First of all I would like to thank you all for your congratulations to my cousin. I enjoyed reading all your lovely comments.
Following on from our first camping trip in many years, we decided to do it all again at the end of September. This time we planned to spend two nights at the River Valley campsite in County Wicklow. We drove down to the campsite on the last Friday in September and set up camp. Actually, after we were home again, we discovered that we put the tent up in the wrong part of the campsite! This is a really nice place to stay so we'll go back again some time.
We were so fortunate again with the weather. It stayed dry and reasonably warm for the time of year. On the way down we stopped at the Avoca shop in Kilmacanogue. We love visiting this shop and especially the Sugar Tree Cafe.
On the Saturday we took ourselves out to have a look round County Wicklow. We did the scenic drive, taking in Sally Gap in the Wicklow Mountains. We were really impressed with the beautiful scenery.
We stopped at this ruin of Baltinglass Abbey to have lunch.
When we were almost back at the campsite we headed to Avoca village where the original Avoca Mill is still operating. We really enjoyed looking round the mill and even seeing someone weaving on one of the old looms.
There was lots of wool in the store in so many beautiful colours.
These examples of the different fibres they use allowed us to feel what they are like.
As this sign says, there's only one Avoca Mill!
Of course they also have a cafe here and we just had to go in and have coffee and something sweet to eat. We also visited the shop (again!) and I tried on the poncho I liked just to get an idea of how it was shaped. It will help me when I come to do the shaping on the poncho I'm crocheting.
I seem to be so far behind on my blogging. I have some garden photos to show you but by the time I do they will be very out of date. The thing about growing your own fruit and vegetables is that you then have to harvest them and store them, which usually involves at least some sort of preservation techniques. And it all takes time!
I'm really enjoying the fantastic autumn we're having. It has already made up for the disappointing summer! All the best for now.
Back at the beginning of September I told you about going to a wedding and staying for two nights in a hotel in Bournemouth. Well, after that we drove back into Wales and spent two nights camping before heading home again. Let me explain. I know camping isn't anything strange but it's been years since we camped. In fact, the husband was clearing out the garage and issued an edict: either the camping gear is put into use or it is dumped. Of course we couldn't just dump it all so it was brought out of the garage and cleaned up ready for this short trip.
For our two nights in Wales we stayed in the Nantcol Waterfalls Campsite in Snowdonia. It was very good; nice, clean facilities and plenty of room to pitch the tent. It was also right beside the waterfalls and river so very picturesque.
The first place we went to visit was Powis Castle and Garden. As we are National Trust members we were able to get in for free. It was a really beautiful day so, after visiting the castle, we took our time going round the magnificent gardens. I'll not tell you about all the photos (there are a lot of them) but just a comment on some. This horse's head was for sale in the castle shop. Way too expensive for our budget, unfortunately.
These yew trees had been featured on the Country File programme a few weeks earlier, showing them being cut. They are massive!
I loved this tree; you could actually get inside!
The husband will never let me take his picture so I have to try and snap him any chance I get! Just to prove he actually was at Powis Castle.
This picture below really shows how tall the yews are.
After a very enjoyable day out we headed back to the campsite. Thankfully the weather was so good that I was able to cook dinner outside using the two tiny gas stoves you can see in this picture. Don't know what we would have done if it had been raining!
Each pitch on the site had its own fire pit so we bought some fire wood and lit up.
We lit the fire a bit too early, really.
It didn't take long for the wood to burn away and we had to resort to burning any wee bits of twigs we could find! Then we started getting anything we could possibly burn out of the car!!
We got a good blaze going but soon the cold beat us and we had to go to bed.
The following day (Tuesday 8th September) we went for a drive through Snowdonia National Park. The scenery is magnificent; in some ways a bit like the Lake District. We stopped in several of the little towns to look round craft shops and get coffee.
We stopped in Betws-y-Coed, quite a big town, for some lunch. And there we found this rhino, filled with plastic bottle tops.
After re-fuelling with our sandwiches and crisps (I very, very rarely eat crisps!) we went to visit Penrhyn Castle, another National Trust property.
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I didn't take as many pictures at this castle (obviously!) and none at all of the railway museum that we also visited there.
That was all we had time for on our mini holiday. We drove to Holyhead, taking our time to see as much as possible of Anglesey. This is where we waited until it was time to go for the ferry.
Look, here comes our ferry!
Just appearing past the harbour wall.
So we're back to being campers; very happy campers. We've been for another short trip (I'll tell you about it soon) and we've been upgrading our equipment a bit. One very important thing was to get a warmer sleeping bag for me. The husband doesn't feel the cold! The other, probably equally important thing, was to get a tent that is high enough to stand up in. We're too old to be crawling about in a tunnel tent on our hands and knees!
Hope you enjoyed the photos and didn't give up. If you're at this point then you must have stuck with me.
All the best for now. I'm in the throes of ripping out my Aran coat and it's not going well. Worse even than I anticipated. Oh well, I just need to get enough out of it to make my poncho. And, if all else fails, I can buy more of the yarn (but don't tell anyone, please). The poncho crocheting is going very well except that I now need more yarn from the not-ripped-out coat. I'm enjoying the crocheted cables so, so much!
