Wales was windy but only wet at night

Did I mention that our neighbours have sold their house? It was on the market for well over a year, then they took it off as it hadn't sold. Late last year they had a new fence put up at the back, then recently their front porch was replaced. Within a few days there was a sign up, and it had sold in under a month.
They only have one child, a boy, and he has got into St Albans school, so they are looking at properties there. They are being pressed to move by the middle of next month, but have not yet found a property in St Albans. The wife was saying how expensive property there is, I sympathised, we went to church there for 12 years, and could never afford to move there. It will be interesting to see who moves in. We had the same neighbours for about 25 years, then they took off for a Spanish retirement. This will be the third change since.
We have been on our twice yearly trip to North Wales to visit family. Normally we would go during the Bank Holiday week, so that Husband didn't use up too much annual leave, but this is no longer necessary, and the bungalow rent was cheaper. We had a pretty straightforward journey up, stopping at Corley for lunch, then Sainsbury's at Chester to buy food for the weekend.
I popped round to see my sister, whilst husband recovered from driving. On Sunday morning we slept a bit late, so went to the church at Rhuddlan, as we didn't have enough time to drive over to Chester. We were made very welcome as usual, it was good to hear that they have a larger congregation in the evenings these days, their young pastor is very good.
After a steak meal we did crash out for a bit, then later drove over to see my sister. Only her Daughter was there, my great nephew was on a 'dig', I never knew that archaeologists worked on Sundays. We took our tea with us, and spent the evening chatting and relaxing.
The weather was cold and windy, lots of cloud about, but we still decided to walk into Rhyl on the Monday. Husband wanted to do the usual tour of the junk shops, but I left him to it. We had discovered that the towels supplied were not very absorbent, so I was on the hunt for something better. Sadly M&S has closed, as has Next. A new shopping complex has opened in Prestatyn, one of those sites which Tesco bought and held onto for 9 years before doing anything with it. In their wisdom, M&S decide that they no longer needed the store in Rhyl, so closed it. The shopping centre has so many closed units it is pitiful to see. Rhyl has always been a fairly deprived area, but now is classed as the most deprived.
I couldn't find any decent towels, nor something else I wanted to buy, so we caught the bus back, then later drove to the local Asda for milk and something for an evening meal.
On Tuesday we decided to go to Llandudno. It was still very windy and cold, but there was bright sunshine. We arrived at about lunchtime, so headed for the Cottage Loaf for a meal. I had a beef salad with chilli sauce, but was tempted buy a 'side' of chips. We did our usual separate tour of the shops, I found bath towels in M&S, they have 2 shops there, I even stopped for an ice cream. I popped into Edinburgh Woollen Mill and bought a jumper, as I hadn't packed enough, not knowing it would be so cold. There is no washing machine at the bungalow. I also got a Birthday gift for Mum in Law, as it is her Birthday this week. As we'd had a fairly substantial lunch, I bought a quiche, which we had with salad for our evening meal.

unusual houses on side of Great Orme

Wednesday we went down to Bettws y Coed, and wandered around there. We left in brilliant  sunshine and drove down the Conwy Valley into increasing cloud cover. There were lots of people around, it is a tourist hotspot. One year we saw a lot of young people splashing around in the river, diving off the rocks, but the weather was much hotter then. We wandered around the gift shops, had lunch, the later went into the ice cream parlour for a treat, and a coffee. We drove back via Pentrefoelas and across the Denbigh Moors. The old shooting lodge has all but disappeared, when I first saw it it many years ago, it looked rather menacing and haunted, but now very little is left standing.

Clock near station

Bluebells in somene's garden

falls

river

 

 

Reservoir Denbigh moors

Snowdon in the background

The road goes ever on and on

Thursday, we were off to Chester. It was a more pleasant day, and when we got there husband wanted to go off in search of a pasty for lunch. So I went in M&S, had a look at the clothes, didn't buy anything, then went to the food section and bought lunch. I wandered down St John St, marvelling at how Chester has changed since I left, the old telephone exchange is now a trendy restaurant. I crossed over the road, and walked unto the Roman gardens, the last time I went in there was when our Daughter was doing GCSE Latin. They seem to have opened up the gardens now so that there are several levels. I sat and ate my lunch on a stone bench, then wandered down two more levels into the Groves as the area by the Dee is called. It brought back memories of my short stint as a policewoman, when Sunday afternoons in the summer were spent organising the motorists, so that they didn't obstruct, park in the wrong place etc. sometimes in those days people only used their cars at certain times of the year, and I managed to catch someone with an out of date tax disc. I still notice out of date tax discs, how sad is that?
I wandered up into Grosvenor park, where we sometimes used to go tracting on a summer evening before church.The grey squirrels are almost tame, and I happened to have a few cashew nuts left in my pocket from a little pot I bought for lunch. The squirrels were delighted. I fond a dig going on, but it was college students, then I wandered past the old St John's ruins, and into St John's for a quick look. I hadn't been in there for many years.

Roman Gardens

hypocaust

old house in grounds of St John's church

Squirrels in the park

 

student dig

St John;s church, old and new

Off to the shopping centre I marvelled at how many jewellers there are and how expensive they are. On shop has rings without stones, presumably so that one can chose one's setting and the stone(s). Later husband and I met up and went into the market, where we bought a small selection of cheeses.

Chester tour bus

Then back to the park and ride. The park and ride is now run by stagecoach, so we can no longer use our bus passes. Still, I suppose they have to maintain the car park somehow, and it's quite reasonable. it was about the same price as we had paid from Rhyl to Kinmel Bay. We can't use our passes in Wales either.
Friday morning I went off to buy some stuff including flowers for Dad and Mum's grave, the anniversary of Dad's death is 18th May, which was the next day. The graveyard was wet again, so I had kept clean trousers for travelling, as it is impossible to sort out the flowers without kneeling, and I always end up with a wet patch.
We cleared everything up, finished the packing, I battled with a heavy upright vacuum cleaner, which taxed my shoulder. Then we were off, across country to our Son's home in Cheshire. When we arrived he was fiddling with the car, taking off the expensive bits, such as radio, which he had fitted and replacing them with the originals. His wife arrived home and we all went in the car to a nearby salt trail, Tom ended up in the river a few times, but he loved it. Then back home for a meal and  natter then bed.
In the morning they were off to see some cars in the Bristol area, so they left us a key to lock up. We set off later stopping at Watford gap where we had soup and a sandwich, which was very welcome as it was horribly cold still. We arrived home, and unpacked the car, then later I went out to buy food for the weekend. it was nice to be home,and everything in the garden was thriving because of the rain. I'll add some pics later.