Sometime during the previous night's sleep my subconscious had been faintly penetrated by the sound of seagulls tap dancing on the van roof - I hadn't a clue what time it was and my more-asleep-than-awake brain quickly reverted to total shutdown. When I finally awoke properly at 7.30am it was to a grey cloudy day and raindrops on the windows, and when I got out of the van my son informed me that there had been a very heavy rain shower about 4am - so it had been the sound of rain, not tap dancing seagulls, which had penetrated my brain earlier on.
Unfortunately, with the tent not having a fully integrated groundsheet, the rain had also penetrated underneath the bottom where it didn't touch the ground and there was a puddle on the groundsheet inside; it was soon mopped up with a towel though and with that job done I took the dogs for their first walk of the day. Across the lane from the site entrance were three fields - the first one was used for visitors' parking but I could see some piglets in the next one so I went across to take a look - there were three with what I assumed to be mother pig. Further along the field was a small horse box which seemed to be the living quarters of a goat and in the field beyond was a small group of alpacas and a herd of sheep, but the piglets were my favourites and I fell in love with the smallest one.
After a leisurely breakfast, during which the sun kept trying to break through the clouds, we started the packing up process and everything was in the van by 11.15am. With one final photo of the site I drove out of the gates for the last time and headed down the road to Pensarn where a dog walk along the beach was followed by an early lunch in the Pantri Bach cafe nearby.
It was an easy drive home with no delays and the further north we got the more the day brightened up until we arrived home in glorious sunshine at 3.15pm. It had been a good weekend, made even better by the lovely weather we'd had and also meeting up with Eileen and Annie again, and though I knew the sea air wouldn't have made my son's ankle any better the change of scenery had been good for him in other ways so I was more than happy with that.
I woke later than usual to another gloriously sunny morning and my son already up and about, so with the dogs tethered in the shade behind the van I sorted out some breakfast first then took them for a walk up the lane. The gate about halfway up, which I've always previously known to be closed to stop vehicle access, was actually open and there was a notice on it saying that the castle was open from 9am to 4pm; thinking that my son might like to have a look round but knowing he wouldn't be able to manage the long walk up the lane and back I wondered if it would be possible to drive up so I went to see if there was anyone I could ask.
Set at the side of the lane and opposite the castle was a portacabin-type storage shed and a couple of the castle Trust's volunteers sitting at a table outside; when I explained the problem I got the slightly confusing answer that I could either pay £5 and park there all day without going in the castle or I could pay £5 to go in the castle and the parking was free. So whichever I did it would cost £5, which was fair enough as all the money goes towards the gradual renovation of the castle, so I went back to the camp site to get my son and drove back up to the castle - and that's when it got even more confusing.
The guy I'd previously spoken to told me to drive almost to the main castle gate, turn round and come back to park near the cabin, which I did and paid him £5, but then I was told that only allowed us to view the castle from along the lane and if we wanted to go in the grounds it would cost another £5. There was no point just looking at the castle from the outside - I could have left the van back at the site and walked past the place for free - so we paid the extra fiver. By this time two other couples had arrived so we were given a short talk on the history of the castle and a laminated map of the place then we were free to explore at leisure.
It was nice to see that the restored formal garden was looking much better than last year, and with the addition of a few statues, a pond with a central obelisk and plenty of established planting it looked much less bare. As for the rest of the place I had to admit to being quite disappointed, as whichever level we went along we found the most interesting parts of the castle had been blocked off, which was a shame as I would have loved my son to see them. Then there were the peacocks - two of them in a cage behind a locked gate, which didn't make any sense at all. At least the views from the upper levels were good so that was something.
Back at ground level we returned the map and drove back down to the camp site where we each had a can of Coke and my son rested his foot for a while. The sky had clouded over somewhat while we had been up at the castle but by the time we were ready for setting out on the next part of our day the sun was blazing down again and it was quite hot. My mission was to finally get to Talacre beach and a pleasant drive along the coast road eventually took me to it.
Parking in the free car park near the end of the lane I left my son to wander round the amusement place while I went to find the beach. The Wales Coast Path ran along an embankment at the end of the lane and a short distance along it steps led down to another large parking area; negotiating my way across there was tricky as there were muddy patches and puddles all over the place but I managed it without getting dirty wet feet and emerged through the dunes onto the beach.
The Point of Ayr lighthouse was just along to my left and the sun shining on its weather beaten exterior gave it quite an attractive shabby chic look. Although it was completely surrounded by water the sea wasn't deep so if I hadn't had the dogs with me I could have waded out to it, however I was quite happy to take a few shots of it from the beach before making my way back to find my son. Just across the lane from the amusement place was a small walk-round discount store; I needed to get a new bed for Sophie and as that was the sort of place that might just sell that sort of thing I went over to have a look. I was in luck too, just inside the store were several racks containing various dog beds with the size I wanted costing just £5, so I drove away from Talcre beach with one little dog being the proud owner of a new bed.
Working my way back towards Abergele my next stop was at Barkby beach. I'd never been there before, in fact I didn't even know of its existence until I saw a sign for it so I was interested to see what was there. The answer was not much - the long lane from the main road took me past a large holiday complex and straight into a small pay-and-display parking area overlooking the beach, and apart from the premises of Prestatyn Sailing Club there was nothing else there. It wasn't worth paying to park so my son stayed in the van while I walked a few yards along and snapped just a couple of shots then we headed back to the main road.
Just before we reached Abergele I dropped my son at the fairground and amusements on the main road then went to call at Eileen's with a brochure I'd forgotten to give her when we met up a couple of days before. It was nice to have another chat and as I was leaving she told me where to find the giraffe which was peering over someone's high hedge - she had photographed it for her own blog some time ago and it amused me so much that I wanted to get my own shot. I found it easily enough and with a couple of shots I went back to the fairground to collect my son.
Back at the tent I made a snack meal for the two of us and we spent the evening watching tv, then later on I took the dogs for their last bedtime walk of the weekend. It was dark by then but the moon gave me enough light to see where I was going and it was quite pleasant walking along the lane in the stillness of the late evening, then back at the tent I made a brew and the four of us retreated to our respective beds for our last night on site.
