Pouring in Porthmadog, Portmeirion and the Prince of Persia

Day Sixteen – Nantmor Wales

After a quiet day yesterday we were hoping for some activity today. When we got up the weather still looked a bit grim, with the odd shower and plenty of low cloud. According to the TV weather it was supposed to clear around midday. We decided we hadn't come all this way to stay indoors all the time so off we went to ride the 11:00am train up from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Unfortunately, the closer to Porthmadog we got, the worse the weather got. By the time we got there it was raining almost horizontally and visibility was very low. We had some trouble finding the station in the rain, Jenni got out twice and got quite wet walking about and by the time we'd found where we wanted to be everyone had decided the train could be buggered.

We needed some bits and pieces so we went into Tesco and grabbed what was required. While we were in there James bought a copy of Prince of Persia on DVD so we'd have something to do after lunch. That was enough of the great outdoors and we headed back to the cottage.

Back "home" we settled down to (hopefully) wait out the weather. By the time we'd finished lunch, the movie and nap time for Jenni it was about 3pm and the sun was shining, even if there were some black clouds about. Pertmeirion Village and Gardens are not far and apparently it's half price after 3:30pm so off we went.

Time for a quick rant here on Welsh drivers. The roads here are NARROW and full of blind corners. Despite that the local drivers are almost exclusively of two types – 100mph down the middle of the road and other cars be damned, or, 10mph and 100 years old. I was almost run off the road on a roundabout this morning and then near driven mad taking 10 minutes to go 100 yards as we arrived at Portmeirion. Now that I've gotten that out of my system on with the story...

Portmeirion Village is the mad creation of a fellow called Sir Clough Williams-Ellis who decided he couldn't decide what architectural styles he preferred to he'd have a bit of everything. On the Welsh coast. In about 2 square miles. His point was to demonstrate how a beautiful natural landscape could be developed with out ruining it. It's the kind of crazy thing I really enjoy and apparently so do plenty of others as about 220,000 people a year visit.

The village is also famous for being the setting in the English sci-fi / drama The Prisoner, in which the main character was held prisoner in a weird village and constantly harranged to give up information. Each person in the village was referred to by a numbr, the lower the number the more senior the individual. The show has been so popular it has now been remade and also rated a tribute episode of the Simpsons.

We all enjoyed the village immensely and took a pile of photos. Jenni and I spent a lot of time fighting over the camera it was so good. Thankfully the weather held off and we were able to walk around as much as we liked. We also took some photos of the coast and got a group photo courtesy of a fellow tourist.

On the way back we stopped and managed to find parking AND a book shop that was open. This is an extremely rare combination and not to be missed. Even better, I managed to find a book I am genuinely interested in – historical fiction about the Battle of Waterloo. I'm about 20 pages from the end of my current book and was getting edgy at the thought of Welsh television drama...

Back at the cottage James and I took a quick jaunt up the hill above the cottage. I was a bit dubious but with the weather doing all sorts I was reluctant to let the opportunity pass. We didn't get that far before deciding to turn back. Deep ferns and heather, much of it still sodden or pooled was a real turn off and not worth the effort. 20 yards from the cottage fence was re-crossed a very slippery bridge.

Anyone who knows James knows he is very much like a 6 month old labrador when it comes too coordination, even if he is only one exam off a provisional black-belt in Tae Kwon Do. No sooner had the words "watch that, it's very slippery" left my mouth then over he went, trapping his foot. Fortunately the damage was limited to a badly bent back big toe-nail, which although very painful, is unlikely to hold him up much. I don't think he'll lose the nail but having lost both of mine in the last 12 months I can say for sure it will take a good few weeks to know. He's pretty tough so I know he'll manage.

Dinner was another home cooked job, Pasta a la Millsy. Last up, time for a quick blog, photo download and some yahtzee before bed. Tomorrow the weather WILL be better and we'll get in some steam train time. We could smell one on the way back and passed it in Porthmadog. I'd best look out my anorak... Huzzah!

Cheers,

Millsy