Wales - aka "Middle Narnia"

Well finally, the trip to Wales! It was over a week ago, but it seems time goes so quickly! Laura and I got up EARLY on the Thursday morning before Easter. We were scheduled to leave the train station at 6:45am, and we arrived with 5 minutes to spare. Then we sat there for a while and finally pulled out at 7:15, which meant that every successive train we had to catch in the change would be gone before we got there! That was disappointing, but I knew we'd still have some good time in Wales. After 4 train changes, a two hour wait for one of them, and walking in the rain to get lunch, we made it to Betws-y-Coed, Wales. It is in the northern part of Wales, which for those of you who don't know (I didn't know either), Wales is on the west coast of the island, still connected to England. After getting directions from the local tourist center, we began walking to our bed and breakfast and discovered it would be a great walk! Come along with me on a walk to the RoseHill Bed and Breakfast!

To get to the place, I had to walk back through the train station, cross the tracks via a bridge over them....you can see the bridge on the very left side of the picture in the background...

then walk through (or past) an OLD looking cemetary....

...over a wooden suspension bridge....

....through a sheep pasture....

and then across a road and up a hill!

It was great fun...it was raining when I got there, but it was so pretty! Laura and I had both felt the need for a break from the city, so we jumped on the train knowing nothing about the area except that it was in the Snowdonia region - home of Snowdonia National Park, known for its high mountain peaks covered with snow. The bed and breakfast owners were a couple named Fred and Margaret. Margaret was there to greet us when we arrived and she made us tea! We sat down for a quick rest then quickly got going to go discover something new. At Margaret's suggestion, we headed for the local waterfall. We also asked some suggestions for dinner, then headed out into the rain!

I walked by the river that runs right through the town and followed the rough direction of what I thought would lead to the waterfall, taking time to soak in the green, green surroundings and rushing water. It was so pretty, and so refreshing to be away from the noise, smells, and traffic of the city! Don't get me wrong - I love London, but there's nothing quite like the country side. I walked and walked right through the woods until it began to get dark. I still hadn't found the waterfall, and realizing I only had one flashlight in the handle of my brelly, I suggested we take the road back to town. Both soaked and muddy by this point, we decided to find a place to eat, which proved to be more challenging than we thought!

Betws-y-Coed is strictly a tourist town. It was begun as a "real" town but later was tranformed into the picturesque little tourist town that it is. There were plenty of souvenir shops and little cafes to eat, but they all close down at 6! Our only options for dinner were over-priced fancy hotel restaurants, a fast-food looking place, or a lively pub. Having been told by Margaret that the pub hosts jazz musicians in the evening, we decided on the pub. The food was SO good! It was the first time since being gone that I've ordered a meal and gotten a good solid, regular home cooked meal without any extra stuff on it! I had lamb (which made me feel badly for walking through the sheep pasture later, still smelling like the little lambs' former friend...) with gravy, potatoes, carrots, and beans! I enjoyed my dinner to the sounds of the jazz band playing (sometimes American songs too...it was ironic.) We had an adventure afterwards, due to the name of a favorite English dessert, but if you want to know that story, you'll have to ask me personally. It's a funny story, just not one for mixed company. :o)

After dinner I walked back to the Bed and Breakfast, enjoyed a hot shower, and hit the sack. Since breakfast was provided the next morning (by the way, we were the ONLY guests they had that night in this small B&B of four rooms, so breakfast was ONLY us), I got up early enough to enjoy it, but not so early that I wanted to go back to sleep. After a good healthy breakfast, we both headed out to hike some more. Margaret provided us with a book of all the local walks and pretty sights to see out in the woods. There were a TON of hikes we could have taken, but just picked one we'd read about the night before and went on it.

The hike began with a mile to two mile trek to Fairy Glen, much like a "holler" with a waterfall. It was dark from all the moss and lack of sun, but oh so beautiful! Here's a picture of me thanking God for getting us there safely and showing me such beauty!

From Fairy Glen, we kept walking along the path the book recommended and found a few more waterfalls! We stopped at a little tea shop and had some hot tea with the sandwiches of Nutella and peanut butter we'd brought with us (hey, every little bit counts!), then kept on hiking! We found an old Roman bridge, another waterfall, a little bit of blue sky, and Machno Falls! (I can't remember the names of the rest of the falls...sorry!) It was so pretty, but I was so tired by the time we finished our 7 mile loop! It was still early afternoon, and was hailing on me by this point, so I decided to do some souvenir shopping. First here's some more pretty pictures of the Welsh countryside....

And a few funny ones!!! Notice anything strange about this picture?

Here's the Welsh word for...well you know.

There were plenty of places to choose from for shoppin, but I hard time choosing what to buy! I spend most of my souvenir money on my family because it's so much fun to pick things out for them! I really do enjoy it - it's kind of an adventure to find exactly what I think they'll like. I guess I'll find out when I get home if I did okay! After about a quick hour and a half of shopping, we walked back to the Bed and Breakfast one last time to pick up our backpacks, then boarded the ONE CAR train to a bigger city away from Betws-y-Coed! Then when I got to that station, the next train wasn't on the list! It was funny because I had no problem figuring out the trains in Italy, but English trains are a different story! I asked a man standing on the platform, "Do you know anything about the train schedules?" and at the same time realized he was wearing the logo of the train company on his shirt! He laughed and said, "A little," (the British are very humble people...they'll admit to knowing a "little" about something when really they could be experts!) and told me that the next train was the one I needed. He was actually the guard for the back of the train - I think they make sure the train is ready to go, and they walk through the cars to check tickets once the train is in motion.

Here's one more pretty waterfall pic. Anyway, he checked on us several times and made sure to let us know when we needed to get off. After about 3 more train changes, an hour long coach ride I wasn't expecting, and another train change, I FINALLY made it back to the tube station. By that time it was midnight, but I was blessed enough by God to make it onto the very last tube train to run that night! I would have had to take about three buses to get home from the train station, so the tube worked out much better. We arrived back to the flat exhausted and wishing to go back to Wales!

More soon to come about the day trip to Belgium! Love you all!