Criccieth - Tuesday, August 29, 1995

Yes, I am not in Portmeirion as the hotel was full, instead I got the guard to recommend anywhere else to stay so he recommended this village which is about 15 minutes away from the village. It is a nice area right next to the Bay here in northern Wales. I had a good diner at a local restaurant where a nice looking Canadian was also working, it is fun to listen to the various accents of people around here, the signs in Welsh are VERY interesting (and confusing). I also had a bit of a walk by the castle and Bay tonight, it was very quiet and quite nice though I would have prefered to arrive earlier than the 7:30 I did arrive at. It is surprising to see the number of hotels and B & Bs here, I don't know what the attraction is, perhaps it is the scenery, the castles and the village. I am also surprised to see that, even right on the ocean/bay, there are houses for sale and NOT that expensive (for what I am used to). I am pretty much out of the main area of England though…

It was nice to have a double room at the front of the residence and I did get a few pictures out of my room this morning. They only charged me for a single, which was even better. It did give me a chance to spread out all of my maps and arrange my travel plans for the next little while.

I got up fairly early (again) and basically drove all day. I attempted to keep to the ocean for the whole trip so I took a few more hours than I could have if I had kept to the motorway (expressway, ie. big highway). The day was NOT a nice one as it rained the whole day and was very gloomy and cold. I will have to come back to this area and to Glasgow. I have been thinking that I will come back in two years and do a bit more exploring, without a convention it should be much easier to spend some time around the various areas I have already only briefly explored (which is partly the purpose of this trip in my mind).

The areas I travelled through are very beautiful and I look forward to visiting again. I was travelling quite quickly all day trying to get here, which was quite interesting as the roads are VERY twisting around here, much different then I have ever seen in Canada. It is the roads that have a rock fence IMMEDIATELY beside them (not enough room between the car and the fence for a pedestrian), especially considering these are the most winding roads I have been travelling on. It has been quite challenging to drive with the road atlas I have propped up so I can figure out where I am. Today I travelled about 400 miles. That is PRETTY significant and I regret not stopping for lunch, though I did stop by the ocean to take a look around, it was quite nice.

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I will be trying to visit the village tomorrow and I will be getting to Oxford if I can as I was hoping to visit the big bookstore there. I will have to remember to book my room in London ahead of time.

⇒ Continue to Somewhere north of Machynlleth, North Wales - Wednesday, August 30, 1995