Things That Make Me Happy #1: Memories of Wales

[rj_anderson]

Okay, so this isn't something that made me happy TODAY, exactly, but I still treImage by rj-anderson via Flickrasure my many fond memories of that late August research/anniversary trip to the south of England and Wales. Waaaaaaaales. Oh, Susan Cooper, how I blame you for writing The Grey King and kicking off my passionate love affair with all things Welsh.

Anyway, I will just shut up and let you enjoy the pretty pictures now. First off, me looking understandably happy in front of the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. WhichImage by rj-anderson via Flickr was, not surprisingly, a thoroughly brilliant place.

Then, since I am rambling around in no particular order, we have the gardens at Powys Castle, Welshpool, which are utterly stunning and have probably been used for the setting of any number of Regency-type movies. Tier upon tier of gorgeous blooms and immaculately trimmed hedges, and magnificent architecture all around.

Oh, and did I mention the view? Yeah.
Image by rj-anderson via Flickr
Also, the back roads in Wales are made for midgets driving incredibly tiny cars, which we were not (and were not driving) so we had to get used to the glorious fun of driving very cautiously around all the blind corners just in case we happened to meet somImage by rj-anderson via Flickreone coming head-on the other way. Fortunately, as we were travelling deep in the Welsh countryside, this hardly ever happened.

I have many more pictures from the UK trip to share, but I'll save them for some posts in the New Year...

Anyway, that's it for me. If you'd like to do the "Five Things That Made Me Happy Today" meme, consider yourself tagged; otherwise, never mind. :)

Comments

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely! Lloyd Alexander did for me what Susan Cooper did for you (although once I discovered her, she only reinforced the addiction). Obviously, my dreams of visiting Wales never included having to *drive* there...that is one narrow road!

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I read the Prydain books too -- but I think I might have read them just after Cooper rather than just before, or else I didn't quite realize that they were that much based on Wales (or at least, not in terms of geography).

Traveling by train through the mountains of mid-Wales was like journeying through Middle-Earth. And yet the northwest (a.k.a. Grey King country) is so rugged and wild. It's amazing.

[shoebox2.livejournal.com]

Man, when you go in for a meme, you do it in style! I'm enjoying every one of these posts, thanks much.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

I will be going to Wales next summer, AND renting a car (gulp), so may be asking advice! Especially of the driving kind.

There is just no way that we can see to get around the car issue. To get where we want to get, it is simply imperative. We'll be flying from Germany, so for us the best option is Heathrow, renting a car--and soldiering toward Cardiff. I have never driven in another country though I've driven all over the place here...never have driven in a car that is backwards (grin). Should be interesting, anyway-- LOL.

Am thrilled with this post! Am off to look at the pictures now.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Oh, from Heathrow to Cardiff should be easy-peasy; it's all major highways (by English standards anyway).

Anyway, we had no problems driving, really -- the trick is to

a) have a very good map or directions which you leave in the hands of a capable navigator and let THEM tell you where to go instead of trying to drive and navigate at the same time; and

b) look up the rules for the odd stuff (like going through roundabouts) BEFORE you get over there so you are not trying to figure them out mid-roundabout.

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

OOh. Very lovely. I hope I can get to Wales sometime soon.

*wonders what you do if you *do* meet another car coming head on on one of those tiny narrow roads*

[myladyswardrobe.livejournal.com]

I can tell you that! I used to live in Wales and now live in Suffolk where there are teeny narrow roads.

What you do is hope the other person is polite. You both stop and both look around for the nearest passing place/widening in the road. One may need to reverse back! Once thats done you wave or flash lights at each other as a thankyou and both go on your way!

Generally, I find locals tend to be VERY careful on these kinds of roads - and are always polite to other road users. Its usually the "boy racers" who are not. Strangers to the area tend to be VERY cautious because they are terrified!

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

If a body meets a body comin' through the Welsh outback, you courteously reverse to the last turnout. It's actually not that bad. :D

[gamiila.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful idea for a post! And great to see the pictures...

I've only ever been through Wales once, on a coach, at night, through the driving rain, on my way to Ireland (this was before the dawning of the age of the budget airlines). I really should try to see it in the daytime too one day, judging by your photographs.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

It is, unquestionably, the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Well, except Swansea, which is one of the duller places I've visited (it all got flattened by bombs in WWII so they rebuilt it with mostly factories and other uninteresting stuff), but even down there all you have to do is drive into the countryside a bit to find gems like the Gower Peninsula.

[myladyswardrobe.livejournal.com]

Ah! Reminds me of my childhood. I was born and brought up in Wales, though I lived in the Welsh Valleys 7 miles north of Caerphilly and 15 miles from Cardiff!

Have to say, wasn't terribly keen on the valleys area but I LOVE Aberaeron (a few miles south of Aberystwyth) and the whole Carmathenshire and Pembrokshire area, which is where my father's family came from. It was the only time I really felt at "home" in Wales and I could always FEEL the history and age of the area.

Now, I live in Suffolk! And again its an area which I can feel its age. And we have teeny weeny little roads there too! I actually feel much safer on those roads than I do on motorways. A number of friends from America have visited me and my husband in our 15th century house. They are also VERY apprehensive of the tiny country roads!

The Prydain books are fantastic! I adore them so much and am always re-reading them. Haven't seen The Grey King but I shall have a look at that.

[(Anonymous)]

I have only once been in Wales, back in 2000, and I say this: Wales is a Triple-Decker Awesome Sandwich.

Hay on Wye, the city of books . . . *siiiiiigh*

I was there in early April, and everything looked as new and fresh as if it had come straight from the hand of God that very minute. There were shades of green I've never seen anywhere else; the countryside was eye-wateringly gorgeous. And baby lambs in the fields! Awwwwwwww . . .

Can hardly wait until I can go back.

Mary Anne

[faerie-writer.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful lush, green place! :D

[robinellen.livejournal.com]

I loved Wales too (was there in summer of '95) -- gorgeous area, and I also reread THE GREY KING and the rest of the DARK IS RISING series while we drove through :)

[alison23.livejournal.com]

You are truly a woman after my own heart. I'm also a Christian, a children's/YA writer, and a mother of three boys, and my favorite day ever was a day I spent alone in Wales! It was only one day, or part of a day, and I only got to Cardiff--just took a day trip from Oxford by train, but I thought it was absolutely beautiful (fortunately the weather was perfect that day, which I know is odd for Wales!) and I felt utterly at peace there. I was happy to find out later that I have Welsh ancestry. That was 20 years ago and I've wanted to go back to Wales ever since. Bruce Cockburn has a song lyric, "Just want to stand on some hillside in Wales with you...," and that's always been my wish for my husband, that I could take him to Wales & stand on a hillside with him! I've been watching a lot of BBC America lately, and it seems that Wales gets a bad rap from the English...but I adored it. Somewhere I have a panoramic postcard of a ruined castle in Wales that I have pulled out to stare at when I wanted to just calm myself and breathe. (Though I will say my mother once gave me a board book written in Welsh, and I didn't even show it to my kids as toddlers because I thought it would just confuse them about what letters could go together! The language is really unusual.)