David's blog

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] English: Trefriw Woollen Mills. In the centre of the village the Trefriw Woollen mill (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption] The clock went forward last night indicating British summertime , and it meant there was one hour less to be had in bed.  Today was the third day of the walk and I was not sure whether I would get up in time to do it, due to the lost hour, but I managed. We first drove to Llanrwst North Railway station , well the others drove I just got a lift as I don't drive, and will never drive, only people up the wall.  After we got to Llanrwst we started walking towards Trefriw , and this took us over a wobbly bridge.  Trefriw is famous for a woollen mill.  After walking through Trefriw we walked up hill and just kept on walking up hill to Dolgarrog .  it was an ideal day for walking.  I had done the route from here on in before, but had done it the other way.  We did stop in pub in a place ca...

  The above pic was taken at lunch time today.  The people in the pic are the people who I went for walk with.  This was a lunch stop in a 10 mile walk from Llan Ffestiniog, to Roman Bridge via the quarries above Blaenau Ffestiniog.  Up to this point in the walk and further on really, there was just thick snow which most of us end up getting stuck in at one point or another.  I was lucky I had brought some gaters which saved me from getting snow in my boots and from getting the bottoms of my trousers wet.  I was not too kean to start out on this walk today, as it was cold and the cold was really bad for the first couple of miles up hill but then it was ok for the rest of the 10 mile walk. There was a plan to go down an incline of a quarry but it was too slippery so we had to make a detour and the snow in place was right to the top of your leg but there was bright sunshine all day, my face is a bit weather beaten right now, i can feel the heat coming off it.

Its another cold day, no sign of winter ending yet.  I had to go to the optician in Dolgellau today, the bus service has got a lot worse to Dolgellau recently, there are big gaps between buses I can go to Dolgeallau on, and the ones I can get back, which involves a lot of hanging around, though it was not too bad today as the optician was a bit late so I did not have so long to hang around after my appointment. The optician reckons I could use another pair of glasses but I thought there was not that much difference really maybe I will have another test just to make sure. I will be going back there in a couple of weeks to get some other stuff and to get a new frame for some glasses that I have. I took delivery of some parcels for my sister today and took them round after tea there was no answer there though.  It is a very sad day in the community today, as the last patient has gone out of the hospital and they are closing it down, a hospital which has been for over a hundred year or s...

Well winter is still here large as life, it still seems to have a tight grip, there was more snow again last night. When you venture outside, and the wind is blowing, its like going out in the arctic I would imagine. I had an appointment at the jobcentre today to confirm the details for trip to college in September, I was hardly there 10 minutes, not sure if there was any point going to be honest, anyway its done now. Its a real shame about the 32 bus service being discontinued, as it was really handy, now its the horrible express motors thing, if I want to go to Bangor. I had some bad news today, I learnt of the death of Jackie McCusker, I was at college with her in 80's in Hereford, the place I'm going back to in September, she was very nice to me always, she was from Northern Ireland and I got to know her through a girlfriend I had at the time, called Roisin. I don't know how she died, a friend has left a phone number to ring but I am not in the mood today to talk about ...

I had planned to join walk today, around the village here, but decided against it as it is very cold at the moment and did not fancy having that cold easterly wind blowing incessantly in my face, its cuts into you just after walking a short distance.  There is a walk at the end of week too, I am quite apprehensive about the weather, as we are intending to walk up quite a high altitude which is going to be even colder than it is down on ground level, I guess I will have to take it one day at time.  I guess if I am wrapped up properly it will be ok, I am actually looking forward to going walking in this weather, it will be a change from walking in the rain or in fair weather.  I would think, the ground would easier to walk on as it the mud will be frozen, I guess I will have to go on the walk, to find out. I think i have the right gear, and as long as you keep walking I guess its possible to stay warm. I am also curious to see who turns up on these walks, you never know who you will end ...

Monday is here again, and so its laundry day, it is very cold again today, this seems to be the never ending winter.  There is a quiz in the pub tonight, so I will probably go out to that. There is a walk organised for tomorrow, by the ramblers, and its local to here, though this weather is not that inviting to go out walking in, I guess its ok once I get going, I think it will depend on the wind whether I go or not, I am not too keen on keen wind in my face all the time. I have some error message coming up on the computer, everytime it starts up, I have looked at different ways to get rid of it but it seems pretty reluctant to move, I have tried that system restore thing a couple of times, but nothing doing, it still wants to stay there.  I will probably end up reformating the computer again. The shit bus service that exists round here strikes again, I went to catch, the 12.05 and it goes sailing past at 12.00, an early bus it absolutely useless to everyone, with a late one you have ...

The above pic was taken yesterday afternoon, of the Pengwern Arms in Llan Ffestiniog , which is a community run pub, and has been now for nearly 2 years, it was brought by the community with a grant from the National Assembly of Wales , it s run mainly by volunteers, and is open in the evenings and at weekends.  I went there last night and had a local beer from a brewery in Waenfawr near Caernarfon , the brewery is called Big Bog Brewery which is suppose to be Waenfawr translated in English, but I don't think it is exactly right, I guess a bit of poetic licence has been used here and why not.  The pint was very nice, I have seen the brewery's beer in the pub before, but I guess I was put off by the word bog, for obvious reasons, but I won't be put off again, it is very nice.  I think the beer was called Spring Big Bog. There was another beer on there too, called Seithenyn , which is from another local brewery called Cwrw Llyn, it is also very nice, maybe a bit sweeter t...