a sense of hope that there might be a bit of the day that would be rain free. Caernarfon is only an hour’s drive and we were quickly parked and purchasing tickets. Dad treated us to First Class returns and we boarded the beautifully restored steam train and settled into our comfortable arm chairs. It was still raining. After about half an hour the rain stopped and gradually the mist lifted from everywhere but the tops of the mountains. We had a fabulous trip to Porthmadog - it takes about 2.5 hours and then after a stopover of about 45 minutes it was time to make the return journey. By this time the sun was shining, we had enjoyed some surprisingly good refreshments and we were all really relaxed. The scenery en-route is breathtaking and even on a day of sunshine and showers (mainly showers ) it was a fantastic treat.
We stopped at the Black Lion at Babell for Pie night on our way home which really rounded the day off. Great day.

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!