Terrafirma Travels

Quick with porridge and no washing. We know our priorities. 3hr on Googlemaps looked optimistic, and it was. Took 3 3/4 with a brief stop at Taunton Deane. Mway was V busy so had nright idea of parking in caravan/HGV section. Loads of space, wide bays, no stress. Will repeat. Services Inc Costa rammed so had water and buttered bun in van - great! On the sharp turn off the A38, almost home, the 'crockery' drawer shot out onto the floor. Oops, I must have forgotten the latch. Luckily got away with just a slight mark on the fridge door. Lesson learned: always check your latches before moving off. The upsum of the trip is very successful indeed, the van is a delight. We just need thick toppers and to be warmer at night.

Early on Friday Nic drove to Ty Newydd where Lesley had been on the intensive poetry course.  Short upsum of the course- three days of workshops in the mornings, wild swimming and writing alone in the afternoons, and poetry readings in the evening. A good crowd of able poets, and lots of carbs in the meals provided by an in house chef. A good many poems were started,  and Lesley read a couple on the last night as part of a participants' showcase.  It was good to be back in the van together, in lush and mountainous scenery. We drove to nearby Port Meirion to see the Italianate village famous for being the backdrop to The Prisoner, the cult 60s TV series.  Had a pleasant walk by the estuary and a wonderful ice cream, then a longish drive to a town on the Severn, near the source of the river. Found a cracking community cafe with houmous plates and Welsh cheese.  Back on the road to the Brecon Beacons campsite. Slightly puzzling search for a free pitch. The sun is s...

Breakfast with K who's on days from today. Pete leaves at 6am. Fridge back on and stuff remembered from indoors. Easy drive, from Conwy onwards the route is v scenic. First Menai Bridge town car park too small, second Maes Parcio Waun needed coins!! Found a paybyphone option. Pee in van v good. Horizontal rain. Headed straight to Dylans looking over Menai Strait. Restaurant rather than cafe. Due to weather treated myself to an early pizza lunch - excellent. Sadly no letup in rain so no strolling in town. Not much to stroll to, to be honest, just Strait views. 40 mins to Bull Bay at the top. Rain stopped. 1 hour walk along cliffs. Circular walk goes back inland, figured that would be soggy so turned back early, cliffs in reverse. As I reached the van the rain came on again. What luck. Drove on round the island anticlockwise then a B road across the middle to Penrhos site. Identical to the previous Coed-Y-Llwyn site - perhaps all CAMCs are the same. Anglesey seems unremarkable, pleas...

 KP both working 6am-2pm. Leisurely morning for N, doing this blogging and planning tomorrow and Scotland in Sep. Heard the v sad news that Audrey didn't wake up this morning. A peaceful passing. She was the last of that generation in L's family on either side - loss of a much loved aunt and end of an era. An unusual view of the van. KP & N walked to Cheadle, to a park and then a chi-chi coffee shop for cafe kuchen. Quite hot walking. Collapsed on garden sofa for a good read. K has had a 9% pay rise, the first she's ever not fought for. Obviously this new senior journalist role on BBC England page is going well. Pete also v happy with his SJ (producer) role on the One. They are having trouble, the nice kind, deciding what to do with all their weekends together. Mushroom stroganoff and Olympics highlights completed the day.  L reported a sea swim with two others again, despite rain; these poets are hard core. Also read to N a beautiful/sad long poem written that day. The...

 Good, cosy night. Used gas for coffee and microwave for porridge. Spent a few hours in Conwy, parking outside the tiny town centre. Another big tick and worth revisiting. Coffee at marina, ice cream on quay, lunch in van. Easy 90min drive to Gatley. Much chatting, eating, drinking. They had early shift so bed at 9pm. N caught up on Must See Moments from Paris Olympics. L reported a river swim, poetic progress, and a new friend who is in Plymouth Labour - small world.

Lovely drive over to Ty Nywedd Writers' Centre. Shrewsbury was a revelation - what a great town centre surround by a loop of the R Severn. Google maps diverted us away from a crash on the A5 to scenic backroads. We're not finding any problems parking in normal car parks, though we do research them on satellite view. After L settled in to her room, N drove 30 mins back into Snowdonia to campsite. Ate at pub opposite. All v straightforward. 

So I'm writing this on day 4 ... a bit behind! I have to start back before this trip, because 6 days ago (9 Aug 2024) we collected our new VW LWB T6.1 Nexa+ from Bilbo's in W Sussex. We had gone by train to London (so only carrying a sheet), and had a lovely time staying with Alison & Tim (Turkish meal, Stella, David 8 miles, Chorus Line front row). After a 4 hour induction, drove to nearby Crawley to buy pillows, then our first CAMC campsite unfortunately next to Gatwick runway. A cold and noisy night. We'd heard that Audrey was fading so decided to visit on way to Wales, rather than on our return. This meant a 16 hour turnaround in Plymouth including stocking the van. Spent 2 hrs with Audrey, stayed with David & Sue.