BETWS-Y-COED, THE REMATCH

Thursday, April 20, Robin and I decided to return to Betws-Y-Coed. Our first visit didn’t really last all that long, and we wanted to see more of what this quaint hamlet had to offer. It did not disappoint. But before we get to it, I need to introduce you to Ranger. Ranger is the stuffed snow leopard you may have seen in a few of our photos. There is a reason a grown-arse man is carrying around a toy.

Ranger became a thing when my daughters were young, On occasion I would take a trip away from home, and daddy’s little girls would miss him. I bought Ranger on one of my trips, and began taking pictures of Ranger on his adventures with me. When I got home, I could show them all the wonderful things Ranger did with daddy while he was away. The girls really liked it. So did my co-workers who thought it was awesome that a big, strapping lad like myself was carrying around this toy and creating memories for his daughters. At one point, I met Tom Arnold, the actor, at a school safety conference in Denver, CO. He was really cool and ended up taking a picture while holding Ranger. I will have to find that picture, it’s pretty cool. He’s also had his picture taken with Senators Lugar and Coats, two Indiana Senators.

Now a days, I send pictures back to my two grandsons Roman and Stevie. Roman is 7 and Stevie is 4. Stevie especially gets a kick out of the pictures, so Robin and I made sure to pack him along. We don’t take him everywhere. Every now and then Robin will say, “We ain’t takin’ Ranger.” And that’s that. But, we send enough for our grandsons to know that Meemaw and Peepaw are thinking of them.

So there’s Ranger. Now that we have that sorted, we were about to explore Betws-Y-Coed. There were some wonderful shops there. We spent a leisurely morning wandering through the shops, starting with the Information Center. There we bought a few small gifts, and took a virtual reality tour of the summit at Yr Wyddfa. When we left there, we had ourselves lunch at a tea room just outside of the Information Center.

From there we walked around a beautiful square that had a dead ringer for Forrest Gump running laps around the park. Barefoot! I was in such awe at the likeness I failed to get a picture, The look I got from Robin when I got out my phone squashed that, because that pesky vanilla scent was back. Damn! I had to settle for a picture of of Ranger on a giant chicken.

One of the things to see in Betws-y-Coed is the Pont-Y-Pair bridge. It was built in the 1500s to allow packhorses to cross the Afon Llugwy. It was later widened to allow stagecoaches to cross it. It is a very picturesque bridge. I took a picture of Robin with it in the background, but I didn’t get a very good angle of it.

I found a blog called thirdeyetraveller.com that had a wonderful picture. I’ll include it here for reference. It really is a beautiful bridge.

A bit west of Betws-Y-Coed is Swallow Falls, one of many beautiful waterfalls in Snowdonia National Park. Robin and I decided to give it a look. Actually, Robin said, “What now?” and I said, “Let’s go to Swallow Falls!” Robin was like, “OK!” and off we went. That was pretty much how our days went in Northern Wales. Some of our conversations were a bit longer, but not while we were out and about.

Robin and I parked a quarter of a mile from the falls and walked down the hill toward them. All of a sudden, I heard an exclamation from Robin, who was behind me. She had stepped on a pine cone, and had fallen. Gravity is a harsh mistress, and she fell hard. Fortunately, she turned as she fell, so she fell to her side. As it was, she skinned her knee and scraped her hand a bit. Me and a passing cyclist helped her up, brushed her off, with the cyclist offering Robin some of his water, which she politely refused. We continued on our way. I was making sure there were no more pine cones in her area.

We walked down some steps to a main landing. Robin decided discretion was the better part of valor and found a seat. She told me to go on and take a look, so off I went. There were some stairs leading up and I started there, Those stairs led up to the upper falls, and it was gorgeous.

Ranger and I went back to the landing. Robin was chatting with an elderly couple with a dog. That’s her. Leave her alone, and she’ll find someone to talk to, and a dog to pet. At least she was sitting down. Can’t step on pine cones that way. The lower part of the falls started right near there. I took those in for a bit, made some small talk with the elderly couple, and had a word with the dog, who was cool.

There were stairs down. I looked at Robin, then at the stairs. Then back at Robin. Then the stairs again. Nope. Going down the stairs would be easy, Coming back up, nope. Now I decided that discretion was the better part of valor. I gazed at the awesome wonder of Swallow Falls from the landing, then Robin and I slowly climbed up the main stairs, and made our way back to the car, avoiding any pine cones looking to make trouble. You have to be careful of pine cones. They form gangs.

From there, we took a ride through some gorgeous Welsh countryside toward Castell Harlech, on the west coast of Wales. This castle is one one of four that make up a World Heritage Site. Castyll Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech. The song “Men of Harlech”, as featured in the movie Zulu with the actor Michael Caine’s first starring role. The song sung by Rick Rescorla in the stairwells of one of the Twin Towers as he helped the employees of Morgan Stanley evacuate, only to lose his life after he went up to bring more down, and the tower fell. It’s a great song.

As we drove, I reflected on how well I had adjusted to driving in the UK. Robin was only occasionally giving me a half-hearted “Curb!”. The number of her sighs and gasps had also dropped, exponentially, so that’s how I knew I was doing better. That and no one was honking at me anymore.

We arrived in Harlech, whose roads are even more narrow than in other parts of Wales, which I thought impossible. The castle was impressive. It certainly had a nice view of the sea, and the valley leading to the sea.

We had dinner at the George and Dragon, but I will save that tale for the next blog.