A Wedding Anniversary Weekend: Mud, House Martins and a Lot of Steam
Anna and I haven’t long got back from a nice little anniversary treat. In fact, we had two treats: an evening out on the day itself, and then a night away at the weekend.
The evening out wasn’t anything too extravagant — just dinner at the Cambrian Coast Holiday Park down the road. Morgan came too, and really it was just an excuse not to cook or do the washing up. After dinner, we headed to the Libanus Cinema in Borth to watch the F1 movie. The film itself was fairly standard fare, but enjoyable enough, and we all had a nice time.
Then, on Sunday, Anna and I headed off to Lake Vyrnwy for a short-stay package. We stopped off for lunch en route.
As well as dinner, bed and breakfast, our package at Lake Vyrnwy Hotel included a couple of hours in the spa and a spa treatment. Anna was slightly worried — spa treatments aren’t exactly my thing, and she thought I’d be unbearable trying to relax for three hours. So I was on my best behaviour.
The spa was fine, with what I see as the usual offerings — essentially various ways to be hot, cold, wet, steamy, or all of the above, sometimes with bubbles thrown in.
Our treatment was a Rasul Mud Experience. I had no idea what that meant, but it turned out to be a private steam room where you cover your face, hair, and body in ‘mud’ and then sit in the steam for 20 minutes. They even pointed out that we could lock the door, though I’m not sure what people are getting up to in there — we left the door unlocked. The steam room itself was very steamy — so much so that we couldn’t see each other, so we just kind of sat there somewhat sweaty, covered in mud, in a thick hot fog. Fun, hey? It was kind of fun, but only because we found it funny — I’m not sure that’s the intended effect, but at least I can now say I’ve had a Rasul Mud Experience!
Afterwards, we retired to our room for a while before dinner. We had a large, comfortable room with an amazing view of Lake Vyrnwy, the Straining Tower, and the hills beyond. House martins soared through the sky, and we even had a balcony from which to watch the world go by. It was a bit grey and overcast, but the views were still spectacular.
Dinner in the restaurant was great too. I had scallops with caviar to start, while Anna had a whipped feta dish. I followed that with fillet steak, and Anna went for a delicious chicken option. Cheesecake and banoffee pie rounded things off nicely.
I managed to catch the Tour de France highlights before bed — there was so much sport on this weekend it was hard to keep up. I caught up with the Grand Prix the following morning before breakfast, I’d been keeping an eye on the Windsurfing World Cup from Pozo via social media, and Wimbledon will have to wait for another day.
Breakfast was, as expected, a hearty affair with all the usual options, again served in the dining room overlooking the lake, with house martins swooping and diving across the view. Unfortunately, after a few hours of pampering and indulgence, it was time to head home — and straight into work for me.
Still, it was a lovely way to celebrate our wedding anniversary.
