Sunday, July 27, 2008
Today we spent a lot of time on the coach and a ship, so there isn’t a through Northern Wales after leaving Wrexham. As we drove deeper into the hills, the road signs got longer and longer as the people were more and more likely to speak Welsh. We took a lunch break at lot to describe. We did see some amazing scenery as we drove Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (no, I didn’t just fall asleep 
on the keyboard…this is the name of the town, which means “The Church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tyslid by the red cave”. This is pretty indicative of the Welsh language, though thankfully most of the words aren’t near that long.
Before we got to PG (what our guide Marvin called the long-named town), we drove through some beautiful wooded hill country for a couple of hours. We took a rest break in a small town called Betwys y Coed. Alan and Joyce looked at some Love Spoons, a popular Northern Wales craft. The spoons are carved from a single piece of wood, and were introduced by Methodists several hundred years ago because they felt that the local Welsh people were living a life that had too many vices. Among these vices was that young couples began living together upon
engagement, so it was believed that giving the young men something else to occupy their time might postpone some of those “premature” childbirths!
From there, the scenery only got more amazing as we drove through the Snowdenian region, which includes Mount Snowden. There were lots of other people out on the roads on this beautiful Sunday morning, so we didn’t get to stop, but the road was narrow enough that we had a good amount of time to take in the broad vistas. This is also a region that has produced a fair amount of high quality slate, so we learned about that trade as well. Alan found this part of the trip interesting because his great-great grandparents on his father’s side likely have Welsh roots. It was interesting to see some similarities between the Welsh countryside and the West Virginia
countryside where those grandparents lived their lives.
After the wonderful vistas we came to the long-named town, and then took the final miles to the ferry, which was nearly a full-sized cruise ship. The coach drove right on to the ship, as did several other coaches, lorries (semis to you on the State-side), and many cars. We didn’t have nearly as much space as on a cruise ship, but it made the 4 ½ hour trip bearable. We were all a little disappointed that we didn’t get to do any customs processes coming into Ireland, after Marvin built up the possibilities. It was a quick trip to the Tara Towers hotel in Dublin, several miles from the city center. We are fortunate to have a room with a view of the ocean front. We had some fish and chips in the hotel pub for supper.
Alan and Joyce have come down with summer colds, so we took a quick hike up the street to the local Tesco for drugs, arriving just before closing time. The pharmacy was already closed, but there were some things that we’ll try to use to get us back on top of things.
on the keyboard…this is the name of the town, which means “The Church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tyslid by the red cave”. This is pretty indicative of the Welsh language, though thankfully most of the words aren’t near that long.Before we got to PG (what our guide Marvin called the long-named town), we drove through some beautiful wooded hill country for a couple of hours. We took a rest break in a small town called Betwys y Coed. Alan and Joyce looked at some Love Spoons, a popular Northern Wales craft. The spoons are carved from a single piece of wood, and were introduced by Methodists several hundred years ago because they felt that the local Welsh people were living a life that had too many vices. Among these vices was that young couples began living together upon
engagement, so it was believed that giving the young men something else to occupy their time might postpone some of those “premature” childbirths!From there, the scenery only got more amazing as we drove through the Snowdenian region, which includes Mount Snowden. There were lots of other people out on the roads on this beautiful Sunday morning, so we didn’t get to stop, but the road was narrow enough that we had a good amount of time to take in the broad vistas. This is also a region that has produced a fair amount of high quality slate, so we learned about that trade as well. Alan found this part of the trip interesting because his great-great grandparents on his father’s side likely have Welsh roots. It was interesting to see some similarities between the Welsh countryside and the West Virginia
countryside where those grandparents lived their lives.After the wonderful vistas we came to the long-named town, and then took the final miles to the ferry, which was nearly a full-sized cruise ship. The coach drove right on to the ship, as did several other coaches, lorries (semis to you on the State-side), and many cars. We didn’t have nearly as much space as on a cruise ship, but it made the 4 ½ hour trip bearable. We were all a little disappointed that we didn’t get to do any customs processes coming into Ireland, after Marvin built up the possibilities. It was a quick trip to the Tara Towers hotel in Dublin, several miles from the city center. We are fortunate to have a room with a view of the ocean front. We had some fish and chips in the hotel pub for supper.
Alan and Joyce have come down with summer colds, so we took a quick hike up the street to the local Tesco for drugs, arriving just before closing time. The pharmacy was already closed, but there were some things that we’ll try to use to get us back on top of things.
posted by Alan Welch at
7/28/2008 04:26:00 PM
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