Return of the Kirbys
We're baaa-aack! Hello again - this time from Wales! As you know from our previous blog entry, we made it to Manchester and had a wonderful two days, thanks to our hosts - Andy and Sue Hutton. We arrived in Manchester on Thursday afternoon and after a cup of tea with Andy and his youngest son William, we went for a brisk walk through the moors with Andy and his two border collies - Bob and Tess - behind their house (which is actually in Stalybridge - on the east edge of Manchester). We met Sue when we came back from our walk at which point we had birthday cake for Emily and went to dinner at the Hare and Hounds - a charming pub on top of one of the hills surrounding the city. On Friday, the Huttons helped us pick up our rental car (or hired car as they say here). It turns out we have a Fiat Punto rather than a Volkswagen Lupo. It is pretty new and has a few more amenities than were listed, but according to Sue, Fiats are viewed over here similarly to how Americans might view a Kia. Nevertheless, it has been a fun and interesting adventure getting to drive around on the right side of the car but the left side of the road. Thankfully, Andy and Sue drove with us out to Wales (Emily with Sue and Andy with me). It made it a lot easier to get out of Manchester when all I had to do was follow Sue's tail-lights and not worry about missing turns.
Upon arriving at their flat in Llandudno, we went for another brisk and hilly walk around the Little Orme - one of the hills on either side of the town (the other being the Great Orme). If you look up Llandudno on a map, you will see that it is on a small peninsula that juts up into the Irish Sea from the northern coast of Wales. The Great Orme is at the tip of the peninsula and the Little Orme is south of the city. In any case, the walk was very pleasant. I wish we had pictures to show you, but we are on a public computer right now and don't want to upload our pictures to it. Hopefully we will find free wi-fi soon and we can add pictures. Anyway, the walk was pleasant and Emily had a lot of fun listening to all the sheep. Coming from Florida, we never really thought about the fact that we had never heard a live sheep - just recordings and imitations. In real life, they do make the ''baaaa'' sound, but it was also interesting to note that it really isn't that far from cows. The views on the walk were really stunning, and we can see why walking is so popular in Britain. It really doesn't take that long to see some really beautiful scenes while at the same time climbing walls and hills - rather than just following sidewalks and old railway paths. There is more a sense of adventure, but you don't have to pack a tent and bring a shovel for your toilet facilities like you do on the Appalachian Trail!
The original plan was that we would drive south and hike up Mt. Snowdon on Saturday with Andy and Sue and then they would head back home on Sunday and leave us for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad and Saturday was full of rain, wind, and mist all day - not good for mountain trails. So instead, Andy and Sue stayed through lunch and then headed back to pick up their daughter Sarah from university. Emily and I went on our first solo driving adventure when we went to ASDA. Sue explained what ASDA was by comparing it to Wal-Mart. As we were driving into the parking lot, we realized that it wasn't really a comparison - at the bottom of their sign it says ''part of the Wal-Mart family.'' Upon going inside - you could tell. It was very crowded and overwhelming and everywhere you turned you felt like you were in somebody's way - just like every other Wal-Mart on a Saturday morning. So instead of buying a week's worth of groceries, we opted to just get some starters and venture back mid-week when the crowds will hopefully be thinner. In the afternoon, in a brief three hour window when the rain stopped, we walked down to Llandudno's city center (or centre) to orient ourselves, and hopefully find somewhere with free wi-fi. We got oriented okay, but when we returned (through gale force winds, mind you) to our supposed free wi-fi spot yesterday, our computer wouldn't connect for some reason. We are currently in the Llandudno Public Library using their computers, but we are told there is another cafe with wi-fi nearby, or possibly McDonald's, so once we find those we might be able to add in some pictures.
So far, Wales has been exactly what we planned - restful. Besides our initial walk when we arrived, we have done nothing but read and watch TV (and, as I said, walk through gale-force winds). The flat is sea-front, so we walk out to the living room each morning and look out onto Llandudno Bay. Emily feels like she is at the beach, so she is as happy as a clam, and being near the water is rejuvenating her adventurous spirit. The weather was better yesterday, but very windy. Today it is really nice, and we are headed to Conwy to see the castle when we leave here. The next few days look good (lots of sunshine). Andy warned us not to pay attention to any weather forecasts that were more than 24-36 hours, because any farther into the future was really just guessing and not very reliable. The current plans are to go to Conwy today and then maybe Caernarfon tomorrow. Past that we have some ideas, but we're just going to go with the flow, the weather, and our spirits each day. We definitely timed our down time perfectly. We were worn out after going non-stop through York and Edinburgh. We have also noticed how much farther we are able to walk now without our feet and backs becoming sore. That bodes well for our upcoming trip to the Cotswolds where we are planning to do a lot of walking.
Hope you are all doing well. We expect a lot of comments on this entry as we have been gone for a few days :). If you have tried to comment and couldn't, we have been informed that you need to have a google account. I don't think it is hard to get one, but if you don't want to bother, we understand. We appreciate the emails we have gotten from some of you as well. Hope all is well with all of you. We should be more consistent from here on out.
Cheers for now!
-Cary
Upon arriving at their flat in Llandudno, we went for another brisk and hilly walk around the Little Orme - one of the hills on either side of the town (the other being the Great Orme). If you look up Llandudno on a map, you will see that it is on a small peninsula that juts up into the Irish Sea from the northern coast of Wales. The Great Orme is at the tip of the peninsula and the Little Orme is south of the city. In any case, the walk was very pleasant. I wish we had pictures to show you, but we are on a public computer right now and don't want to upload our pictures to it. Hopefully we will find free wi-fi soon and we can add pictures. Anyway, the walk was pleasant and Emily had a lot of fun listening to all the sheep. Coming from Florida, we never really thought about the fact that we had never heard a live sheep - just recordings and imitations. In real life, they do make the ''baaaa'' sound, but it was also interesting to note that it really isn't that far from cows. The views on the walk were really stunning, and we can see why walking is so popular in Britain. It really doesn't take that long to see some really beautiful scenes while at the same time climbing walls and hills - rather than just following sidewalks and old railway paths. There is more a sense of adventure, but you don't have to pack a tent and bring a shovel for your toilet facilities like you do on the Appalachian Trail!
The original plan was that we would drive south and hike up Mt. Snowdon on Saturday with Andy and Sue and then they would head back home on Sunday and leave us for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad and Saturday was full of rain, wind, and mist all day - not good for mountain trails. So instead, Andy and Sue stayed through lunch and then headed back to pick up their daughter Sarah from university. Emily and I went on our first solo driving adventure when we went to ASDA. Sue explained what ASDA was by comparing it to Wal-Mart. As we were driving into the parking lot, we realized that it wasn't really a comparison - at the bottom of their sign it says ''part of the Wal-Mart family.'' Upon going inside - you could tell. It was very crowded and overwhelming and everywhere you turned you felt like you were in somebody's way - just like every other Wal-Mart on a Saturday morning. So instead of buying a week's worth of groceries, we opted to just get some starters and venture back mid-week when the crowds will hopefully be thinner. In the afternoon, in a brief three hour window when the rain stopped, we walked down to Llandudno's city center (or centre) to orient ourselves, and hopefully find somewhere with free wi-fi. We got oriented okay, but when we returned (through gale force winds, mind you) to our supposed free wi-fi spot yesterday, our computer wouldn't connect for some reason. We are currently in the Llandudno Public Library using their computers, but we are told there is another cafe with wi-fi nearby, or possibly McDonald's, so once we find those we might be able to add in some pictures.
So far, Wales has been exactly what we planned - restful. Besides our initial walk when we arrived, we have done nothing but read and watch TV (and, as I said, walk through gale-force winds). The flat is sea-front, so we walk out to the living room each morning and look out onto Llandudno Bay. Emily feels like she is at the beach, so she is as happy as a clam, and being near the water is rejuvenating her adventurous spirit. The weather was better yesterday, but very windy. Today it is really nice, and we are headed to Conwy to see the castle when we leave here. The next few days look good (lots of sunshine). Andy warned us not to pay attention to any weather forecasts that were more than 24-36 hours, because any farther into the future was really just guessing and not very reliable. The current plans are to go to Conwy today and then maybe Caernarfon tomorrow. Past that we have some ideas, but we're just going to go with the flow, the weather, and our spirits each day. We definitely timed our down time perfectly. We were worn out after going non-stop through York and Edinburgh. We have also noticed how much farther we are able to walk now without our feet and backs becoming sore. That bodes well for our upcoming trip to the Cotswolds where we are planning to do a lot of walking.
Hope you are all doing well. We expect a lot of comments on this entry as we have been gone for a few days :). If you have tried to comment and couldn't, we have been informed that you need to have a google account. I don't think it is hard to get one, but if you don't want to bother, we understand. We appreciate the emails we have gotten from some of you as well. Hope all is well with all of you. We should be more consistent from here on out.
Cheers for now!
-Cary
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