I am sure you will find this hard to believe but our time in Llangollen in February was blessed with sunshine ….. not all the time ….. but at least it didn’t rain much!
Many of us had driven through severe storms … and I mean severe … and flooded roads on our way there but it was worth it!
Jenny Flake, (Sussex) ably assisted by Margaret Illsley (Berkshire) and her family contacts in Wales, found us a super hotel for the weekend and arranged an interesting coach trip for us all on the Saturday. The sun shone whilst we visited the ‘Marble Church’ at Bodelwyddan, nr Rhyl; it continued to shine whilst we sought out lunch in Conwy; was still shining on our scenic drive through Snowdonia all the way to Plas y Brenin (The National Outdoor Centre) nr Betws-y-Coed. As we left the Centre the clouds were just beginning to gather over Mount Snowdon (Sorry, Yr Wyddfa!). As we drove back towards Llangollen and passed The Horseshoe Falls it was raining – but we didn’t mind at all, we had had a super day.
Llangollen is blessed with both the River Dee and the Llangollen Canal. Sadly, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct at Trevor was closed for maintenance work so those with a head for heights were denied the opportunity to walk across it and there was no narrow boat traffic on the canal. However, the Heritage Steam Railway was running, and was sampled by some, between Llangollen and Berwyn where a friendly team served tea, coffee and homemade cake and were happy to chat.
Add to this a selection of National Trust destinations, seeking out the ever popular garden centres and opportunities to walk, there was lots to do over the three or four days we spent together. During the weekend various places were visited and each evening over dinner everyone had a tale to tell about where they had been, what they had done – and where they got lost!