Welsh Scrabble!!!

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Hello from chilly Trefonen!

Today was a pretty alright day.  It started with breakfast in the grand dining room of Moors Farm, cooked by Henia.  We felt like Royalty eating off of the Denby tableware!   Breakfast was delicious consisting of sausage for dad, which I might add, is specifically for Moors farm by the butcher.  They have their own sausage?!!! Very  posh.  Henia, in her down-to-earth manner, explained that she has to have specific sausage made for her guests that come to hunt pheasants and “require” sausages on toothpicks with dipping sauce as their afternoon h’ors d’overs…I suppose you are willing to be accommodating when someone is paying fifty thousand pounds per day to go hunting…and that’s just for the hunting!  There are the additional costs of lodging, processing the birds, food….but why not, when you have a hostess that is willing to go so far as dressing her and her entire staff up as the Downton Abbey cast, just to please her guests!

After breakfast, we struck out on our way along the Montgomery Canal…a welcome change from sheep, sheep, sheep…oh and did I mention the sheep?  The trail was relatively flat and quite scenic as we passed several swans, ducklings, ducks and locks.  It was really cool!  The sheep pastures were on the other side of the canal, so for the first time in several days, dad and I didn’t have to worry about dodging sheep or cow poop…or being accosted by over-cuddly rams.

The canal itself was very interesting, full of history…seriously…I’m pretty sure there are ancient tin cans in the bottom of that thing.  It was pretty, darn, dirty.  Not my number one choice of places I would like to go swimming…or wading…or touch with a ten foot pole.  It was amazing to see the selection of green sludge both in, on top of and surrounding the canal.  We both trod carefully so as not to accidentally fall in…although the temptation to accidentally-on-purpose push someone else in was hard to ignore.

Another fortunate thing about our choice of walking trails today was the lack of stinging nettle…thank goodness!!  With the flat trails and relatively well laid out path, we were able to bang off a cool 10 miles in only 4 hours.  This is in addition to dad stopping and chatting with everyone and their dog. Seriously. We ran in to a lot of dogs.  At one point we had a little break and surveyed our map which indicated that a portion coming up was “less defined”.  What does that mean you ask?  Well, it means a whole lot of bushwhacking and hacking through the undergrowth, overgrowth and every other type of growth there was…it was a miracle we both didn’t end up swimming in the swamp…er canal.  There were many houses with gorgeous gardens lining the canals, as well as the old posts for tying up horse…back in the day.  Overall, and despite the bushwhacking, it was quite beautiful and scenic.  We even met some hilarious slurpy cows who were trying their best to lean down and drink out of the canal, good thing they have strong stomachs!  It was awesome…and I’ll try to post the video.

Once in Llanymynech….oh wait, let’s stop and discuss this little gem. Dad and I still aren’t 100% sure how to correctly pronounce this.  We found that if you either start with the double L and just keep making the lll lll noise, people will figure it out…or you can start with the Ll and fake a cough in the middle until you get to the “nech” part, (eg. LL cough,cough,cough, nech) or you can say it really fast and totally make up the pronunciation and people seem to understand what you are saying.  We found that most people just said it really fast…but dad and I just started calling it L-nech…it was much easier, although if you look at the word closely, it is almost as if it spells llan-on-my-neck…just saying.  We are also both very curious, as the days go by, as to how exactly one would play a game of Scrabble in Wales. It would seem that l’s, w’s, and y’s would be a hot commodity, whereas the vowels would probably cause great despair to whomever was playing because they wouldn’t know how to use them.  They would like need to have about 20 l’s, w’s and y’s just to ensure that the people playing the game could get through one round!  Nevertheless, it has been a wonderful linguistic experience over here.  Anyway, back to L-nech.  Once we arrived, we decided to stop and have a cup of tea and a little rest at the Dolphin Inn.  Well, the tea must have been made with sacred water or something because it was a whopping four pound fifty for two cups!  I don’t think dad nor I have ever encountered a place in Canada where hot water and a tea bag was nine dollars…but who knows, maybe the Banff Spring Hotel charges an arm and a leg as well!!

After we recovered from the shock of the price and relaxed for a beat, we continued on our way, just a short little five and a half mile jaunt to Trefonen.  Or so it should have been.  Our “short” walk started with a 439m ascent up a small “hill” (I am really questioning the Welsh and their geographical abilities with all of these suicide high “hills” that should be called MOUNTAINS).  While the ascent was a bit challenging, the view from the top was spectacular, and we were also fortunate enough to meet a woman who picked some fresh hazelnuts off of the trees for us.  They were delish!  This little hill was Llanymynech Hill, and Dawn, we did try to search for the farm of your family, we even went so far as to ask some locals, but the gentleman we spoke to, who said he has lived there for 43 years, has never heard of it.  If you look at the pictures below, I have included a panorama of the area, so perhaps you will be able to spot it!

After the hill, we had to walk along another sheep pasture/golf course combo…although this one was more golf course than it was sheep pasture, so it was tidy and very well kept. Apparently, today was ladies day, so the golf course was covered with women.  Of course dad, being dad, couldn’t resist the opportunity to get himself in hot water, so he waited until a woman had finished her putt (and missed) and he yelled out “I knew it, I knew you’d miss, Kate you owe me a pound!”  The reaction from the group of women was a mixture of bemusement and confusion, while I quickly ushered dad, and my own horrified self, off of the golf course.  In hind sight, I probably just should have left him to his own devices and let them come after him with their nine irons.  Live and learn.

From the golf course it was a sharp descent downhill and back into farmland…and that is about the time it all went downhill…no pun intended.  I don’t know if I have previously mentioned this, but when dad gets lost, he has a tendency to walk EVEN FASTER as he tries to sort out where he is and get back on track.  Well, after 13 miles of flat out walking in addition to up and down hills, with blisters, I have a tendency to walk slower…I am sure you are picking up on the problem here.  It was after the 3rd back and forth along the same road that I finally suggested to dad that maybe we just stick to the road and hope it reconnects with the path. Not to toot my own horn, but we started following the road, as I had suggested, and lo and behold there was the marker we were looking for. Hurrah! Win one for Jill Navigator (that’s me!).  On we carried along this path until…once again we were lost…dad was zooming off ahead while I stood next to the marker sigh and hollered for him to come back because I did actually know where I was going!  However, it was getting to be the 11th hour (5pm) and also beer-o’clock, so I suggested to dad that we abandon our wild goose chase and cab it the last 2 miles.  Fortunately, he agreed.  Even better was that we were able to hitch a ride with a friendly lady from Nantmawr who took us the last one and a half miles of our trek and dropped us off at the pub.  After a drink, we were both in much better spirits…no pun intended!

We checked into our B&B, had a cup of tea and cleaned up, and headed off for dinner at the BarleyMow pub, which is also a microbrewery.  They make Offa’s Dyke Ale, and…well…when in Rome!  It was delicious!  The brewmaster is also probably around three hundred years old, but he obviously knows what he is doing since the brew was tasty!

Dad and I both finally listened to the words of Auntie Maureen and mum and had the lamb for dinner.  Lamb shank to be exact.  Well holy smokes, did it deliver!  It was tender, juicy and delicious…well worth it!  It was served with an amazing mint gravy, which says a lot since I absolutely hate gravy.  I’ll be dreaming of it tonight for sure!

Well, another day done, the stiffness is setting in, so I better Tiger Balm myself and head to bed.  Until tomorrow, yours in hiking!

Kate

Tally for the Day:

Blisters: Still 4…but maybe working on a 5th one.

Heat Rash: Everywhere!

Number of times getting lost to date:  Oh come on, what type of kid do you think I am?  Throwing my dad under the bus like that… (It’s at least 6)

Distance Accomplished: 199km (124 miles) (although I’m sure with the number of times we’ve wound up lost it’s more like 210 or 215km and 131 or 134 miles)

Distance Left: 84 km (52.5 miles)

Enjoy the pictures from today!

5 thoughts on “Welsh Scrabble!!!”

  1. paddibrian35years

    Katie, you have the patience of a saint. When dad got lost when we were hiking ( did I tell you about the 5 hour hike in East Sooke Park that took everybody else 2 hours; along a cliff edge with a sheer drop on one side! ) I found that sitting in the middle of the trail and sobbing as though I’d lost my bag of M&Ms always worked. You are right – you have probably walked enough extra miles that you have in actual fact already completed the entire walk!! Hang in there though -you are having adventures that you might otherwise have missed. It’s a bit like Star Trek – daring to venture where no man – or even sheep -has gone before.
    Love you lots
    Mum

    Liked by 2 people

    • Glenda

      Katie, in regards to the price of your tea, if you ever go to Rome and visit the Vatican, never order a coffee in a 10 block radius of it! It will cost more then your tea ever did!

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  2. I agree with your Mum, you are having all sorts of adventures, albeit slightly exasperating ones – did you ever think you’d hitch rides in a foreign country?

    Thank you for all the pictures of the Llanymynech area – I haven’t looked at my Dad’s pictures for a while, so I’ll have to dig them out and compare. In my minds eye his pictures showed way more rocky/heathery hills than what you’re showing, but bear in mind Dad’s father lost the farm (bank foreclosed in the Depression) around 1930. Things have clearly changed.

    The canal – pretty icky! Were there any canal boats on it? Because that’s a fun holiday – and no blisters – though working the locks gets a bit dull after the 20th or so. And England has barges one can hire for holidays. Do it in France, even better – not as much beer, but some fabulous wine!

    Lamb – I’m so glad you finally had some. Can’t beat grass fed Welsh lamb. Mmm…

    Wood’s Ale…lol.

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Kevin Donnelly

    Katie,taxi seemed the best solution and a beer calms everyone down,keep smiling and take the map from Dad,only 52 miles to go and the weekend is upon us,so enjoy your last few days on the adventures of Wales/England where ever you end up xx

    Liked by 1 person

Thoughts and Comments Welcome