At the crack of dawn on Sunday morning, the boys and I hopped on the ferry to Wales. We were quite tired so it was a shame that we only discovered at the end of the journey that the swift ferry (a catamaran, bumpy but, in fairness, swift) seats recline. Alas.
We arrived at 10ish and then had a long, long drive to go and pick up herself and her belongings. The guys were charmed by the signs in Welsh. They were less delighted by the discovery that England is a quite big country. We only arrived at our destination about 4.30 having briefly stopped in a motorway service station for what, in my view, was a deeply unsatisfactory lunch. Dan had never had Gregg’s before and he thought it was the best thing ever. Honestly, no. He needed filling up as he was sitting up front as my navigator and car DJ – he actually did an excellent job on both fronts. I wouldn’t have minded a paper map as back up to my phone but Mr. Waffle had gone to Eason’s to see if he could pick one up before we left but none were for sale. What is this brave new world?
On arrival we filled the car to the gunnels with stuff. Very tiring but herself was touchingly grateful for our efforts. Actually more her siblings’ efforts than mine. While living on the fourth floor with no lift, I am sure, has advantages, they were not immediately apparent as we toiled up and down the stairs in 30 degree heat.
Unfortunately, herself had an ungettable out of engagement that evening but the rest of us went to Pizza Express and, I’ve had worse. Definitely in Gregg’s.
It was pretty toasty the next day and we met up after breakfast to do various touristy things including a boat trip and a not terribly scary ghost tour but it was quite interesting as a walking tour so there was that. I had hoped to get in a swim but logistics and dreadful traffic prevented it. Still, we had dinner by the river which was lovely.
The following day, I rearranged everything in the car, I wouldn’t say it was comfortable but it was ok. After an elaborate shared breakfast we went to a local art gallery (herself, at work as scheduler extraordinaire again) and then hit the road. It was much less trying than the journey there on Sunday and, in fact, we made far better time. Are all road works in the UK scheduled for Sundays, I wonder. I had thought we would be super speedy on Sunday but in fact it was very slow and busy whereas Tuesday was, by comparison, painless. Michael whiled away the drive by reading Lady Gregory’s Irish Myths and Legends. He kept us updated on new facts. There was a lot about the impressive fighting force that was Na Fianna. “Apparently,” said he, “the old High Kings were a bit nervous about the power of Fionn and the Fianna, a bit like Putin and Prigozhin.” I like to think that this was the first time this comparison has been made.
So speedy was our journey that we were a bit early for the ferry. I wish Holyhead boasted more delights. Inevitably the ferry was then late. The food on the ferry was appalling. Let us not speak of it. We got home about 1.30 in the morning, nearly two hours later than planned, but at least we were home. When we took all of the stuff out of the car, I was amazed that it had all fitted in along with the four of us.
We only had a flying visit from herself as she is off to Italy today but back again in a couple of weeks. It is nice to have her home and her bedroom full of stuff again.
