Friday, September 22, 2006
Saturday 16 September 2006
As you will have read I headed over to Bangor (pronouned Banga) on Friday afternoon after a lovely morning in Caernarfon. Got into Bangor and checked into the YHA which is a stately home just out of town. Glorious afternoon and evening - weather has been forgiven and we're back to perfect again. There were 2 other Aussies (from Sydney) and an Englishman (from Hull) checking in with me and we joined forces and walked back into the village to find a pub to experience the 'local'. Sat at the pier and solved the world's problems - first true pub experience - always better when you've got company - pubs are a bit lonely on your own...funny thing is I could recite the standard 'pub grub' menu throughout Britain - Chicken Tikka Masala, fish and chips, 100% beef burgers (not sure how much beef other restaurants put in...), nachos (no meat)...all served with chips...so I ordered fish and chips double salad - hold the chips - and bless them that's what I got!
So, Saturday morning headed over to Anglesey for the day and the 'Hull Man' - Mike - gave me a lift as he had a car - and saved me the bus fare. Visited Baumaris Castle - a little squat one; sat on the waterfront watching families feed the seagulls with their hot chips (more bloody chips...) and enjoying the view across to the mainland all green and lush - bit hazy though so the photos are not so good - the seagulls are HUGE - twice the size of ours; went for a lovely walk up into the hillside behind Baumaris and could have been in a fairy glen. Kept expecting either a knight, a druid, or a fairy to pop out of the woodland glen....not sure that the photos do it justice; tried to do a Puffin spotting tour but it seems it is too late in the year - don't know where the Puffins go but not Anglesey obviously. Maybe I'll be lucky and see some in the West Hebridies...
Bumped back into Mike at Plas Newydd a stately home I visited with huge lawns overlooking the Menai Straits. This place is still lived in and looks it - the carpets are quite worn and the walls look like normal family homes - grubby marks around the light switches, etc. Nice feel actually - not so museumy. Mike offered me a lift to the next vantage point and I finished my afternoon on Anglesey at a sandy bay (can't remember the name) full of bird life. It was tidal and the far side (inland side) of the 'cob' (like the one at Porthmadog) were wetlands. Unfortunately my bird knowledge even in Oz is pretty basic so I don't know specifically what I was looking at but they were all sorts and quite different to home - more bigger birds in my mind...also learned what a 'nettle' looks like and that they sting (no I didn't get stung) and what the antidote plant looks like too...mmm...needed this information later in the Lake district - but that's another story...
Tonight I joined a group of mountain bike enthusiasts staying at the Bangor hostel for a 'curry' - another English tradition I am in Wales experiencing. They were from Lancaster (see, more English in Wales). But I learned another English idiosincracy - they ordered papadums as a 'starter' (not entrees here) and ate them with chutney, an onion 'dip' and mayonaise condiments. They didn't have papadums with their currys. And they were all sweating profusely with 'medium' curries - I ordered Vindaloo (supposedly 'hot') and it was 'medium' in the Oz scale. I have decided it is very hard to eat well on £5-6 (remember that's $12-15 for dinner and I could eat pretty good dinners even in Cairns restaurants for that at home) Anyway, I'm not really whinging just making a point - and it was great fun to listen to the dozen or so of this group in conversation.
As you will have read I headed over to Bangor (pronouned Banga) on Friday afternoon after a lovely morning in Caernarfon. Got into Bangor and checked into the YHA which is a stately home just out of town. Glorious afternoon and evening - weather has been forgiven and we're back to perfect again. There were 2 other Aussies (from Sydney) and an Englishman (from Hull) checking in with me and we joined forces and walked back into the village to find a pub to experience the 'local'. Sat at the pier and solved the world's problems - first true pub experience - always better when you've got company - pubs are a bit lonely on your own...funny thing is I could recite the standard 'pub grub' menu throughout Britain - Chicken Tikka Masala, fish and chips, 100% beef burgers (not sure how much beef other restaurants put in...), nachos (no meat)...all served with chips...so I ordered fish and chips double salad - hold the chips - and bless them that's what I got!
So, Saturday morning headed over to Anglesey for the day and the 'Hull Man' - Mike - gave me a lift as he had a car - and saved me the bus fare. Visited Baumaris Castle - a little squat one; sat on the waterfront watching families feed the seagulls with their hot chips (more bloody chips...) and enjoying the view across to the mainland all green and lush - bit hazy though so the photos are not so good - the seagulls are HUGE - twice the size of ours; went for a lovely walk up into the hillside behind Baumaris and could have been in a fairy glen. Kept expecting either a knight, a druid, or a fairy to pop out of the woodland glen....not sure that the photos do it justice; tried to do a Puffin spotting tour but it seems it is too late in the year - don't know where the Puffins go but not Anglesey obviously. Maybe I'll be lucky and see some in the West Hebridies...
Bumped back into Mike at Plas Newydd a stately home I visited with huge lawns overlooking the Menai Straits. This place is still lived in and looks it - the carpets are quite worn and the walls look like normal family homes - grubby marks around the light switches, etc. Nice feel actually - not so museumy. Mike offered me a lift to the next vantage point and I finished my afternoon on Anglesey at a sandy bay (can't remember the name) full of bird life. It was tidal and the far side (inland side) of the 'cob' (like the one at Porthmadog) were wetlands. Unfortunately my bird knowledge even in Oz is pretty basic so I don't know specifically what I was looking at but they were all sorts and quite different to home - more bigger birds in my mind...also learned what a 'nettle' looks like and that they sting (no I didn't get stung) and what the antidote plant looks like too...mmm...needed this information later in the Lake district - but that's another story...
Tonight I joined a group of mountain bike enthusiasts staying at the Bangor hostel for a 'curry' - another English tradition I am in Wales experiencing. They were from Lancaster (see, more English in Wales). But I learned another English idiosincracy - they ordered papadums as a 'starter' (not entrees here) and ate them with chutney, an onion 'dip' and mayonaise condiments. They didn't have papadums with their currys. And they were all sweating profusely with 'medium' curries - I ordered Vindaloo (supposedly 'hot') and it was 'medium' in the Oz scale. I have decided it is very hard to eat well on £5-6 (remember that's $12-15 for dinner and I could eat pretty good dinners even in Cairns restaurants for that at home) Anyway, I'm not really whinging just making a point - and it was great fun to listen to the dozen or so of this group in conversation.
# posted by The Essence of Good Taste @ 7:35 AM 
