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Hi! I'm Eunice and I live in Bolton, Lancashire, with my two dogs Sophie and Sugar and an assortment of cats - well it used to be Sophie and Sugar, now it's Sophie and Poppie. I first began camping back in 1997 when my then partner took me to Anglesey for my birthday weekend. We slept in the back of the car - a hatchback - using the cushions off the settee at home as a mattress, and cooked and brewed up on a single burner camping stove. The site was good, the views were great, the weather fantastic and I was completely hooked. Following that weekend we got a two-man tent and some proper accessories and returned to Anglesey two weeks later, then over time we progressed to a three-man tent followed by an old trailer tent, then a new trailer tent, a campervan and finally a caravan. When my partner decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the street - literally - in April 2009 and I suddenly found myself alone after fifteen years, I decided there was no way I was going to give up camping and caravanning if I could cope on my own. This blog is the story of my travels, trials and tribulations since becoming a solo camper - I hope you like it

Saturday June 11th 2016 - Part 2 - Caernarfon

Leaving Port Dinorwic behind I drove a few miles further south to Caernarfon, the intention being to park near the castle, have a quick look round the shops, then take a few photos around the harbour, but when I got there I found the parking fee to be £4 for all day - now that would be fine if I was going to stay all day but it was already gone 4pm and I didn't need much more than an hour, so I negotiated the town's one-way system and found my way round to the far side of the harbour where I was able to park for free at the roadside overlooking the straits.

 Parking on that side of the harbour meant that I wasn't far from the golf club so on the spur of the moment I decided to pay a surprise visit to my cousin David who works there. I'd last seen him at a family funeral a couple of years ago, and though he knows I regularly camp on Anglesey he certainly wasn't expecting to turn round from serving a member at the bar and see me standing at the other side of it. He poured me a glass of Coke and we managed to have a good chat even though he had to break off a few times to serve various members. I left when he started to get busy, and as I got back outside I had to smile to myself; the dress code stated 'Smart casual is the order of the day in all areas of the clubhouse at all times' and there I was in cycling shorts, t-shirt and beach sandals with my hair tied up in a scruffy ponytail - not exactly the right sort of image for a golf club!

 Back at the harbour I spent quite some time wandering round taking photos; at one point I managed to find a way to get right down to the water's edge and was rewarded with the sight of an oystercatcher pecking about among the seaweed. Back up on the lane I crossed the swing bridge to the far side and walked along the harbourside as far as I could before I found my way blocked by a tall metal fence. A bank of ominous dark grey cloud was gathering just inland and it looked like the heavens were about to open so I didn't linger too long, and with another half dozen shots taken I made my way back to the van.

With the sky looking so dark and the time getting on it wasn't worth going anywhere else so I just set off back to Anglesey and the camp site. The sky was actually much clearer when I got back to the tent and the bed time dog walk just before the light faded was quite pleasant; it was a shame I hadn't had sunshine for my afternoon off the island but I'd still got some decent photos, and there would be plenty of future opportunities to go to Port Dinorwic and Caernarfon again in much better weather.

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10 comments:

  1. nashvillecats226 June 2016 at 08:20

    Great read and awesome photo's. Thanks for sharing.
    Yvonne.

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    Replies
    1. Tigermouse26 June 2016 at 11:23

      Thanks for the comment Yvonne, glad you like the photos :)

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  2. Eileen H26 June 2016 at 08:30

    That was nice to meet up with your cousin. I have to ask is Welsh his first language? I worked for a week in Caernarfon covering for the manager of the shop in our Company. As I don't speak Welsh I certainly felt like an outsider, I found it difficult to serve the customers so retreated to the office for the week LOL. Where I live there aren't many Welsh speakers, Caernarfon is so different but a lovely, lovely place. It's somewhere you should definitely visit again. I would have thought you'd find the tablecloth you were looking for there.

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  3. Tigermouse26 June 2016 at 11:37

    I don't think my cousin can speak Welsh at all other than a few simple words. He was born and brought up here in Bolton, trained as a motor mechanic on leaving school then decided he wanted to see a bit of the world and ended up living and working in Jersey, where he met and married Hilda. They moved up to North Wales about twenty five years ago to care for Hilda's disabled younger half-brother - they live in Llanrug not far from Llanberis, and David has worked at Caernarfon golf club for years.

    I didn't even bother looking round the shops that day, by the time I came out of the golf club they would probably have been ready for closing anyway so I just mooched about round the harbour - there'll be opportunities for window shopping another time :) I've been to Caernarfon a couple of times before but I wouldn't rule out going again in nicer weather.

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  4. Su-sieee! Mac3 July 2016 at 02:57

    Your outfit sounded like casual smart (is that what it's called) to me. You may have just finished a game of tennis. Your photos of the castle and boats are amazing. The boats look like they're resting on a mirror.

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  5. Tigermouse3 July 2016 at 13:45

    Believe me Susie, 'smart casual' it certainly wasn't. Black cycling shorts with a double white stripe down each side, a bright orange/red sleeveless top, beach sandals with velcro straps, and hair roughly scraped back into a pony tail - I certainly wouldn't have won any prizes in a fashion competition and definitely not the sort of stuff you would wear at a golf club, but when camping in warm weather simple suits me fine :)

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    Replies
    1. Su-sieee! Mac3 July 2016 at 19:07

      Your outfit sounds delightful. Except for the shorts, it's the kind of thing I wear everyday. My shorts are the nylon men's shorts that double as swim trunks.

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  6. Kernow Camper14 July 2016 at 12:51

    It has been far too long since we last visited Caernarfon. Yet another place on the must do again list!! :-)

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  7. Tigermouse14 July 2016 at 13:04

    It certainly is a nice place, and one I'll return to sometime but on a much sunnier day - I may even pay another surprise visit to my cousin if I'm round that way :)

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  8. Kernow Camper22 September 2016 at 15:28

    We love Caernarfon but have not been for years. There used to be a Caravan Club affiliated site just over the bridge from the castle but they lost the 'lease' and it's now private.

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