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Dates: 16 to 18 October 2024

Silliness comes in all shapes and sizes but I guess that trying out a new tent in wet Wales in darkest October is probably up there in the top five.

I got the idea of having a smaller tent for the odd long weekend camping in places like Wales or England even…….. So it was quite useful that one of the SheltaPod tents came up for sale at what I would like to call a bargain price. The tent can be used as a standalone or with the front canopy fixed in a variety of ways to a vehicle, thus making it drive away if required.

For some insane reason I decided to go away for three nights in October to a campsite in Wales that I’ve used before at Brithdir (near Dollegau) called Llwyn y Helm Caravanning and Camping Park. A beautiful site on a working farm. One main attraction for me was that they have a very nice loo block (heated !!!!) with great showers. See my previous post SNOWDONIA – AGAIN !

Also on the menu were a couple of rail trips (you wouldn’t have expected anything else would you ?), namely the Fairbourne Railway and the beautiful Cambrian Coast  mainline railway from Fairbourne station down to Pwllheli.

En route to Brithdir, stopped at the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway site for a “cuppa and a wad”, as they say – essentially tea and delicious carrot cake. No trains running today though – not unexpected as the season was over.

So arrived at the campsite, to find that the grass areas that I would normally use were completely soaked through and really unavailable for tent camping. The alternative was a hard standing caravan/campervan pitch, but at least it had electric hook up for the coolbox…..

Now people often laugh at the amount of kit I take, even just for a long weekend, but this time my extra “emergency” groundsheets came in real handy to protect the built-in groundsheet of the actual tent itself.

Although I’d practiced putting up the tent a bit in the play area field behind my house, this was the first time “under fire”. I say that, as the weather had turned pretty miserable and mega windy, together it being after 5 PM.

To be honest, I made a right hash of it, but managed to get things roughly in place, enough to at least have somewhere to sleep ! The wind also was a worry, so strategic windbreak was deployed – sort it in the morning……..

Next morning (after a pretty windy and wet night) my inspection of the tent pitch-up showed me it was indeed pretty appalling/rubbish! So a quick re-work was necessary, together with experimenting how the car/driveaway part of the “contraption” worked – one of the main aims of the weekend away.
Luckily the wind had abated a bit, so not too much struggling. I chose to just use the long straps across the car, not very pretty but effective. I’ll have to look at alternative things like magnet fixings on the car, etc for the future. Despite all that, I didn’t get wet over night !!!!

     

That was the morning gone.

So I decided to give myself a treat by going on the Fairbourne Railway, following a slap-up all-day breakfast at the Fairbourne Chippy.

Fairbourne itself is only a small place, but there was a film crew in town, so the shops were quite busy, providing a boost to local businesses outside the usual tourist season. The visitor carpark was FULL of trucks….They were filming for the Sky original thriller UNDER SALT MARSH. The cast apparently included such luminaries as Rafe Spall and Sir Jonathan Pryce.

Before the train, I even managed to top up with some Welsh delicacies (Welsh cakes, bara brith fruit loaf) at the Bwyty Bach delicatessen. I think the owner was happy to have a customer in this quiet part of the year, as she was very chatty and amiable – bet it’s the place for gossip in the season……

The Fairbourne Railway is a 12 inch gauge miniature railway that runs for 2 miles from the village, alongside the beach to the end of a peninsula at Barmouth Ferry railway station, where there is a connection with the Barmouth Ferry across the Mawddach estuary  to the seaside resort of Barmouth.

Fairbourne station is the main HQ of the line, the location of the locomotive and carriage sheds and workshops. There is a small museum containing many photographs of the line, a nature centre, tea room, booking office and gift shop – some of which were closed as it’s out of season now.
From here trains head along Beach Road crossing over three level crossings before arriving at Beach Halt.

I was the only passenger for the diesel powered 2pm service – not often I get a train to myself !

Despite the less than ideal weather, there were reasonably good views across the Mawddach estuary to Barmouth.

After that I decided to drive back the “long way”, via Tywyn, Aberdovey, Machynlleth, Corris then Brithdir. All a bit misty and murkie, but scenic nonetheless. One highlight was this rather wonderful, unmissable building in the middle of Tywyn. Called the Magic Lantern, it uses the town’s old assembly rooms and they apparently have music, comedy, etc, as well as it being the local cinema.

Next/last day there was blue sky–well sort of….. With sunshine !!!
It was a quick trip back to Fairbourne, firstly to get better pictures of the estuary (just to show it really can look good in the sunshine…..), then to catch a mainline train down to Pwllheli.

I’d had the Cambrian Coast Line on my “to do” list for a while, as it’s pretty spectacular, with rugged coastal scenery, sandy beaches and even crosses the world famous wooden Barmouth  Bridge.

It’s a 50 mile railway that runs from Machynlleth to Pwllheli, hugging the Cardigan Bay coastline, all within Snowdonia National Park, going through places like Harlech, Porthmadog and Criccieth along the way. Here’s a couple I took from the train, so not quite 100 %…

     

During the winter there are not so many scheduled trains, so it was into the town quickly, a visit to the gents in the station and then back on the same train to return to Fairbourne. Sun was definitely out properly, so the coast looked magnificent.

The next morning brought a heavy dew, so a bit of a wet tent scenario to go home with and the resulting sort out chaos.

However, I’d learnt a few things about how the new tent works, which was the object of the exercise.

And it’s always good to visit that beautiful part of Wales.

DATES: 09 to 16 September 2024

My sister Alison and brother in law Steve live in Thouars, a historic town located in the Deux-Sevres department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France.

I decided that a few days rest in France would do me a bit of good, especially with all the medical goings in 2024.  By an act of serendipity, my sister was in the UK at the same time, so we plotted to meet up at Bristol Airport and together fly to Nantes, the nearest sensible airport to where they live.

The challenge I gave myself was to get to Bristol Airport and back WITHOUT using my car.

By good fortune, Newport Bus had recently started a new electric bus service 72 from Cinderford down to Chepstow, where I could catch a Transport for Wales T7 bus all the way to Bristol bus station – FOR FREE !!!!!! That’s because the bus goes back into England at some point and my pensioner bus pass (sorry concessionary travel pass) issued by Gloucestershire County Council became valid !  Unfortunately, timings coming back from France didn’t work for the bus(es), so I opted to get a train back from Bristol to Gloucester and then the bus back to Cinderford. The last bit was potentially a bit “adventurous”, as there are not too many buses later in the evening into the Forest of Dean……

Then it was onto the Bristol Flyer bus down to the airport – had to pay for that one.

Following a successful rendezvous with sister dear, it was onto Mr easyJet’s finest carriage to France, to be collected at Nantes airport by Steve in his electric Renault machine.

To be honest, not a lot happened during the week, apart from domestic stuff, like food shopping. I think all concerned had been rushing around so much that it was time for a communal stop…..

We did, however, go out for a pretty decent walk around the historic part of Thouars. Here’s a few pix, down by the river Thouet.

Now for the journey back……

No problem at all getting to the airport in plenty of time. Indeed, it seemed we were being processed a bit earlier than I had expected. The self service check in machines at the Nantes easyJet check-in were a bit of fun – thank goodness there were helpers hovering to assist….

Then it all went pear-shaped as the in-coming plane had a “technical issue” and was delayed. What was frustrating was that the plane load to the same destination for the flight AFTER our flight left on time.  Naturally enough the announcement to board was made at 2hrs and 59 minutes, thus avoiding having to pay delay payments, etc.

The delay obviously put my train timings completely up the spout ( it was always going to be close, but achievable – just…), but I found some sort of train  (Cross Country, I think) that was going roughly in the right direction away from Temple meads.  Instead of going directly to Gloucester, I had to go further up the line to Cheltenham Spa, then BACK down on a Transport for Wales local train to Gloucester. All very frustrating after the plane delay. At Cheltenham, I  made a severely large raid on the chocolate vending machine…….

Knowing full well I’d likely miss the buses back to the Forest, I’d booked a room at the Premier Inn in Gloucester while waiting in France.  Taxi from Gloucester Station got me there just before 1 in the morning. Thank goodness they have all night staff on duty……..

Needless to say, it was a leisurely start next morning, followed by a decent cooked breakfast, then a completely hassle-free bus journey back to Cinderford. Such fun……

Would I use the bus again to get to Bristol Airport ? Yes – as long as the timings were OK.

 

DATE: 03 AUGUST 2023

For some unknown reason, I’ve never been to the Severn Valley Railway  (SVR) which runs between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth. Been on a load of steam railways, but not this’un.

That was all fixed when son Sam sorted out tickets as a birthday treat for yours truly, so a bit of a boy’s day out….. Delayed until  August, as he could only go during school holidays and I had to fit it in with medical appointments and operations, etc.

So off to Kidderminster we went, parked up and on to the 10 o’clock train.

Restricted to 25 mph because of their operating licence, it was good to look at the countryside without it not flashing past so quicky – although I noticed that the West Midlands Safari Park had put up fence boards next to the railway to stop people looking in too much……..

SVR is apparently a bit stretched money-wise (they have what they are calling a Survival Fund) so not as many trains running as before, so Sam and I decided to stay on the train until Bridgenorth, have a look around there, have a bite to eat, then back on the 1450 to Kidderminster – a plan !

Our trusty steed was 75069 – all big , black and beautiful…. Bit of an explanation about how it all works to dear son, who has no idea about how these wonderful feats of engineering work – or was he just pandering to his Dad’s child-like fascination with steam trains ???????  I just love the engineering. Anyway – whatever, it’s the journey that counts !

So, arriving in Bridgnorth, it’s across the bridge from the station, up the stairs and into town. I had hoped to make it two railways in one day, but unfortunately the Bridgnorth Cliff Railway was not working, due to  “ our forced closure pending the repair of a neighbouring  retaining wall……” – another day perhaps ?

Bridgnorth has some good looking buildings and the main street was (to use that old fashioned phrase) bustling busy…

 Where was lunch ?  That young person’s favourite – Wethespoons !!!!!! I think there was also the opportunity to partly watch a football match as well …..

Somehow we’d missed the predicted rain showers and we wandered back to the station, grabbed a cuppa from the buffet. I indulged myself with a few pic’s of the operation while Sam buried his nose into his phone.

 Back on the train, I once again revelled in that wonderful evocative situation of steam haulage, with the engine working hard, the click clack of the rail joints and smuts in the eye through poking my head out the window.  Why doesn’t the whole world love steam trains ????

A good day out all in all. Just to top it, there was an offer on to get FREE return tickets, so I can go again for nothing !!!!!  Thank you Sam for a grand day out (a Wallace and Gromit reference there…)