Welshpool

Welshpool

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May 28

The fantastic weather finally gave out. We woke to windy rainy skies. Despite the lack of an ensuite room, we enjoyed the Sea Spray the most on this trip. Manya is a fantastic innkeeper and we had a great chat with her before we left. We will definitely be back and would recommend this to all. We realized as we were driving out of town that we had never actually visited Criccieth Castle so we made a wild U-turn and headed back for another "free" romp through a castle courtesy of the British Heritage Card. The rain was more of a mist at this point and there was something refreshing about it after days of warm sun. Criccieth is in ruins, and there is not a lot to see, though there is a pretty complete visitor center attached. The view from the top of the hill over the beach that our room looked out upon is nice, but we were starting to get pretty wet so we scurried back to the car.

I wanted to see what the town of Betsw-y-Coed was like since it is considered the place to stay in the middle of the park The route there is a gorgeous drive even in the rain and as you travel through the slate mine areas, the hills along the side of the road are covered with huge quantities of small slabs of slate.

Although Betsw-y-coed is a beautiful town in a lovely setting, it strikes me as the upscale Killarney of Wales. I'm sure it has some wonderful shops and the B&Bs are all nice but the streets were clogged with tourists and parking was a mess, even in the shoulder season. We decided not to spend time here and perhaps try it a bit earlier in a trip, further from a bank holiday. Be aware that there is some major road construction on the road into town from he west and it looks like it has a good deal of time left before it is complete. Delays coming in could be substantial during the high season.

We continued east and passed by Dolwyyddelan Castle high on a hill above us. The rain was coming down and the hike up the hill sounded like a soggy enterprise, so we passed and continued into Llangollen. This was to be a lunch stop and we settled in at the Bull Inn which offered a short walk from the public parking. A good thing in the rain. The downstairs bar was smoky but upstairs was nice and we were the only ones in the room. An interview with by a local radio jock with star of Stage and Screen, Dirk Benedict was on and we listened to him answer mindless questions about the equally mindless A Team series which is popular with at least a small segment of the Welsh community. He spent the bulk of the time complaining how his fabulous show was panned by the all powerful, homsexual liberal press based solely on the complaint that the show was blatantly heterosexual and involved cigar smoking. Do I HAVE to go back?

We decided to look for a place to stay in Welshpool which we figured would be jammed with B&Bs due to the proximity of nearby Powis Castle. We were wrong. We gave up on one option because it was so far down a one track road that driving to a from would be a hassle. We went through town and found a sign on the other end for a B&B next to a hotel.

The owner wasn't home so we called the number on the door. Roy arrived and showed us to our room. Clearly he was new to this game and this house was not set up to be a B&B. There was one bathroom and we had to sign up for shower times. This was not much of a problem as we were the only guests. He had plans for the evening and we wanted to see if we could get into Powis Castle .

The castle was closed when we arrived but the gardens were still open. The castle is only open from 1-4:30 each day which makes for a small window and also meant we wouldn't be visiting. The gardens are quite a sight and wandering through them was a joy, but we had a little less than an our and didn't want to get locked in. We met a peacock at the entry and danced with him for a few and then made the trip back to town.

Welshpool is a market town, which sounds romantic in guide books but has virtually no relevance today. Oh sure, there is still a market once a year when sheep fill the streets but that doesn't somehow make the town sound more desirable to me. At least the streets don't run red with blood anymore. Sending lambs to slaughter isn't my idea of fun. Anyway, we found the only pub that Roy, our host would recommend in Welshpool, was waited on by a youngster who certainly wasn't shaving yet and had another fine meal and I consumed some more cask ales.

We returned to the no name B&B and met Boy the Dog. It seems his name had been Roy also when the family acquired him, but it created too much confusion, so his name was changed to Boy. Boy was a motley looking canine who craved attention and we happily provided it. It also allowed Felicity yet another opportunity to have her picture taken with a local domesticated animal. I like the beers, she likes the pets. It seems to work for us.

After playing with Boy for a while we went inside where we viewed some pictures prominently displayed in the entrance/dining room. We wondered what had happened to his wife and eventually found a framed obituary, picture and story of her life. We would later find out that she died from an ailment that had created a lifetime of pain for her which was caused by the birth of her twin sons 35 years earlier. It was a sad story and Roy was holding up well, so it was easier to forgive his lack of competence as an inn keeper.

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Deer at Powis Castle

Felicity plays with the wildlife

The wildlife is impressed

Powis Castle from the gardens

The strange hedges at Powis

The gardens from above

A trail along the hedges at Powis

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