A Simple Life of Luxury

Not as exciting as it sounds! Every year the university print a year planner for all the offices to use. This year there is a picture (quite a small one!) of a windsurfer in the top left corner. After careful examination I have concluded that it is definitely taken at Borth and given the sail, board and helmet that it has to be Al. Quite a safe bet but as I said, it’s a small picture.

Still, it’s nice to have a picture of Borth on a sunny day with Al windsurfing in it up on my wall for the next year!

I’m taking one home to get confirmation tonight.

I was set the task of getting mum a new Dyson vacuum cleaner. The one we decided was the best option was the DC18 which is a new slimline model with the new ball technology making it nice and easy to manoeuvre around furniture. This sells for about £280 from Dyson and most high street retailers.

On Amazon it is for sale for £203.75 so when I popped into Aber Gas to have a look at one they ummed and arred for a bit and agreed to sell it to me for £210. As they had one there for me to take away straight away I agreed and I also think it is nice to support a local business over Amazon.

Aber Gas don’t have a website (Alan, maybe you should do something about this) but you can find them at 51 Cambrian Street, Aberystwyth. Telephone 01970 617779. Top class service and from my experience good deals to be had.

Bank holiday Monday dawned a little overcast so instead of waiting for Jay and his clan to arise from their tent, Anna, Morgan and I made a trip into Aberystwyth to do some shopping and planned to meet them later in the afternoon. 3pm came around and there was no sign of them so I went off for a mountain bike ride around the Summit Trail at Nant-yr-Arian, but just before I left we Anna had a slightly cryptic message from Jennie saying that hey were at the hospital… Something to do with Jay being sick and Jennie’s elbow. There was little we could do so I went for my bike ride and when I got back jay and his clan were at the house.

It turns out that during the night Jay had got up and somehow knocked his head on Jennie’s elbow and concussed himself! he didn’t feel well all day and apparently when he went dizzy, couldn’t see properly and went numb down one side Jennie decided it was time to get him to the hospital and tried phoning us… At the time we were driving back through Borth so were probably only a hundred yards or so from them, but we missed the call as we weren’t at home, so Jay ended up having to drive to the hospital despite not being able to see properly.

At the hospital they wanted to keep him in for 24-48 hours, but after a few hours Jay discharged himself and drove back to our house, which apparently took them about an hour. Really he should have stayed there, but we couldn’t even persuade him to stay at our house overnight and in the end he drove all the way home to Bristol… They did make it OK though and the fact that he has e-mailed me today presumably means that he is OK… But it just goes to show how dangerous camping at Borth can be!… At least it can if you are sharing a tent with Jennies elbow.

Whilst trawling the internet I came across a recent blog post by Elaine Nicholles about her holiday to Borth. Part of the post says:

The weather was bad mostly. The laptop died on the first day. I didn’t feel well for some of the time. I only had one shower. I was pretty smelly in the end. All part of the fun!

But overall I think they had fun. Check out the full post at ‘All at Sea with a bucket and spade‘.

Jay, Jennie, Megan, Harry, Charlie, Jack and Millie the dog had survivied their first night in a tent in Borth, and as they all geocache we decided to head of into the hills with them to find the Watery Wales 1 geocaches that I had hidden… Although the wouldn’t be new cache finds for me it would give me a chance to do a maintenance visit on them, and maybe hide a fifth bonus cache for the series.

We drove up to Pendam and did the first cache whilst Morgan and Jack slept in the car. A nice easy find. The weather was lovely, the lake looked quite inviting and the cache was in good condition.

We then took a short drive to Llyn Balenmeindwr where we parked on the shores of the lake and did the cache there and walked up to Llyn Rhosgoch. We had a picnic here whilst Jay looked for the cache and then walked back to the cars.

Next we went off in search of the location that I want to hide the bonus cache it… It will be quite an adventure and involved some nice off-road driving through the forests, but unfortunately we came to a locked gate and couldn’t get close enough to the location. I shall have to return on my own without quite so many children in tow. We then did the fourth cache in the Watery Wales 1 series next to Llyn Syfydrin. There was something going on here as there were loads of cars about and usually you don’t see anyone here at all. Not sure what it was but it was definitely a lot busier up here than usual.

With four caches completed, and all of them still in good condition we headed home and spent some time on the beach before retiring for dinner. Sea Rivers caravan site was having it annual funday so we were treated to a firework display later that evening. A nice day in Wales and hopefully Jay and his clan enjoyed themselves.

At last, we got to use the garden!! I spend ages keeping the lawn mowed and keeping it all looking nice, but so far this year we’ve barely been able to enjoy it.

Jay (my brother) Jennie and their children Megan, Harry, Charlie and Jack were coming to Borth for a camping weekend with the dog Millie, the weather looked good so we planned a BBQ in the back garden. Anna, Morgan and I therefore spent the day buying supplies from the butchers and such like and then around 3 pm we got the BBQ out of the shed and guess what?? The clouds rolled in. It did stay dry and once the BBQ was lit it wasn’t too cold, but it wasn’t quite the warm, sunny afternoon in the garden we were hoping for.

It was however good to use the garden and it allowed the children and dog to run around whilst the adults were able to relax without worrying about them too much… If it had rained, it would have been quite a squeeze getting everyone into the beach room!

For the first time in a long time Morgan went to bed early last night and stayed there! Suddenly I had a huge need for chocolate and Alan kindly offered to take his bike for a ride and go and get some……just an excuse to go out on his bike but I certainly wasn’t gong to complain if it resulted in some chocolate!

Off he went and just as it was getting dark (and hour and a half later) and I was starting to think ‘he should be back by now’, sure enough back he came looking slightly sheepish! He had gone to Borth and stopped at the ‘chocolate shop’ only to realise he would have to leave his brand new pride and joy mountain bike outside unattended so decided not to bother.

Needless to say, I didn’t get any chocolate but a rare hour to myself and being able to watch holby city in compete peace (except for our daft cat coming in for her tea, then going out, then coming in - you get the idea) was a rare treat.

Thanks Al and Morgan

Here comes the main bank holiday weekend of the year and at last the summer has arrived. At the moment it is gorgeous outside, wall to wall sunshine, 20ºC and a nice cooling breeze. It looks as though we should have visitors for the weekend too…

Well, almost as Jay, Jennie and their children, Meg, Harry, Charlie and Jack, and possibly their dog are coming to stay. They aren’t staying with us though but at the Ynys Fergi campsite in Borth. Morgan is looking forward to them all coming already and if the weather stays as it is we should at least be able to treat them all to a BBQ in the garden over the weekend and hopefully get out geocaching.

Unfortunately though Jay no longer has a mountain bike so I won’t be able to head off into the hills for a ride with him… Or more accurately, he won’t be able to head off for a ride with me!!

After working yesterday morning whilst it rained outside, it brightened up in the afternoon so I decided to go out for another ride on my new bike and explore some likely looking trails.

I set off from home and cycled along the road to Tre’r Ddol and then found a bridle path that I wanted to follow. Unfortunately it was far too steep, far too muddy and far too difficult for me to cycle up so I ended up pushing the bike. Not a great start, but once at the top the views back down to Ynyslas and Aberdovey made it all worthwhile. From there I followed a muddy track acorss the top of the hill and then made a tricky, rocky descent down towards the mountnain road that goes from Talybont up to Nant y Moch. I then rode all the way up this long climb to the top and then headed off on the forest tracks towards Anglers Retreat.

After a wrong turn which menat another little climb I followed the orest tracks right around the top of Moel y Llyn. The track here feels as though it is perched on the side of the hill with great views down into Artists Valley and beyond. A fast descent through the forest on wide tracks with loose stones and I was soon out on the Artists Valley road which I followed towards Furnace. Just before the end of this road I turned off left onto a small track which at times was muddy and other times rocky, but was just perfect for mountain biking. This led to a small road which I followed before finding another little track towards Tre’r Ddol. At the end of this forest track were several jump ramps that someone has built, but I didn’t attempt them and then the track became a windy single track with a few little rocky section in it before emerging onto the main road at Tre’r Ddol. From here it was a short, but by now tiring ride back to ynyslas into the wind.

40km altogether and it took me 3hrs 40 mins.

Next time I’ll follow the road to start with rather than the impossible bridle path, and with fewer stops to check the map it should easily be achievable in under 3hrs… Still not quite a quick ride from home though, but I guess the ride out across the bog and back is always going to make any ride from here fairly long.

Sunday always looked as though it was going to be a little windy, so Impi and Steve had planned to visit Borth for some good old windsurfing in Wales. Steve arrived here around midnight on Saturday and the wind had already started building. By Sunday morning the Borth weather station was showing gusts of up to 40 knots, it was grey, cold and pouring with rain. It felt like a full on autumnal day from the end of October rather than the middle of August.

Steve and I therefore waited for Impi to arrive at around 9am and after coffee we all headed over to the beach. I was first on the water and well and truly powered with my small wave board and 5m sail. My first run out was really nice, a few nice jumps off the smaller waves and then (because I thought Impi was watching from the beach) I hit a big steep wave at full speed and launched into a proper back loop attempt. I could see where I was going all the way around, rotated the whole way round and spotted my landing and then crash, I crashed into the water and obviously didn’t land it. It was a good attempt though, probably my best ever.

After a while I realised that Steve and Impi were both out on 4.2m sails and they usually both have bigger sails than me so I thought maybe it was time to change down. I didn’t have my 4m with me so changed to my battered old 4.5m and got back out there. Most runs out and back were fine, but I came off in the whitewater a few times (usually because I couldn’t quite get going) and here the current was ridiculously strong. It was like being caught in a rive and if your sail sunk it acted like an anchor and you soon drifted down the beach at a rate of knots. There was simply nothing you could do until you got washed back up on the beach. From there you had to walk back upwind and try again hoping it wouldn’t happen this time. It happened to all of us, but I seemed to get caught more than Steve and Impi for some reason… Just one of those days.

Overall it was a great day on the sea, plenty of wind, some big waves and lots of action… If August is like this, what will October be like?

Anna and Morgan had been busy at home so when we got back there were bowls of steaming hot soup waiting for us and plenty of blueberry, strawberry and apple muffins (or hot buns as Morgan calls them)…. Mmmmm.