WE in Wales: Saturday
The Mare and the Bitches
My friends L., Y., E. ,
his sister C. and I went to visit Wales the last weekend. Herein, is the
description of our trip from the notes I have been taking.
Thursday
Friday
The usual wake up, the usual snoring. Better go quickly downstairs.
I spend
some time in the lounge reading until Y. came down, followed by L.
and C. While we're having breakfast I can't help observing the scouts. The
few females are actually quiet good looking and it is always a pleasant sight at
the beginning of the day. I noticed that only the 3 olders are preparing sandwiches
and sneaks for their snow trekking. The two dozen of younger scouts are actually chatting
and doing nothing in the lounge. I'm not a big hiker, but I know mountain a
little and
the first rule is to leave early. Those slackers were still packing when we were
leaving the youth hotel, more than two hours after.
Direction Caernarfon and its
castle. After 20 minutes driving, we parked behind the castle only to find out that the castle is closed due to the snow...
Like a lot of things in UK (train, tube,...), the smallest weather variations
make everything impractical... Anyway just the outside of the castle is gorgeous.
After shopping for food, we leave
Carneavon and aimed to St-David driving on the sea road, (well there's hardly
any other choice...). Fortunately, the landscape are really superb and wild. The
forest and mountain remind me my birthplace's countryside. Snow is everywhere
and the sea is never far. I have a lot of small naps and it's really good to
relax far from England cities and flatness...
We had a short break at Cardigan, which
reveal to be pointless.
We arrived at St David in the end of the
afternoon just in time before the cathedral
close its door. I'm not a big fan of cathedral but this one was nice and
actually quiet old. An earthquake let it a bit shaken and the inside is slightly
twisted. Due to the late hour, we couldn't enter the bishop palace.
We arrive to a gorgeous beach at Pycwn,
just in time for the sunset. We have been walking for a while and then we have
been playing petanque with smooth stones until it became very cold. I lost, but
for my defense it was comparable of playing football with rugby balls. (ok for
the others too...) Thus we went to the pub behind the jetty, had a few pints.
There was a pinball, (very rare in UK!), and one that I already practice a
lot when I was younger, so I spend a few quids and managed to beat it! (I know
it's a little bit ridiculous, but it is my holiday...).
The YH was 15 minutes driving far with
several surprises. First, the warden had left a note saying that it was at a 80
year birthday party and that the 4 males had to sleep at "The mare".
Second, our room had shower and TV. It was the best YH I ever been to and definitively
worth its 3 stars,. We had a good dinner, finishing all the alcohols. After the
keeper had arrived and gave "The bitches" to C. (What a
gentleman...), we quickly went to bed. and E. was exiled into "The
Bitches".
I might have missed his snoring, because
I couldn't sleep due to the heat of the room....
NB. The names of the room came from the
name of some islands close to Pycwn....
The picture on this post haven't been
taken during the trip, I had chosen them from internet by courtesy of the
original photograph.
Pictures
Steve
Pardoe's Snowdon Page
ST
David Cathedral picture
Map
Map
from LonelyPlanet.com
Misc
England
and Wales Youth Hostels web page
Caernarfon
official website
St
David official website