Evening in Aberystwyth

I waited for over an hour for the sun to set over the water at Aberystwyth. My reward for such patience was not as good as I had hoped, but it was a good relax time for us, simply strolling along the walkway, watching others doing the same thing we were, and enjoying this beauty-filled spot on the Wales coast.

The coast north of  town, where we had driven that afternoon.

Interesting sea serpent benches

A discarded pair of jeans left us wondering about the story behind them--who left them, and why?

The castle above beckoned but after our long day we were tired and resisted its call.

Tile panels in alcove seats told the story of the city and the castle. We saw other such seats, a place for people to just sit and watch the water, out of the weather.

These steep, winding stairs led down to the water but we didn't try that either! The tide was just coming in so there were some very slippery rocks down below.

A plaque commemorating the completion of the sea wall and walkway in 1903. What a job that must have been! The work could surely only have been done while the tide was out?

Who is that on the castle?

Just one lonely seagull, keeping watch.

Little boys doing what little boys do, throwing rocks in the water. Always makes me smile. Children haven't really changed much in many ways, have they?

Slowly old Sol began to sink...

This photo was taken with my camera,

 and this one with my cell phone. Sometimes I must look like a mad woman, swapping between the two, but I was posting photos on Facebook as we traveled so I was using both most of the time.

As we made our way back to the car, we spotted these chairs in a circle, a work of sculpture made to be used.

This graffiti on a wall along the walkway was another stop and ponder moment. I felt some of that myself.

"Don't cry for me, Aberystwyth." We were on our way again in the morning, this time driving away from the sea and over the moors to Merthyr Tydfil.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Aberystwyth to Machynlleth, Just Looking

With most of the afternoon ahead of us, we drove north on the A487 just sightseeing.

It was a beautiful drive, surrounded by green hills with occasional glimpses of water. We drove through the old village of Borth, which our train companions had recommended as worth visiting, and then onward to Machynlleth ( you can hear the pronunciation here).

Machynlleth boasts a beautiful Victorian clock tower, built in the 1870's by subscription, in the center of town. The town is steeped in history, dating back to pre-Roman times, with copper mining active in the area as far back as 2600 BC. The Welsh hero  Owain Glyndŵr established the first Welsh parliament here, giving rise to claims that Machynlleth was the first capital of Wales.

What good chance brought us here? Antique stores everywhere! I went browsing while Larry took a coffee break at the local pub.

I loved this creative fundraising idea.

I loved the blue iron fence and door too. 

Ah, the pub! I stopped in here for a cup of tea, and to rest my tired feet.

The White Lion, in stone.

This is a busy town, with many tourists and lots of buses and traffic passing through. There was a decidedly upbeat feel here, and I found myself wishing our room was in this town.

 A good luck door? This is actually the door to the old livery stables in town.

An out-the-window glimpse of an old water mill with large no parking, private property signs that discouraged further exploration.

The sign reads, "Artist Valley." Made me curious but by now it was past dinnertime.

Most signs in Wales are in both Welsh and English, a good thing! Welsh is an intriguing language, with surprising combinations of letters.

And finally, back homeward to Aberystwyth, tired but ready to go back to the harbor for just a little while before dinner and bed.

For a bit different look at "driving" in Machynlleth, check out these off-roaders. I know a few guys who would love this kind of fun.


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Riding the (Steam) Rails in Aberystwyth

I found out about the steam train trip into the Rheidol valley online, months before our trip. Since our time in Wales was going to be limited, this seemed like a good way to see some of the country.

The Vale of Rheidol narrow-gauge steam railway is a tourist train nowadays, one of several in Wales and Cornwall. Originally built around 1900 in hopes of keeping the lead mines in the valley open, the railroad also transported passengers and timber. World War I saw the closure of the lead mines, which I find interesting since surely lead was needed for bullets and other uses during the war? The railroad managed to continue in operation until World War II, when it was closed for the duration of the war, but service resumed and continued until 1989. This was the last steam railroad operated by the British Rail system and was bought in 1989 by a private charity that restored the locomotives and cars and now runs for the tourist trade. In many ways its history mirrors that of West Virginia's narrow-gauge Cass Scenic Railroad, built at the same time as the Rheidol railway and which is also now a tourist train originally built to haul timber,

Here are some photos and a couple short videos of our trip, which took about 4 hours.

Taking advantage of some free wifi before we left

The valley below us was so beautiful

Green, green, green!

At a stop along the way

It was pretty close to the edge of the cliff in many places

Old buildings, farms, livestock all along the way.

Another station on the line:

A pretty lane leading up to one of the stops

I really did not lean out of the windows--but my arm and camera did here and there.

 On the way back, the conductor spied our coffee cups. We were in the first class carriage, and guess what? No coffee allowed because of the upholstery! I was so sad that I would have to dump out my sorely needed brew, but the conductor moved us to the "Reserved" car. As we were leaving one man in our car shouted, "I'd like some fish and chips, please!" This car was just like first class but the seats were vinyl--and we had it all to ourselves, which was nice.

The offending coffee cup, in the corner. The leather strap is a pretty ingenuous window lowering/raising device. The bet has holes that slip over a knob on the door and hold the window in the desired position.

Our conductor, who was as nice as it is possible to be. He explained a lot about the train to me as we traveled along.

Finally back at the station, coal is shoveled in for the next trip.

We really enjoyed this trip. It was only the second time Larry had been on a train, except for hopping rides on slow-moving coal trains when he was a boy. The scenery was gorgeous, and the cool crisp weather a welcome relief after so many weeks of heat at home.

We still had time to do something after we got back, so we took off north to see what might be waiting there.



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Godmanchester to Aberystwyth

Thank goodness for the SatNav (or GPS, as we call it)!

We left Godmanchester early Sunday morning to make our way across England to Shropshire, where blog friend Gretel of the Middle of Nowhere blog lives. I've been following her artistic adventures and stories of life in a small cottage in the gentle Shropshire hills for several years, and when she heard we were coming to England and would be passing through her area, she invited us for lunch. I was thrilled and anxious it meet this talented lady.

Here's the thing about the SatNav: you put in a British post code and by golly that thing will take you right to the door. It's just amazing. I don't know if Google maps can do the same; when I plug in my zip plus 4, the directions are about as vague as it's possible to be. Gretel lives out a ways on a small lane and I seriously do not think we could have found her without the SatNav, and my phone, of course, was getting no signal out there.

But find her we did, and we had the most fascinating 3 hours of nonstop talking with Gretel and Joe. Their cottage is lovely, quite old and a work in progress as they renovate to make it their own. I didn't even think to take photos, but you can visit her blog and see for yourself. Her felt creatures are serious artistry, so very cunning and unique. And her kitchen---I could love that space, I really could.

Gretel made a lunch of a delicious casserole; I cannot remember now what she said was in it, but it was one of the best things we ate on this trip. She also made homemade rolls and a lemon cake with Devonshire cream. Oh. My.

Warm rolls, pretty plates, old wood table, friends--perfect.

We found that we had very similar tastes in kitchen decor and dishes, and even had identical cameras, which we've both had for about 10 years and love. Her garden was sporting some gorgeous sedum so of course I had to take a photo, but forgot to take one of the rest of that restful space.

I hated to leave. Joe and Gretel made us so welcome, but our b&b was still some miles away, so we said goodbye and continued on our way.

And then, we saw this sign.

We were in Wales at last, a place I've wanted to visit since I was a child. Beautiful green hills surrounded us,

and we got a good look at some of them as we followed Peter Jolly's Circus trucks for a long, winding way.

Araf means slow in Welsh, and we had fun saying it like a pirate.

 Eventually we were able to pass them and we arrived in Aberystwyth (pronounced a-bur-ISS-twith) early in the evening. Then to find our b&b.

This one, I have to say, was a letdown. It was right in the center of town on a narrow street, and the place was just not what I envisioned, although it was fairly close to the harbor which was nice. We did learn that our room was once the home of the famous Welsh poet Waldo Williams, but the room had been quite modernized so there was no vestige left of how it might have been when he was there, except for the view of the back alley from the window. Not inspiring, I can tell you. However, I'd rented this room for two nights, so there we were.

We ventured back out after getting our bags inside, and found Aberystwyth Castle, high above the harbor. Built in the 13th century, the castle once was also a royal mint at one time, making silver shillings. We explored a bit, enjoying being by the water at last, before returning to our room for the night.

The bed was hard and uncomfortable so neither of us slept well, but early in the morning we wakened to the sound of seagulls calling. That was kind of nice, really. Our breakfast was a cereal-toast-and-tea variety, no fruit or anything extra here.

We were up and out early so that we could: a) find a grocery store and pick up some food for lunches and suppers (saving money that way) and b) get to the Rheidol Valley Railway in time for a journey into central Wales. We found the store, with prices more reasonable than expected, stashed our goods in the car, and then waited for the train.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.