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“The week passed at a leisurely pace.” |
Renting a cottage for a week via the internet is by its very definition a risky endeavor. Deposit transferred by interbank electronic means, a couple of e-mail communications and a few website photos. As we headed down the single lane country road, carefully following the directions given to us by the cottage owners, we began to wonder. But, fear not. As we made the next turn (as per the instructions), there it was - Rhydyfen - or, more precisely, the Owl Cottage at Rhydyfen. The owner, living in the house at the other end of the complex, was waiting for us and showed us directly to our stone-walled cottage. It was formerly a grainery - but now a finely appointed holiday cottage - 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, large kitchen, large living room with wood-burning fire place, outdoor swing and picnic tables (alas the weather was not conducive to much in the way of outdoor dining) and a private parking area. It was a fine home away from home and about a 5 minute drive from the Welsh town of Corwen.
The week passed at a leisurely pace. We took several day trips in the area, always managing to find a nice dining establishment! A few words about dining is in order. First, the food in Wales is quite good - much better than one fear's when traveling in the British Isles! We usually ate one meal out per day, with breakfast and another meal taken at our cottage. Several of meals were outstanding - the best being the "fish plate" and the "meat plate" at Pen-y-Gwyrd en route to Llanberis Pass. The fish plate consisted of a variety of smoked and kippered fish - mackerel, salmon, white fish, plus prawns and salad and wonderful bread. The meat plate was similarly put together, with ham, turkey, chicken, salami, ... Each plate was about $15 and the two plates more than fed the three of us. All of this is a setting surrounded by memorabilia from Edmund Hillary who prepared for his Everest expediation while staying (and eating) here in the early 1950's. Just splendid. We spent that day exploring Snowdonia - an hour or two drive west of Corwen. In addition to the aforementioned lunch stop, we walked around the "alpine" village of Betws-y-Coed, where Emma and I took a ride on a very-narrow-gaged railroad. Post-lunch, we continued west to the coast, touring Caernarfon Castle. Within 30 miles or so of Corwen are a variety of small communities, farmlands and windy, narrow roads - ideal for day-tripping.
One of the reasons for staying in the Corwen area was to attend the Llangollan Eisteddfod (try saying that three times fast - actually, try saying it just once in true Welsh style - nearly impossible! - Fen-gof-fen Ey-steth-vot). Anyway, the Eisteddfod is an unique Welsh cultural competition involving choirs, dancers, soloists from folk traditions around the world. Thousands of competitors and ten of thousands of visitors attend the Llangollan festival each year. We attended two days - children's day and dancing day - and observed the opening day parade of competitors through town. Artists ranged from solo singers from Ireland and Wales to ensemble dance troups from India - and more than a few choirs from American high schools. A marvelous experience.
On our second to last day in Wales, we drove east of Llangollan to the town of Chirk and toured the wonderful Chirk Castle - this one NOT a ruin - set on a lovely hill with formal gardens. Also in the Chirk area are two aqueducts - the Chirk Aqueduct (naturally) and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (try to pronouce THAT). Both carry narrowboats across river valleys and are quite the site to behold. Gillian and I had cruised across both of these aqueducts in a previous trip to the area. And speaking of narrowboats, it was now time to check out of our cottage, return our rental car, and board our boat!
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