Coed y Brenin and Abergwyngregyn

Since I've been home, my daughter and I have been to a couple of beautiful places, the first was Coed Y Brenin and the other Aberwyngregyn. Coed Y Brenin is a beautiful forest nestled in the Snowdonia National Park, it's well known for it's mountain bike trails, some beautiful walks, and a high wire course called Go Ape, picnic area's, a children's play area and a visitors centre which includes a cafe. We sat down by a babbling stream for a picnic, while my old dog wandered around enjoying all the sights and smells, I'd advise using the picnic tables as there are loads of huge wood ants on the ground, they must be the biggest ants I've ever seen lol !! From there we went up to the visitor centre area, here's there's a number of mountain bike trails in varying from a family route to some for experienced riders, and some lovely walks through the forest. One of the highlights for us was watching people on the high wire course that's newly opened called Go Ape. For anyone that's fit I can definitely recommend this it looks great fun. We chatted to some of the people running the course, who were very friendly and they told us that there's 5 different courses, these courses include high-wire tree crossings, zip wires and tarzan swings. It costs £30 for 3 hrs and although that sounds a lot, it's certainly good value compared to go cart racing which costs £30 for 30 mins !!

The second place we've been this past week is Abergwyngregyn, this little village leads to Aber Falls, in the Coedydd Aber nature reserve. This is another stunning place to visit, the scenery is stunning and a 1.5hr walk takes you to Aber Falls. I did this walk before all the arthritis kicked in and it was well worth it to see Aber Falls. This time I just managed to get a short way in, but it was still worth it as the scenery is spectacular from the word go. The cafe in Abergwyngregyn, is well worth a visit after a long walk too.

Yesterday my son Billie came round and put up a fence for us in our garden. We've wanted this up for ages, as now our dog can wander freely in the garden with no fear of escaping. Road sense is something my dog has no concept of, so until now he's always had to be on a very long lead to go in the garden.

Photo's today are of one of my gorgeous grand daughter Raggz that I took while I was staying at her house. One of my 13th grandchild Kacey Louise who was born on 14th April, and is my youngest son Billies little girl, one of me that I actually like ( which is rare lol) and one of a beautiful wood carving at Coedydd Aber nature reserve.

Adventures ...

For once Anglesey wasn't soothing my soul as it usually does, in fact I was feeling a bit like a time bomb waiting to explode ...which is totally out of character for me. So after chatting to my daughter in the Midlands, her husband came up the next day and whisked me off to their house for a week. As it turned out, one week turned into two.As my daughter had passed her test since I was down there last, I knew we'd be out and about a lot, something I was really looking forward to.

First things first though, as next of kin my daughter had her fathers (my first husbands) funeral to organise. By the time I arrived most of it was sorted out and there was just loose ends to get sorted. I have to say that I was appalled how much a funeral costs, every person involved seemed determined to make money from someones loss. Even the relief vicar of the church my ex used to go to, was out to make money !! After hearing the ceremony I can tell you he wasn't worth the money !!! He repeated himself and obviously hadn't listened to a word that was said about my ex, as a good part of the speech he gave about him was totally unrelated. Incidentally whoever is in charge of Oakley Woods Crematorium your ceilings in South chapel need a dammed good clean ...the size of the cobwebs in there are massive !! As my ex and I stayed friends even though we parted many years ago, I wanted to go and say goodbye to the old bugger, and also met up with my brother and sister in law as I hadn't seen them for years. When we arrived I was really pleased to see my brother in laws wife there, I knew she'd been ill so wasn't expecting to see her there. She and I got along so well way back then, and it was as though we'd seen each other last week. My daughter spoke at the funeral as she wanted to say a few words about her dad, I knew she'd get upset but I was really proud of her, she spoke of the real man, rather than the clap trap the vicar spoke about him, and tears were shed by plenty of the people that were there.

After a day to recover from the previous 3 weeks of organising the funeral and the stress of having to clear out his flat, my daughter was more than ready for a few adventures !! As always high on the list of things to do was to go and visit my son Ben and our friends Martin and Mandy to catch up with their news. Martin and Mandy have had all their garden redone and it's looking amazing. My son whisked us all off for a lunchtime meal at the Big Wok in Birmingham, as always the food was gorgeous. We also went to visit various friends while I was there including Vicky and Julian in Rugby some friends I know from a forum we both use.

But the highlight of my whole trip was going to met my friend Ray at long last. Ray and I have been emailing each other for the last 2 years, and have tried to met up quite a few times. But with him living on a barge and travelling the length and breadth of the UK in it, we weren't always in the same area at the same time. Plus nerves got the better of me more than a few times I have to admit, and I chickened out even when we were in the same area at the same time. On hindsight, I really regret missing out on spending more time with him due to nerves, all those other times. He was a lovely guy, and I was at ease with him straight away. He has converted his barge very cleverly, not only to cater for his glass bead making by adding extra space at the end of the barge for his workshop and a shop frontage to sell his beads and the many things he makes with them. But also to allow for the fact that he's 6ft 5" and needed extra height. This was an added plus for me too as I'm 6ft 2" ... I have to say it's very rare for me to have to look up to a guy, but this is one guy I'm more than happy to look up to lol :o)Time passed really quickly and all too soon it was time to go, we've already arranged to met up next time we're in the same area's.Also I'll take photo's of his workshop and beautiful beads he makes. In the meantime here's 3 pics I took while I was there this time, including one of his cute little dog Bob.

Easter fun and car stresses

Just before Easter my daughter took her car into our regular garage as there was a knocking noise when she went round corners. The guy in the garage took the wheel off to have a look and found that the brake callipers were worn and rusty. So advised my daughter to go round to another guy that does car repairs to get him to have a look and see if he could get it done quicker. To cut a long story short, the brake callipers got sorted out, but much to my daughters dismay the original knocking was still there !! This causes so much stress as any car repairs are a major financial headache in this house, so she knew that even more money was going to have to be spent on the car. However lack of cash was going to stop the 2nd job from being done anyway.

My daughter was so het up about the car later in the day, she accidentally let it slip that one of my sons was planning a surprise visit with some friends of ours from Birmingham the next day !! Friday duly arrived and my son and our friends arrived a little fraught as the traffic on the M6 was terrible. After some discussion they booked into the Auckland Arms in Menai Bridge for two days. I felt terrible when they went to drop off their luggage and came back saying that the place was way below the standard they expected from the website. The kettles were filthy inside and had to be brought round to my house to be scoured out before being used. Not a good start !!! They came back and we talked quite late into the night catching up on each others news, and my son bought us a chinese meal for our dinner ...I had king prawn curry it was yummmmmm lol. Then off they went to their B&B for the night.

The following day they came round ready for a day out sightseeing. It turned out that things didn't improve when they got back to the Auckland Arms, as the beds were very uncomfortable, also the breakfast in the morning wasn't up to much either. It took ages to get served and even when it did arrive it wasn't very warm, the toast had been put on top of the disgusting tasting beans, making it go soggy. My friends were not impressed !!! At £240 for the two nights they were here they expected better, so I advise anyone looking for B&B's on Anglesey to avoid the one I've mentioned here. It's obvious from the link that follows that my friends weren't the only ones that found this place substandard either, just wish I'd found these reviews before they'd booked in there !! Trip Advisor.Co.Uk

It was a warm and sunny day, so we set off to Porthmadog's black rock sands, for a day on the beach followed by a trip through the mountains on the way home. Much fun was had by all, playing frisbee and football.My youngest sons huge 6ft kite was the most popular thing to have a go at though lol. My friend Mandy went off to the loo and was gone for at least an hour and half, we were all wondering where she'd got to when she back clutching a load of leaflets and telling us all to get in the minibus she'd got us an invite to a free bbq lol. She'd gone to have a look round a caravan holiday park and the owners had invited her and the remaining 6 of us to go to the bbq too. By the time we left there, there's no doubt in our minds that if she'd have had the money to buy one of the holiday homes there and then she would have, she was so impressed. After that we took a leisurely drive back through the mountains to get home. We were quite surprised how much snow there was still on the ground in places, some of it quite thick.

Another sunny day dawned on Sunday, and we'd arranged to go to the car boot at Mona. Much to my surprise my youngest son and his heavily pregnant girlfriend had managed to get up in time to come too. This son is not known for getting up early I might add lol. I was disappointed to see that there were only 4 rows of booters even though it was Easter, but I suppose as the weather had been so unpredictable earlier in the week, it wasn't that surprising. I managed to find myself some new books to read, a little tea light lamp and a cardi. My friends Mandy and Mart surpassed themselves and bought an X box and a motorbike lol. That's the first time in all the years I've gone to car boots that I've known anyone spend over £600 lol.

Once we'd got back to my house and had a coffee, my older son decided he wanted to treat us to Sunday lunch before they set off back home. As we all have healthy appetites it was decided to try and find a carvery not too far away. We found one in Pentraeth but sadly it was already packed to the rafters, so we carried on towards Benllech and found a little pub which didn't do a carvery but their food was gorgeous. I just wish I could remember the name of it to give them a plug but I can't :o( All to soon it was time was my son and our friends to start their journey back home to the Midlands again. The time had gone way to fast, but we'd all enjoyed it !!