Mum, Dad and The Boy went for a day out to the Isle of Anglesey. Before they left for the island, Dad took Mum to the supermarket where she bought daffodils, tulips and bara brith to give as St. David's Day gifts to her Mum and Sis. They had a nice surprise but The Family couldn't stay as they wanted to get on their way.
Getting to the island was relaxed and easy, but as they arrived at Menai Bridge (the town, not the actual bridge) they noticed an awful lot of lycra-clad people milling about. As they approached the town centre things got a bit tricky as the way through to Beaumaris was completely blocked off. It turned out that there was a very popular race being held called 'Jones o Gymru Anglesey Half Marathon'. Running races are all well and good, but Mum, Dad and The Boy wanted to go to Beaumaris and they weren't too sure how to get there without passing through the town, so they thought they would follow the yellow signs marked 'Traffic Diversion'.
Well, it took them all around the town and back, here and there, round and round, off the island and back onto it again. What a palaver it was trying to bypass the little town that blocked their path! The diversion eventually took them out of Menai Bridge and down some very narrow lanes. Lots of cars were taking the same diversion, in both directions, and there followed a lot of stopping and pulling over and a lot of wincing as the car brushed up against the twiggy hedges making cringeworthy squeaky sounds on the paintwork. Yeesh! Mum and Dad did not want to go down those lanes again!
They finally arrived in Beaumaris, feeling somewhat relieved. After parking up in the big car park on the banks of the Menai Strait, Mum and The Boy ran to the shore whilst Dad quickly checked his work emails and all that kind of stuff.
The Boy spent ten minutes looking for oyster shells and interesting stuff.
It was very windy on the shore and very, very cold too! So they all made a very hasty retreat to the castle.
Mum liked this little alleyway. She wondered where it led.
The day didn't feel very much like Spring was around the corner, but there were little signs of it in places.
The family headed to the castle entrance. Normally they would have had to pay to get in, but since it was St. David's Day, CADW (the organisation that cares for a lot of the castles in Wales) kindly let all visitors in for nothing. Hurrah and thank you CADW! The Boy was given a quiz sheet and pencil and they made their way through to the castle grounds.
Woo the outside of Beaumaris Castle, with a real moat!
Dad and The Boy on the drawbridge leading into the main gate of the castle.
Eh up, The Boy is getting tall, isn't he?! Mum stood next to the smoked sausage stall to take this picture. It smelled very nice. Very nice indeed!
Cheeky, giggling boys, because they were trying to make a funny photo and Mum said 'No, a nice one please!'
They all went up onto the walls of the castle. It was bitterly cold, windy and raining too. Brrrr!
Down in the centre of the castle were a few tents that looked interesting. The Family went to see what they were all about.
The first one they visited had owls! Mum, Dad and the Boy all enjoyed stroking the barn owl gently. She was extremely friendly and patient.
The ever-so pretty Barn Owl.
The grumpy Tawny Owl reminded Mum of being a Brownie when she was little. And the big one on the floor was a European Eagle Owl. It had superbright orange eyes. WOOOoooo!
The next tent showed The Family a little bit about life in medieval times. It looked cold and rather draughty.
The third tent had some people in it in medieval dress. A man showed Mum, Dad and The Boy how to make fire using a flint and steel. Dad made big sparks, The Boy made little sparks but Mum did not make any sparks at all. She chipped and chipped away to no avail. She decided that it was a good job she wasn't living in medieval times as she likes her meat thoroughly cooked.
They also went into a little hut and watched a very strange film. They weren't sure what it was all about as there were no words. Something about a man putting a toad into a pot and a spearhead diving in a lake with bubbles, all set to strange music. The Family scratched their heads, shrugged and left.
They had better luck with the information boards about King Edward, who built the castle in 1295 in order to keep the Welsh folk out. Cheeky man! It was a fabulous castle, though, and The Family enjoyed their visit very much. But the more they explored, the colder and wetter and more blown around they became. They decided it was definitely time to find some postcards for Mum's American friend then head back to the car for lunch and some respite from the wintry weather.
Dad turned the engine on to warm the car and passed round the chicken salad and dijon mayo wraps that he had made. They ate them with crisps and Bourbon creams. Yumyumyum!
Getting warm in the car. Dad doesn't look very happy. Mum thinks it's because she asked him to get in the shot, right in the middle of his wrap-munching. They _were_ very nice wraps.
As they sat in the warm, they noticed that the low clouds had begun to roll away from the Snowdonia mountains across the Menai Strait. The rain that had fallen in Beaumaris had fallen as snow or hail up there! It looked every so pretty so Mum jumped out of the car to take a few more photos. Brave soul.
One of Mum's fancypants panoramic photographs.
Freshly snow-capped mountains.
It looked like someone had been and sifted icing sugar everywhere!
It was time to head home and get ready for school and work. Dad thought he would take a different way back instead of going on the dreadful winding lanes again. They ended up on winding lanes again, of course, since Anglesey seems to have an awful lot of them. But The Boy was happy as he caught sight of the sea with lots of shipping boats.
The shipping lane, taken by Dad!
Despite the hairy lanes, the wind, the rain, the biting cold and the long traffic jam on the way home, Mum, Dad and The Boy decided that they were very glad to have had a day out rather than sitting at home. Hurrah for going out and hurrah for living in Wales!
Cymru am byth!!! (photographer unknown)
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