A Simple Life of Luxury

We had another nice family day out on Saturday. I ‘needed’ some new technical clothing so we thought a trip up to Betws y Coed and the outdoor shops there would be good. I was after lots of things as usual, a really nice waterproof jacket for walking, a lightweight, waterproof for cycling, some waterproof trousers that could be used for both, and some windstopper type tops, oh and if funds permitted some base layer stuff and some waterproof socks for cycling too.

First stop of the day was at Coed y Brenin where we couldn’t quite believe how busy it was. I knew mountain biking was popular here but I didn’t expect quite so many people. We had a look in the bike shop where they had some nice cycling jackets and then had a cup of tea in the cafe, before heading north.

We then did a few quick gecaches in between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Betws y Coed. All three were found easily and as always were in nice places that we wouldn’t have gone to otherwise. The third one was a short walk along a path from the main road to a nice bridge over the river. Morgan is quite into geocaching now and usually enjoys the walk to the cache and the swapping of trinkets too. on the way back to the car a puppy ran out across the road to see us and almost got squashed by oncoming traffic. Luckily the cars stopped just in time and then obviously gave us dirty looks assuming it was our dog… It had nothing to do with us!

On to Betws y Coed and a look around some shops, then a bit of a nightmare finding somewhere to eat at the same time as trying to find an emergency toilet for Morgan. We then looked around a few other shops, Anna bought a fleece and I ended up with nothing and took a look at the waterfall too. A quick ice-cream and then back in the car towards home.

Feeling a little disappointed at not having bought anything I made a quick stop at Coed y Brenin and caught the shop just before they shut where I bought a pair of waterproof socks… All of the excitement of new technical clothing and I end up with a pair of socks! Still, it was a nice day out.

I had a nice night ride on my bike last night which gave me a chance to try out my new lights. They worked perfectly (and so they should at that price). I only really used the spotlight and just tried out the flood light towards the end of the ride. What I really need to do is a test run to see just how long the battery will last with both lights on.

Trouble is, after then ride last night I now realise that buying the bike, and some lights, a helmet, tool kit, shorts, shoes etc simply isn’t enough… There are just so many accessories that I still need for mountain-biking!! Toys toys toys!. Next on the list will have to be a pair of waterproof socks as my feet froze last night. It was a lovely clear night with the moon shining on the still waters of the lakes, but that meant the temperature in the hills dropped close to freezing so after a few splashes through puddles and the odd stream crossing my feet were soon very wet and not long after that very cold. A pair of full finger gloves, some warmer legwear and before long more layers on top will be needed too, and thats if it isn’t raining. If its raining I’m going to need waterproof everything!

Oh, and either some clear glasses or mudguards would be handy as well…. The list is growing all the time… Oh well, better spend some money soon as I think Anna has plans for more import things after Xmas.

As regular readers of the Blog will know, Anna and I enjoy our trips to the Scottish islands, and even spent our honeynoon camping in a van on the Outer Hebrides… Well, when you live in a sleepy seaside hamlet in West Wales trying to find a quiet, relaxing place for holidays means we have to look for places that are even more out of the way.

I think we just like the self-contained nature of islands too as you feel as though you can explore them properly and really immerse yourself in their atmosphere… And now there is an opportunity to live on Canna as they are looking for a family to move there to stop the populations falling too much. The current population is 15, although apparently 30,00 tourists visit the island each year. The National Trust for Scotland is offering two houses on Canna for rent in the hope of encouraging families to move there in order to keep the school running and to contribute to the community and economy of the island.

Don’t worry, I think that is a little too remote and isolated even for us. The idea of living on a small island is a nice one, but the practicalities aren’t quite so convincing. The nice thing about living here in West Wales is that it can in some respects feel a little like island living cut off from the hustle and bustle of the more populated parts of the UK it has a strong sense of identity and a strong community feel, but if we need to visit a city for any reason we can simply jump in the car and be there within 2-3 hours. It has to be said it is rare that we ‘need’ anything from the city, but the option is always there without the need of a boat or plane to get us off the island.

You can see what some of the residents are up to on Canna here: Cannablog… A Simple Life of Luxury indeed.

Anther busy weekend has been and gone. It was the Aberdovey Windsurf Demo weekend and typically there was no wind at all forecast. I did show willing and drive around to Aberdovey on Saturday morning and had a little look at the kit. Not much was happening but seeing as there was no wind at all that wasn’t surprising.

I did meet some people we windsurfed with in Dahab though which was good, but by around 11.30 we decided it was time to head off for some mountain biking. Steve, AndyW and I headed off to do the Climachx Trail and we passed a couple of the kitesurfers (Graham and Jon) on the trail. After gettgin nice and muddy we then headed off to the beach at Ynyslas for a quick surf which was really nice after a hot sweaty bike ride.

Steve stayed over on Saturday night so we had a nice curry for dinner from the Borth Balti and slobbed out in front of a fire.

Sunday was just as grey and windless as Saturday we headed off to Nant-yr-Arian for another bike ride before too many people got there. Unusually we went from the visitor centre so that Anna and Morgan could site in the cafe, play in the playground and walk around the lake whilst we were out. We did the Pendam trail in around 45 minutes and as we arrived back in the car park AndyW arrived. Steve went around again with Andy whilst I showered and had a hot chocolate in the cafe with Anna, Morgan and Jules…. A good little cycle and the whole family was happy too.

We then said our goodbyes and Anna, Morgan and I headed off to MFI to spend lots of money on some new bedroom furniture. McDonalds for lunch (see Anna’s Chicken Supreme incident), and then back home where I played around with my new lights that I’ve bought for night time rides in the woods!

Just a quicky moan about MacDonalds! We were in Aber on Sunday and after we’d been to buy our new bedroom furniture (yeh!) we stopped of at MacDonalds for lunch. It was quite busy so we didn’t bother to go in and went through the drive through then drove to the beach to eat it.

We had to wait a while for the oder as Alwas having a deli sandwich. Once we got the the beach I setteld down to tuck into my MacChicken Premier only to find someone had forgotten to put the chicken in it I couldn’t really believe it. The bun was in the box. There was salad and sauce in the bun……just no burger….typical.

I did get in touch with our local branch of MacDonalds and they have agreed that next time we go there we can have the whole order again for free so it’s not all bad news.

Alan enjoyed his meal and Morgan liked his fishfingers. We try and get Morgan something different when we go and he had milk and a fruit bag with his meal instead of chips. He nearly didn’t get that either as the bloke taking hte order thought we wanted ‘fruity milk’ and he didn’t know what that was!

Just had this from my brother in Bristol so have posted it here so that anyone who wishes to sponsor him can:

I am attending a “Fright Night” soon where I will be staying overnight in one of the most haunted locations in the UK. I will be taking part in workshops and be joined by paranormal investigators and a clairvoyant medium. I will also be given ghost hunting equipment to help locate the ghosts.

I will be raising money for the Anthony Nolan Trust http://www.anthonynolan.org.uk/

All I’m asking from you is your support by means of sponsorship. Please click this link http://www.justgiving.com/jcoleim
All donations made are made direct to the trust and recorded on my page. No sending cash/cheques or collecting monies.

Don’t be shy please forward this e-mail to as many people as possible.
Many thanks in advance for you kind donations.

We hear a lot about what Al is up to these days but don’t think me and Morgan were sat around doing nothing.

On Saturday we had a day out on the bus, only into Aberystwyth, but Morgan enjoyed the ride. I don’t know what it is about Morgan and buses but everytime he is on one it crashes into another vehicle! When we were on the Isle of Man we got the bus home one afternoon and the bus crashed into a car outside the castle in Castletown and on Saturday the bus had stopped to let a campervan through and it drove into the side of the bus! No damage done though and we made it safe and sound into town (although Morgan doesn’t quite get why we keep having to stop to let people on and off the bus!).

We got a new pair of flashing red shoes for Morgan and had a nice play in the Castle playground even if Morgan did insist that he was big enough to play ont he huge climbing frame they have there.

We had lunch in a cafe before a trip home on the bus. All in all a nice day out, even if the fare to town was about £5 so it probably would have been cheaper to go in the car.

We had an invite to a party on Sunday and Morgan was VERY excited. He was up at 5.30am ready to go and not very impressed when I told him we couldn’t go until after lunch. He did suggest having lunch there and then so that we could go to the party early! We had a lovely time at the party and made piggy masks and got covered in glitter glue….it still remains to be seen if this will ever come off everything.

Unfortunately no photos

I had a nice surf trip to the Gower this weekend. I got up at 4am on Saturday and drive down there, meeting James, Des, Juan and Mark at the Hillend camp site, Llangenith around 6.30am. They had just set up their tents, depsite having been charged for Friday night as well as Saturday night.. They arrived around 6am so being charged for the precious night was pretty cheeky!.

A quick check of the surf and it looked good so we got ready and headed into the sea. JK had been driving all night so was a little worse for wear and even fell asleep whilst waxing his board! The surf was good, 2-3 foot and really clean. I was surprised to find quite so many people out before it even got light, but guess there hasn’t been much surf recently so everyone had headed to the beach today.

After an excellent surf session we had breakfast at Eddy’s and then went into Llangenith where Mark bought a new board. We then went for a walk along the beach to Burys Holm where we found a geocache. Eventually, later in the afternoon the surf picked up a bit again and we all headed back in for another session. Not quite a big as this morning, but still nice and a good easy session was had with Mark taking photos… Hopefully I’ll get some of these from him to up0load here.

Saturday evening was spent in the pub in Llangenith and then back to the campsite. I couldn’t sleep squashed into a tent between James and Des so got up around 2.30am and sat in the car instead. Sunday dawned without any surf so we had a relaxing breakfast, packed up and headed off home. All in all a good weekend away made even better by the fact that there wasn’t any surf at all in Borth.

Sorry, but I haven’t had time to write proper reports on our trip to the Isle of Man, so here are some of the photos instead.