The posts are a bit delayed, but then I remember the last time that a reality TV show aired in real time. Guaranteed: the posts are still coming.
Monday, April 27, 2015
In the morning, George and I go and have breakfast with his friend Seamus and then we are on the road. After a stop to pick up an item, we continue on to Belfast. We go to a café for lunch where Derek and Helen join us, who I also originally know from 2005.
After lunch, we all head back to the home of Derek and Helen and then George heads off. Derek is a retired pastor, has three children, and in a few days seven grandchildren will become eight. After spending the afternoon at Derek and Helen’s home, they take me over to their friend’s home where I will be staying. (The new grandchild on the way put a bit much happening in a week to support family and host a guest.)
Peter and Linda are longtime friends of Derek and Helen. I originally didn’t think I had met them before, but then as we were talking and I was learning about them, I totally remembered that I had met them before and knew about them. I figure it must have been when I was here in 2007, either way it looks like we are actually meeting again.
Their friend Armond is there visiting for the day, and like me has traveled a good amount and volunteered overseas. He previously had lived with Peter and Linda and I learn that Peter loves cards and they would play for hours and hours. Good luck to me as we sit down to play a game new to me.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
We play some cards. I reseal their shower that has just recently started leaking down into the kitchen. I’m happy enough to help out with home repair projects in exchange for a bed!
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Derek comes over midmorning and we spend time talking and drinking tea. Before he leaves, he receives the official news of a new grandson.
Now that the new sealant in the shower has cured overnight, we give it a test. The shower still leaks and I’m not surprised, unfortunately. I was pretty sure that resealing it would not correct the problem, but considering it only cost a few dollars to try, it didn’t make any sense not to try it as a first step. Unfortunately the leak is occurring under the shower, not originating from within the shower, and to me it seems there must be a piping joint that has failed.
In the evening, I go to dinner at an Indian restaurant with Heather, Graham, and Joanne, who is another person I have known since 2005.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
In the morning, Peter drives me to the ferry terminal in Belfast. It’s a massive ferry, by far the largest I have been on. It is not just a passenger and vehicle ferry, but a commercial ferry for shipping. It has a length of 186.5 meters (612 feet) and has six decks. The ferry can hold 120 semi trailers, 85 cars, and 720 passengers. There are lifeboats large enough to hold 150 people each. The interior has finishes like a mall or hotel with a restaurant and multiple lounge areas. There is even a movie theater.
Turbines of a wind farm in the Irish Sea.
After 8 hours and 145 nautical miles, the ferry arrives at its destination. Welcome to Liverpool.
View of Liverpool, England as the ferry arrives from across the Irish Sea.
My friend Mairi picks me up in her car from the ferry terminal and we go back to her flat. I originally know Mairi from when she stayed with me in Seattle in 2012 as she was travelling down the west coast of the U.S. – a friend of a friend connection. She was traveling with three others and they were originally going to stay in my two-bedroom apartment for a weekend, which then expanded to nearly a week.
Later that night we go out to a pub with a few of her flat mates.
Friday, May 1, 2015
At 11:30am, I leave Mairi’s flat and walk 10 minutes to the closest train station.
Waiting for my train at St. Michaels Train Station in Liverpool.
The train takes me to Chester where I will transfer to another train. Due to a fatality on the tracks nearby, there are multi-hour delays for many routes.
The train routes begin to reopen and I’m on my way. I arrive into Llandudno just before 3:00pm and then take a bus south to Betws-y-Coed, arriving at 4:00pm. The next bus I am supposed to take, which is the last one of the day that will allow me to catch another bus after that, departed 10 minutes ago. The train delay in Chester has caught up. (Good luck pronouncing the names of those last two towns, you’ll probably be way off, like I was!)
One must travel by the methods available, here is my hitchhiking sign.
Jeff and Barbara see the sign I hold as I stand on the side of the road that exits the town in the direction I need to go. They stop in their SUV and say that they are heading that way so will take me part way to my destination, so I figure I’ll hitch another ride from that point. We start talking and they decide they will take me the whole way. After 20 minutes or so, they drop me off in Snowdonia National Park at the Bryn Gwynant Youth Hostel. Welcome to Wales!
The hostel doesn’t actually have a single youth in it tonight, making it like a retreat for adults. The building was originally a Victorian mansion and sits just above a lake. Since I am confused by names related to the hostel and area, I talk to a staff member at the hostel and they explain: Gwynant is the name of the area, Nant Gwynant is the name of the valley, Llyn Gwynant the name of the lake, and Bryn Gwynant is the name of the hill. Sorted.
I spend some of the evening with a group from Leeds, England who is here for the holiday weekend. Apparently Monday is a bank holiday due to May Day. I wish I had a day off for May Day. Okay, this year I sort of do.
At dinner, I sit with Dan who is a cyclist here for some mountain biking.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
When I wake up in the morning, it is raining. After breakfast, it is raining. When it is time to leave for the day, it is raining. Dan has decided not to mountain bike today but go spend some time at a coffee shop instead. I wish my schedule had the flexibility for me to make the same decision.
Dan offers to give me a ride so I can keep out of the rain for a few more minutes. Dan leaves me at the trailhead to the Watkin Path and I start off at 9:30am. Snowdonia is the home of Snowdon.
The trail starts out in the woods.
A series of bridges to cross several streams.
After not too long, the trail comes to some ruins as well as a waterfall. There is one building that is built right by the waterfall, which generally would seem a little unstable. There are also pastures that are ‘fenced’ with vertical stone slabs, which I have never seen before. There are sheep around on either side of the trail and I can see that there is some snow towards the peak. There are thick clouds so I can’t see the top or that much of the upper mountain.
Looking back on the trail after 1.5 hours of ascent.
Sometimes when it rains, rain turns to snow, and this happens at about 11:15am. The snow starts to accumulate on the trail and eventually the trail is covered. I admit it would be nice to have either boots or gators about now, but I made a decision to travel with only one pair of shoes so went with a pair of Gore-Tex hiking shoes. The minimalist approach is to have what will be sufficient, not what will be best, so sometimes it is less than ideal, but that is the balance of weight versus necessity.
It has just started to snow.
I reach a steep section where two other hikers are taking it slow. I take a break to give them time to pass through the steep section and then eventually pass them. It sure would be nice to have either trekking poles or an ice axe to offer some security against falling and to aid in balance. Eventually I come upon a group of ten hikers but they did not start out together, they have just all slowed and caught up to each other as the trail has become slippery and icy. I have no interest in trying to pass people on icy terrain, and making an unsafe situation even less safe for everyone. I hold at the back and watch how the others are taking their steps, learning where I am and am not going to place my feet. Then it becomes windy.
The snow begins to cover the Watkin Path.
Since some of the other hikers have been up here before, I decide to stay with the group. Visibility has worsened, the winds have increased, and it is becoming very cold. I take off my hat and bandana and put on my beanie: the body climate control game has changed from trying to cool down to now needing to stay warm.
We reach the top. There is actually a visitor center up here, but it is closed today, go figure. It is extremely windy and cold, and so we take shelter on one side of the visitor center where a partial height wall, where it meets the building, creates a slightly protected ‘alcove’ of an area. I eat my packed lunch from the hostel. The potato chips were a little problematic to eat with gloves on and with the winds still present in our ‘protected’ area. If I tried to shake them out of the bag and into my mouth, the chips were going to blow away. I improvised, completely crushing up the chips in the bag and then funneling them directly into my mouth with no chance to take the deliciousness away!
I put on another upper body layer and three layers of gloves before heading down with some of the others. I am actually colder at this moment then I remember being on a mountain in a long time and I’ve spent a lot of time in the mountains. I was not expecting these conditions, although I have brought the clothing for it. My fingers are the coldest and I wish I had put on all layers of my gloves before I ate. There are six main routes up Snowdon from different sides and I was planning on going down a different one than the one I came up. But with no visibility and never having been here before, I decide it is best to go down the same way I came up and with others who also came up that way.
Starting at about 12:30pm, we begin down, making it slowly through the steepest of the icy areas. There are people on their way up and I tell them there is free hot chocolate at the top. Then I ruin that dream for them when I tell them the truth: “Okay, no there’s not.” I thought it was hilarious, but one of the people I was with couldn’t believe I had said that to people. I told it to two groups of people. I think I would have actually been a jerk if I left them thinking there actually was and hadn’t corrected myself, and I was able to explain this to my new hiking partner and they came around to seeing that it was funny too. The hot tub at the top isn’t free though.
This is the area where people received a false hope that there was hot chocolate at the top.
As we continue to descend, the snow on the trail thins and there is less worry of slipping and less desire for trekking poles. The weather generally is improving as we drop in elevation, the wind dying down, and then the trail eventually becoming snow free. The temperature improves, as over some distance I remove one pair of gloves, then my beanie, and eventually don’t need gloves at all. It is still raining slightly for the remainder of the way back to the trailhead, reaching it just after 3:00pm. The lower mountain looks nothing like the upper.
The lower mountain is in quite the contrast to the snow and rocks of the top.
Snowdon Photo Gallery
The people I came down with are heading in the same direction that I am so fortunately I am able to catch a ride with them, saving me loads of time since I was going to need to take two buses and then a train. They drop me off in Prestatyn, a town northeast from Snowdonia that is on the coast of Wales.
I booked my accommodation in Prestatyn through the website AirBNB, which is a site to book a place to stay that can be anything from a spare room to an entire house, castle, or boat, literally. Michael greets me when I arrive and is very welcoming. He makes tea while I lay out all my wet clothes on multiple radiators in the house. And since I only have one pair of footwear, my shoes need to dry over night. (Recommendation: Always remove the laces from wet shoes for faster drying, always!)
I take a nice long, hot bath in a tub that is plenty big, and there is all the hot water available to fill it. From sitting in the bathtub, I can look out the bathroom window to the ocean, which is across the street from the house. My bedroom also has large windows that look out to the ocean. As it is still raining, I’ve been out in it all day, and my one pair of shoes are drying, I don’t feel the need to go and walk out on the beach.
Before dinner, Anne arrives home. It is actually her home and Michael is a friend of hers. I am their first AirBNB guest, and this is also the first AirBNB accommodation I have stayed at. Michael loves to cook so has made dinner, almost two dinners as there is a hearty soup and a really good Vietnamese dish.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Before breakfast, I sit in the living room next to the warm fire while drinking tea.
A nice warm fire going in the morning.
After breakfast I head out the back gate, across a field (to save a few minutes), and once I reach the road, continue across town to attend the Presbyterian Church. From there I head to the train station and after waiting a short while, board a train.
This day to be continued.
Map of Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Wales:
"When life gives you lemons, make hot chocolate, and leave the world wondering how you did it." – Kaira Tamura
Niece of a friend, age 12.