My friend Phil and his wife, Kerry-anne, move to New Zealand next month so at the weekend, as both Phil and I were free, the two of us headed into Wales for what I suspect will be the last time he’ll see that country for a very long time. It was a fun day out, a “roof down day” in my MG, and a good opportunity to just kick back and have some fun. I took the camera along so you can share in at least a little of what we saw. (The pictures with a magnifying glass in the top right can be enlarged by clicking the picture.)

Saturday mornings are about getting up late so neither of us were in any hurry. At about 10:30 Philly called me to tell me he’d just got up, so I too hauled my lazy butt out of bed and got ready. We had agreed to meet up and take care of the most important thing before we embarked on our day trip… breakfast! The best place for a couple of ‘blokes’ to get a good English breakfast is the Shamrock Cafe. £4 will get you a plate with 2 fried eggs, beans, sausage and bacon with toast on the side and a cup of tea. The last time we were here together it was the morning of his wedding.

With breakfast (or brunch, or lunch as it pretty much was!) out of the way we headed down toward Owswestry, turning off the road toward Weston Rhyn to take a more interesting looking back road, a “wiggle road” as I’ve come to call them. The sun was shining and the roof was down, perfect!

The plan was we had no plan. It was a ‘seat-of-the-pants tour.’ We were just seeing where the road took us while at the same time watching some distant rain clouds. On the road that runs along the invisible line that separates England from Wales we made the first of what was many stops to get out of the car and just take in a view.

We decided to head to the now nearby Lake Vrynwy, (Welsh: Llyn Efyrnwy – pronounced [E]vurn-wee-). I’ve been there many times before, but Phil hadn’t so it seemed like as good a place as anywhere to get out for a stroll. Unfortunately the notoriously unpredictable British weather had other ideas and the rain clouds moved in just as we pulled up to park beside the lake. Undaunted though, we still got out and walked along the dam so as to enjoy a “cigar moment.” (Honey flavored I believe!)

The rain didn’t last long and oddly enough it seemed to bring out the colors of the moss covered trees and ground by the lake. We would drive a little way, see something and stop to get out and take a closer look, then drive a little further and see something else that made us stop again.

Traveling west from from Lake Vyrnwy we had to go over the foothills in Snowdonia national park. As we climbed the steep roads I began having fun driving through the puddles of meltwater, though I misjudged one puddle and because the roof was down both Phil and I got an unexpected shower, Phil especially as the puddle was on his side of the car.

There was still a little snow around so Phil decided this was a great opportunity to make a snowman! There wasn’t much snow, so this snowman was only a little guy, and a bit creepy looking to. I tried giving him hair, but even at his tender age he lost it very quickly (though he still had more hair than Phil!) After making the snowman we decided to run him over, so we placed him in the middle of the road then flattened him. We’re guys, that kind of thing is hard-wired into our brains!

Trying to chase the blue sky that hadn’t been extinguished by closing rain clouds we took the road to Carnarvon Castle. The brunch/lunch had word off by now and we were hungry so the plan was to get something to eat in Carnarvon and maybe watch the sunset on the Isle of Anglesey. However, after turning off the main roads to follow yet more ‘wiggle roads’ the clouds that we had thought we might beat enveloped the sky above us. But it didn’t matter, we had enjoyed a great day, and it wasn’t yet raining so the roof was still down.

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If this place were home
As summer fades (Part 1)
The Llyn Peninsula
Wales
Driving the open road