You allright, then?

We say 'How are you?' in greeting... but in North Wales they say 'You allright?' which has thrown Joe and I off more than once!

After much searching, found a B&B in Betws-y-coed (BET-oos-uh-coyd) in Snowdonia. Huw and Emma run a guest house in their own home and they have three children (3, 7, 9) so we felt right at home. Especially when 3 yr old Imogen was demanding loudly of her Mum to go fetch her the Vancouver 2010 coin Neal and Maeve were offering her at the end of our stay...!

I've tried uploading some photos but the connection here in Keswick is too slow, so no pics this time sorry.

North Wales is beautiful (really wish I could show you...), it resembles Gros Morne National Park I think. Huw had some really great ideas of what to do and we managed to see an off-the-beaten-path lake that we scrambled up to one day. And Emma made a great full English breakfast, complete with black pudding. Joe commented that the British have a loose definition of 'pudding'. But we both still ate it!

We stopped at the National Slate Museum in Llanberis and managed to see a slate splitting demo with some local grade fives obviously on a field trip. Went to see the castle at Caernarfon, and at Conwy which are two of the Edwardian castles. Beaumaris is another of Edward's castles Drew, but we didn't get a chance to see it. Edward's castles were built in about 20 yrs and were created to keep the Welsh under control. The one at Conwy still has the wall around the city too. It is more rustic, while Caernarfon was a more active touristy feel. There was a spinner and we met Sir James (the architect) who showed Neal and Maeve where the murder holes were, and asked Maeve if she had come to the castle with her parents because she was of marrying age.

And Lisa, I did get to Colinette on our way up to North Wales... and I have some yummy yarn for you!! I asked if I could peek in the back, but wasn't allowed. Back in the Cotswolds, I asked Veronica - B&B owner in Chipping Campden - about what happens with all the fleece from all. these. sheep! that we've been seeing. She said that there's a Wool Marketing Board that dictates price, etc and that it really isn't worth having the sheep... they haven't even been paid for their fleece in the last two years. Sad, really... because we have seen many many sheep.

We're leaving Keswick today for Oban; we're not leaving the rain apparently... The rain did stop long enough for us to enjoy a boat trip around Lake Derwentwater, walk around Keswick (really pretty town), and go to see the Castlerigg stone circle yesterday. (70% of England's stone circles are in this area) And this is a larger B&B - a small hotel really - that has a pool! So Neal and Maeve have been able to go for a swim each day.

OK, we're off (again). Quick 'n dirty post... hopefully I'll be able to upload some photos - and the video of Neal free-falling off of a 50m pole at the Tall Trees Adventure Centre in Betws-y-coed! - at our next stop. Scotland, here we come!

Yvonne