Earlier this year I travelled to Llangollen for a week with family to celebrate my fathers 70th birthday. Staying just outside the town in Trevor Uchaf, we had a great time and this is a short post about what we got up to.
Firstly I travelled on my 125cc bike from Chester to Llangollen. It’s the furthest I have been on the bike and was an enjoyable ride. I chose to take the main roads so as not to have to remember a convoluted route which meant dual carriageways which are always fun when you can only just hit 70mph on the flat! Since this trip I have taken a different route to Llangollen over Horseshoe pass which is much nicer and far superior views. In a few weeks we will be going again and I will undoubtedly take that route again.
Upon arrival I had organised the first couple of days would be myself, my mother and father alone. It was the first time in quite a while I had seen them so it was a nice little reunion. The weather was good remained fairly nice for the first few days which involved a couple of walks down the canal and some time spent in Llangollen walking along the river Dee, which eventually reaches Chester.
The town itself is often praised for its idyllic setting in Wales. The river running through the centre being the main point of interest as well as Castell Dinas Bran over looking the town. A quaint little gem hidden in the valley with a small population of between 3500 and 4000. It is home to a few nice shops including tourist shops, charity and my personal favourite, a rather large book shop!
This particular bookshop is quite interesting. To get to it you have to walk into a bistro cafe and up a set of stairs. When you arrive at the top you are confronted with an acclaimed ‘100,000 books’, all second hand and on all subject matters you can think of. Naturally, every visit to Llangollen had an hour or two set aside to peruse the many books that I’d like to buy but can’t afford them all. Sections of signed books, history, travel and Folio Society are my personal favourites. Sadly I have not yet found a large amount of Tolkien there but I hold out hope one day there will be.
If you can’t find what you are looking for in that book shop you can always pop down towards the river on your right there is a little alleyway leading to a cafe we often go to ‘The Courtyard Coffee Shop’ which had another, much smaller, new book shop ‘Courtyard books’ that might have what you are looking for, in my case there is always some Tolkien there to satisfy my obsession.
A couple days into the trip myself and my father made the drive over to Crewe where we picked up my Brother and his then Fiancee, now Wife. I won’t go too much into detail about the drive but I have to note the traffic in Crewe was horrific! However, on a happier note I got to see my Brother for the first time in almost a year and meet his Fiancee for the first time! Also, at the same time the Wife was on her way from Chester bringing Loki, our rather cheeky but lovable dog.
Another purpose for this trip was due to my Brother and his Fiancees rather insane hobby of Ultra Marathon running. On the Saturday they both embarked on what I would deem, madness, but they love it. My Brother, if memory serves, undertook a 50km run, where he ascended and descended Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) at least twice as well as a few other mountains close by. My future Sister-in-law took part in the 25km run, though shorter, still mad in my opinion. Both did amazingly in my opinion because they both finished and didn’t die! Though my Brother was somewhat annoyed at his performance, lord knows why.
As I mentioned Loki our delightful, cuddly and cheeky German Shepherd joined us on the trip and enjoyed lots of walks up on the panoramic walk way to the north of our accommodation. Rock climbers and bouldering enthusiasts were around climbing the cliffs, much more my speed than a 50km run!
Overall the trip was a great success, though I would be remiss to not mention the rather calamitous attempt at taking Loki to the pub for food. As when we left the accommodation, thunder had rolled in, a bolt of lightning landed on the hillside opposite and the biggest crack of thunder occurred which set Loki off. It would seem our Cat back home, Thor, was angry. All was well when we took him back and had the food brought to us though. The ride home was a bit more interesting as the weather had turned but still enjoyable. Most importantly we all got to spend some time together which made the trip fantastic.
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