Adventure 25: Castles, Moose beer and Stotties

A few months ago, I thought to myself - how shall I spend my half term? I, after all, suffer from a dreadful case of Wanderlust at the best of times, and am unable to stay still for a moment. There is so much to see out there, and though my comfy sofa is my constant friend, when I have time off I like to explore the big wide world. Alas! Money is needed to travel, and with plans to visit my father-in-law in Rwanda in the summer, I am busy saving. Fretfully, I put a notice on Facebook asking if anyone fancied a visitor.... and DAISY replied! I had an unscheduled visit to Daisy a few weeks ago (I managed to hitch a lift with one of Levi's colleagues that time) but this half term was the real deal - four glorious days in North Wales with plenty of fresh air, wine and girly time. 

Despite arriving late Monday, I managed to catch up with Daisy and another friend Owain at the Fat Cat in Bangor (http://www.catlovin.co.uk/bangor/index.html) where I had a couple of pints of the excellent beer Dark Side of the Moose/Ochr Dywyll Mws - very malty and very gorgeous. I was also introduced to another excellent pub which I'd not been to before called The Mostyn Arms though I cannot remember what I had there... but I do remember the wonderful atmosphere.

 

On Tuesday, we went to Beaumaris on Angelsey. It has a wonderful toy like castle built by Edward I in his bid to take over Wales following the Madog ap Llywelyn uprising. You can wander the walls, tunnels and rooms but a word of caution: signs warn that this castle can induce hangovers as demonstated by Daisy below.

 

After escaping the seagulls at the castle, we got some seriously delicious icecream (Daisy pointed out that both my flavours were alcoholic... hmmm...) and decided to have a go at crabbing on the pier. We've learnt several important lessons from this...

1) Crabs hate us (we were the only people on the pier not to get any)

2) Sardines are not what crabs like to eat (see above)

3) We lack patience. Frankly, the pub is better... and warmer... 

 

Ye Olde Bulls Head was very pleasant indeed. Beer was not massively exciting, but it had cool seventeenth century furniture and a hearty fire. 

 

Then on Wednesday, I went to see my great aunt again, which is always a pleasure. We had a long natter and sandwiches in her balmy living room. It makes me feel guilty saying this, but since losing both my grandmothers in the last 15 months it has made me appreciate her even more than I did before and it was nice to pretend even for an afternoon that she was my granny... I look forward to seeing her again later in the year. You have to admit she looks fab for someone who is ninety later in the year!

 

Thursday was a soggy day and Daisy and I sought sanctuary in the interestingly named Black Boy Public House in Caernarfon. In this welsh speaking heartland it was interesting to be in such a bilingual environment (I ordered in English and the bar lady passed on our orders to the cook in Welsh) and I had a seriously good lunch of sausages and mash with gravy in a Yorkshire pudding.

A second, more impressive castle, is to be found in Caernarfon. Another one to be built by Edward I in his wars against the Welsh, it boast tremendous walls and turrets and truly is a picture book castle.

 

Like Beaumaris, this one comes with a warning. Its not seagulls or hangovers this time. Oh no. This one has magical fireplaces that shrink you. Once again, Daisy volunteered to show this in action. 

 

We then went to Beddgelert near Snowdon (for foreign readers its Wales' biggest mountain) which is famous for the story of Gelert the Dog. I first visited the place as a child, and the story has always made me sad (though as Levi's colleague, Helen Birkett, at the University of Exeter, says it is basically stolen from the story of Saint Guinefort, a thirteenth century dog saint in France)...

Llywelyn the Great (the one who caused Edward I to build all his North Welsh castles) had a faithful hound called Gelert who went with him everywhere. One day, Llywelyn went hunting and left Gelert to guard his baby son in his cradle. Llywelyn returned from hunting to find the cradle overturned and empty and the dog smeared with blood. Convinced the dog had killed the baby, Llewelyn takes his sword and slays the hound. As Gelert dies, the baby cries! The prince finds the baby along with the dead body of a wolf which had tried to eat the baby and had been killed by Gelert. The remorseful prince buried his dog and erected a memorial to him, which is to be found at Beddgelert (the grave of Gelert).

 

Wiping away a tear (I am honestly a big softie), Daisy and I went for a walk by the river where I found lots of gorse had come out (surely a sign that Spring is on its way!) and having read that these are indeed edible endeavoured to try some. I must say I was most impressed, the flowers taste just like coconut and I have now added Gorse to the list of things I want to forage in the coming weeks (I have found plenty of recipes from codial to wine, icecream to jam e.g. http://www.eatweeds.co.uk/gorse-flower-cordial-recipe)

 

We missed our bus (yes we're numpties) and ended up in the Tanronnen Inn (http://www.tanronnen.co.uk/) where I had a good pint of Hannibal Nectar which was a hoppy bitter, and a local man called Sion taught us how to play Black Jack which was fun.

 

The final morning was spent on Bangor Pier again which was incredibly windy. The mountains and headlands looked absolutely stunning - such a beautiful place to live and lunch was a bacon and egg stottie and a couple of pints of Glaslyn Ale/Cwrw Glaslyn. North Wales has some seriously good ales on offer for Real Ale fans.

 

And so, back to real life, school starts again tomorrow and I'll be counting down until Easter already. A big thank you to Daisy for being such a wonderful hostess. The only surprise of the trip was that there was wine left at the end... we're good girls really!

Adventure 24: The Brythonic World

What a fortnight! For those of you outside of the UK, you may not be aware but England is apparently sinking below the sea, as deluges of rain threaten to drown us, the railway line has washed away at Dawlish and the rivers in the South West threaten to overflow (and indeed, they have in the next county along - Poor Somerset). Not, the weather really to go out in full stop, let alone go walking or foraging. 

(westernmorningnews.co.uk)

Still, I have managed to finish off a couple of projects from the comfort of my flat. I have strained my bullace gin (its in the little bottle on the right). Its much sweeter than its cousin, sloe gin (which is gone now, whoops...) and also the sloe sherry, where I used the sloes from the sloe gin a couple of months ago to infuse a bottle of sweet sherry using this recipe: http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/sloe-sherry-recipe-104/

It seems very tasty, and I didn't even need to add any sugar - very strong though. One for small doses I think! Then, cross at my failure to produce hawthorn and crab apple schnapps over the Christmas Holidays, I have decided to try again with my remaining vodka and some of my frozen stash from the freezer. I now have a small jar of hawthorn vodka mixture and a second with rosehips. I realise now I should have halved the hips (http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/blog/2013/10/rosehip-foraging/) but will see how this goes for now.  

Then, trip wise, I have managed to go to both Wales and Cornwall the last couple of weeks. I hitched a lift with a friend to North Wales to visit my friend Daisy in Bangor and to pop and see my Auntie Kay in Holyhead, nearby. The weather was filthy but this did not stop Daisy and I heading to Conwy, looking at the beautiful castle there and supping some great pints (maybe a few too many!) at the Albion (http://www.conwybrewery.co.uk/3.html) in particular their beers from the Purple Moose Brewery/ Bragdy Mws Piws (http://www.purplemoose.co.uk/). Fantastic choice of pub from Daisy. We managed to watch the England game at the nearby British Legion and had a good sleep on the bus back to Bangor. In the evening we went out with a couple of  Daisy's lovely friends and hit Y Glob (The Globe) and another pub which name escapes me which had an amazing folk style singer who taught us the most awesome drinking song 'To the left, to the right, forward and back, stand up sit down, to the left to the right' which had us in fits. 

On the Sunday, I went to visit my Auntie Kay (my grandad's sister) in Holyhead. She's lived there for nearly fifty years (she's from Laois, Ireland) with her late husband, my Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe was the most awesome elderly uncle imaginable. He was in the merchant navy as a young man and the stories he used to tell us about all the places he went - I think his favourite was Bolivia (or was it Peru?) where for a days wages he could hire a bar, a band and drink all evening. Though that said, the favourite place did used to change every few times we used to go and visit. 

Auntie Kay and I had a good afternoon gossiping over lunch in Treaddur Bay (http://www.trearddurbayhotel.co.uk/) and I look forward to seeing her soon.

Then on the last day, Daisy and I went to Bangor Pier - it was so beautiful with the mountains in the distance all covered in snow. We toasted the weekend by having lunch and a pint at the Tap and Spile - another brilliant real ale pub in Bangor. Well worth a visit. 

This week, is Half Term. Levi is working but we managed to book ourselves a trip to nearby Cornwall for the weekend. We almost didn't get there due to the weather. We got the bus replacement from Exeter to Plymouth and then found there were no trains to Cornwall at all due to the massive storm and flooding at Liskeard and Penzance. There were no buses either due to police preventing high sided vehicles from crossing the Tamar Bridge due to high winds (the Tamar River is the border between counties). We eventually were given a taxi to Truro and arrived at the County Arms  in Truro after 10pm. 

Luckily the storm passed and the weather improved. There were no trains running throughout the weekend but we were able to get the bus to nearby Falmouth - a seaside town where we visited the beautiful Tudor Castle there and enjoyed fabulous award winning fish and chips  (http://www.harbourlights.co.uk/) and good pints at both 'The Front and 'Beerwolf Books'. 

Yesterday, we were able to enjoy the sunshine in Truro. We had to leave earlier than we thought (originally we were getting the train back late afternoon) as no trains or bus replacements were running and we'd managed to book a National Express coach back to Plymouth. Still, we had time to potter around town, look at the cathedral and grab a good pint in the Old Ale House before heading home.

I'm back up in Wales later today. Wish me luck on what will be a very long and dull journey indeed. Better go find a decent book....