At half past seven it
was 6°C, as warm as it
had got all day yesterday. We had been told that the camping field
dried quickly and so it turned out. Despite the horrendous volume of
rain yesterday the ground was reasonably firm, probably helped by the
lack of rain and the strong winds during the night. We paid our bill
(£13 per night) and said a big 'thank you' to our hosts. We would
thoroughly recommend Elsich Barn Farm with its very friendly and
helpful owners, its lovely views and scrumptious home-made cakes.
There were flooded
rivers in the area and we passed a number of flood warning signs but
we experienced no problems on the journey on the A49 and A5. We took
a short diversion off the A5 just after Glan Conwy to visit the
burial chamber known as 'Fairy Glen' sited just south of Capel Gamon.
It was quite difficult to find a place to park the 6.4 metres of the
motorhome but we managed and walked the short distance across farm
track and fields to the impressive chambered tomb (2,500 – 1900
B.C.) positioned close to a spring (was this significant?). Although
the tomb wasn't on the top of a hill, it did have views across to the
mountain range of Snowdonia flecked with patches of snow, probably
deposited yesterday.
Continuing north we
rejoined the A5 and soon stopped in a lay-by for a late lunch.
Our OS map showed a
Roman fort on the opposite side of the River Conwy and we decided to
try to visit it. This involved crossing the river at Llanrwst over
what turned out to be an old, picturesque and very narrow bridge. The
bridge rises steeply to the middle and down the other side, which
means that it is impossible to see vehicles that are crossing from
the other side. As the car in front of us approached the top, a car
appeared from over the brow forcing us into a delicate reversing
manoeuvre onto the A5. Once over the other side of the river we
followed the B road parallel to it until we got to the point where we
should have been able to turn to the fort. However, there was no sign
to the site and the road (or track?) must have been very narrow as we
couldn't spot it. We turned right at Ty'n-y-groes to cross back over
the river to the A5. The road was narrow and on a downhill stretch I
had to brake quite suddenly to allow room for a car to pass. There
was a noise of something falling inside the van and Jane looked back
to see that the kettle had fallen over. This has happened a number of
times before and should have been a problem but Jane realised that it
had been half full of water. As soon as I could, I pulled over to
inspect the damage. The hob was full of water and we attempted to mop
it up with tea cloths. It had also gone though into the cutlery draw
below. We carried on through Landudno Junction to the hamlet of Bryn
Pydew and the Camping & Caravan Certified Site of Tan-y-Bryn
Farm. It was deserted, so we chose the pitch with the best view and a
great view it was – we could see over to the hills of Little Orme,
down on the town of Penrhyn Bay and out to sea with the marine wind
farm and in the distance a large gas production rig. As well as the
best view, the pitch is also on the steepest slope so that, even with
levelling blocks, we have to walk up hill in the van. Still, we
decided that the view was worth it.
David Jones welcomed us
and chatted about the history of the site. His parents farmed here
from 1947 and opened the camping field in the following year. David
took over from his parents, providing 64 years of camping on the
site.
We were a little
concerned about the effect of the water spill. The fact that the
water got through to the cutlery drawer suggested that it went
through the hob burners. I turned on one of the burners, which
resulted in a noise that sounded like the death gurgles of a drowning
man. Even though there are drain holes in the burners, it doesn't
drain all of the water. There was no way that I could open up the
burners, so I spent a long time with a hair dryer heating up the
burners from below and trying to force water out from the top.
Eventually, I was able to light one burner although the gurgling
continued and the flames were quite exciting – large, yellow and
only on one side. We had the windows open and a pan of water over the
burner to keep the flames under control. The bottom of the pan was
covered in soot by the time that burner started burning correctly.
The process was repeated with the second burner but the third burner
refused to light consistently. Still, two burners were enough to cook
the dinner, so we didn't have to starve.
Photos: The Fairy Glen
Burial Chamber with the mountains of Snowdonia in the background;
Jane is mauled by a vicious lamb; Calmer lambs at Capel Gamon.
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