byslantedlight: (BD Blackout glee)
[personal profile] byslantedlight
Aha! Insert Images! *g*

Right - where were we? Oh yeah - by the seaside which used to be a forest...



How cool is that? Actually, I've also just read that bear, wolf, hyena, deer, rhinoceros and mammoth bones have been found in the bay - and fishing boats will sometimes pull up antlers, or pieces of worked stone and so on from an old farmhouse that was said to have been in the forest (belonging to the Angel sisters - if it was made up, no one would think it realistic! *g*)

Anyway - the other fab thing about Swansea seaside was that it also had seaside-y things in it!

Crabs! Fish! (Can you see them? Very clever hide-y fish!) *g*

And it looked like the seaside...


And there was ice cream nearby, in the form of Joe's ice cream at an actual ice cream parlour, and they had something involving my favourite praline, which was just seriously good... Joe's ice cream is all vanilla, but you get to add stuff, which is one of my favourite ice cream games... *g* So yeay again for Swansea!

Other rather fab things in Swansea:

What a very steep street to drive up!

More Pros-y chat, and Pros-y fic and Pros-y fic-chat, and Pros-y ponderings into the wine and mead-lit night (and early morning)... And then for breakfast - Welshcakes hot off the market stall (why didn't I take a picture?!)


Swansea city centre - then and now...


And hee - Swansea pigeons!

Until finally it was time to leave (*sniff*), and so we did, and thank you [livejournal.com profile] moonlightmead for a lovely visit. Swansea is rather fab, innit... *g* Oh, and on the way out, we saw these guys watching over a very ordinary house on a very ordinary road...


Off we drove, into the rolling foothills of the Brecon Beacons, stopping at the first wee pub we came to for lunch...

...all horse brasses and just pubishness (though we were less sure about being given sliced bread with our ploughman's - my good man! *g*)

And then heading over to the coast road, which was rather lovely, and led to a stop at Aberaeron for a wander along the stony beach and... an ice cream. Joe's ice cream it was too, yummy - and I think this time it had flavours. Mine was a gorgeous caramel-ish concoction, yummy...

It didn't hurt that it was the most beautiful day... *g*

Back inland again, and climbing up, until we came to Tal y Llyn (yeay, The Dark Is Rising - and most especially The Grey King... *g*



Brigadoon?

No, just the view as seen through a vale of trees as we rushed past in the car!


At last we found Betws-y-Coed, where we were staying in our only youth hostel of the holiday (originally planned as a youth hostelling holiday!) - by Swallow Falls, which it certainly did...

Of course youth hostels these days come with rooms for two (and bunk bed with extremely painful mattresses - every spring I tell you, I could feel every spring!), and pubs attached, with wifi in reception in case you need your phone (cos, I swear, there's not a signal anywhere in Wales!)... *g* And so, after two very very late nights up chatting Pros-iness, there was sleep... *g*

Next morning dawned sunny and gorgeous yet again, and off we set for breakfast at Portmeirion. I must admit, I was a bit worried about the place, because I'd been before with my cousin, and it'd been a gorgeously clear and crisp Sunday in February, and we all but had the place to ourselves - well, except for The Prisoner convention, complete with loudspeakers and giant bouncing balls, which we escaped as quickly as we could. The rest was magical though, and I really really wanted it to be the same this time, but they do say you should never go back...

Luckily they're not always right - this is the road leading to the village...


And here is the village - paradise for anyone with a camera in their hand... *g*










We walked through the woods...

...and found a wishing tree...

...and believe it or not I'm still not at the end, even thought it was only four days, but I get to go home now and so will finish the rest from there - but post this now! *g*

Date: Friday, 5 August 2011 02:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] llywela13.livejournal.com
Oh, I love Aberaeron! Although not quite as much as I love Aberystwyth. Sounds like you're having a fab time. :)

Date: Friday, 5 August 2011 04:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] byslantedlight.livejournal.com
Was having a fab time - this was a couple of weekends ago now, sadly! Must go back again though - of course I've said that about Cardiff too. Maybe things are starting to be less frantic though, and I'll be able to start visiting again properly! *g*

Date: Friday, 5 August 2011 02:42 pm (UTC)
ext_9226: (Default)
From: [identity profile] snailbones.livejournal.com


It all looks lovely - and I had no idea Youth Hostels were so posh nowadays *g*

I'm so glad you're allowed to upload pictures again because yours are great - love the hiding fishies and that road in Swansea - wouldn't that be fun to ride down on a bike *g*

Date: Friday, 5 August 2011 04:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] byslantedlight.livejournal.com
Ah, thank you! I always think mine are quite ordinary pics, but I'm glad they're liked!

And eeeep - I would go nowhere near that road on a bike, you should see the wee slopes I go down very gently and carefully here! *g*

Date: Friday, 5 August 2011 05:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] moth2fic.livejournal.com
Some really beautiful photos! I love that one of the swirly sand furrows, and that one of the Swansea pigeons - oh, and the one of the hide-y fish! You always pack so much into your mini-breaks - thanks so much for sharing them with us!

Date: Sunday, 7 August 2011 08:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] byslantedlight.livejournal.com
Well thank you! And hee - I do tend to favour holidays on the move, exploring and visiting and the like. I'm not sure I'd know what to do with myself, trying to sit still!

Date: Saturday, 6 August 2011 01:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] siskiou.livejournal.com
How lovely! It all looks so enticing, and the weather wasn't bad, either!
Thanks for persevering and posting the pictures. Am looking forward to seeing the rest.
It makes me want to go traveling, right now!
Alas, our Yellowstone trip fell through, but we hope to go camping in the area, at least for a few days.

Date: Sunday, 7 August 2011 08:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] byslantedlight.livejournal.com
The weather was gorgeous - it rained as we came over the bridge (it always seems to!) but then the rest of the weekend was lovely... *g* It makes me want to go travelling again too... Sooon!

And oh rats for your Yellowstone trip - that's so unfair... Hope your camping is extra nice to make up for it.

Date: Saturday, 6 August 2011 01:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sc-fossil.livejournal.com
These pictures are beautiful. I want to visit all of these places. :)

Date: Sunday, 7 August 2011 08:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] byslantedlight.livejournal.com
Well thank you! *g* And you must come and visit all those places - Wales is gorgeous!

Date: Saturday, 6 August 2011 12:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] miwahni.livejournal.com
Portmeirion is so picture-postcard perfect! *adds to list of places to visit when I go back to Wales some day*

Date: Sunday, 7 August 2011 08:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] byslantedlight.livejournal.com
Portmeirion is gorgeous - I was so amazed when I visite the first time, because it really did feel like a fairytale Italianate city on the Welsh coast! *g*

On your travels again

Date: Saturday, 6 August 2011 10:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com
Late again (seems to be a recurring theme with me!) but I just wanted to say - these are beautiful, as always, and I especially hugely like the second one, with the shells on the waterlogged wood (? waterlogged - or is it actually petrified? Even cooler somehow if so). That photo is really outstanding.

Yay for Pros-y holidays!

Re: On your travels again

Date: Sunday, 7 August 2011 08:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] byslantedlight.livejournal.com
There's no such thing as late I reckon - well I have to really, as I'm generally very late to many lj things these days! And hee - there was me thinking that photo was just terribly out of focus... *g*

The wood was actually waterlogged - I was expecting it to be petrified, actually, but it wasn't at all, it's just been preserved by the sand as if it was the day it went down... I'm sure there've been studies on it for age etc, it'd be interesting to read them, but I suspect they're stuck in the grey literature, cos I didn't find much whilst googling...

And yeay Pros-y holidays! *g*

Date: Monday, 8 August 2011 08:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] epistrophia.livejournal.com
Oh oh oh - you were right by me! The Husband works in Aberaeron, and for a moment when I saw your opening bit about the forest in the sea, I thought you were talking about Ynyslas (http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/coast/pages/5.shtml) where we go a lot (longest sandiest beach around here - and much prettier than Aberaeron)...

(Also, if I was in Portmeirion with Rovers bouncing around, I think I might freak out a bit...)

Date: Monday, 8 August 2011 09:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] byslantedlight.livejournal.com
We were near you and we didn't know it! Waaah! Although what a pretty part of the world you live in - and complete with Joe's ice cream! *g*

I've heard of Ynyslas, too, and somehow something relating it to Atlantis, I think? Somewhere else on my list of places to visit - now I know that's your land, I shall come and kidnap you for a coffee or summat next time... *g*

Hold Your Breath, Sunshine


A ship is safe in the harbour - but that's not what ships are for.

~o~

I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night. (Sarah Williams)

~o~

Could've.
Should've.
Would've.
Didn't. Didn't. Didn't.

~o~

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