Better Slate Than Never
Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 9:48 pm
Obviously I’ve already bunged a few snippets up about my North Wales “QuarriesQuest” in the BaM thread but I thought I’d elaborate a little more here, in the very unlikely event that anyone else is remotely interested in photos of rusty bits of metal on damp remote Welsh hill sides. I’m afraid plain old “scenery” rarely does it for me these days, I need a backstory, a bit of history, something to nose around. Can’t say you haven’t been given fair warning, so no complaints after I’ve wasted half an hour of your lives please . For anyone who IS interested, you have my sympathy as a fellow sufferer. I’m not feeling very literary today, but maybe the photos will speak for themselves to anyone happy enough to listen to them .
So I spent a very chilled out train journey aimlessly staring out of the window at the passing scene, supping a couple of ales. I’m the sole person who actually does that on trains these days of course so I get weird looks - everyone else seems to be glued to a screen with headphones on for some unfathomable reason. My pleasant reverie was rudely interrupted when I was chucked out onto Bangor station platform at 9.20pm with a bike and no idea where to kip. I decided to follow the Lon Las Ogwen bike trail on the basis that it would eventually lead me to the nearest quarry at Bethesda, but it turns out there’s not many reasonable Spots in close proximity to it. I scanned the graveyard and industrial estate, both of which were fenced off to deter body snatchers and stuff snatchers, then gave up and headed for the coast.
My "Spot Radar' had automatically activated on the train just after Penmaenmawr and I had vaguely noticed a few copses down by the Menai, so headed in that direction. On the way I passed up a perfectly serviceable bird hide because it had CCTV(!), then set off along the coast path. Amazingly the first tiny copse looked good and was right at the water’s edge, so I set the Gatewood up in double-quick time and spent half an hour watching the sun set over Anglesey listening to the sea birds pecking around on the sand. The only drawback turned out to be I’d rolled out onto a big bed of wild garlic – my sleeping kit reeked of garlic for the rest of the trip!
So I spent a very chilled out train journey aimlessly staring out of the window at the passing scene, supping a couple of ales. I’m the sole person who actually does that on trains these days of course so I get weird looks - everyone else seems to be glued to a screen with headphones on for some unfathomable reason. My pleasant reverie was rudely interrupted when I was chucked out onto Bangor station platform at 9.20pm with a bike and no idea where to kip. I decided to follow the Lon Las Ogwen bike trail on the basis that it would eventually lead me to the nearest quarry at Bethesda, but it turns out there’s not many reasonable Spots in close proximity to it. I scanned the graveyard and industrial estate, both of which were fenced off to deter body snatchers and stuff snatchers, then gave up and headed for the coast.
My "Spot Radar' had automatically activated on the train just after Penmaenmawr and I had vaguely noticed a few copses down by the Menai, so headed in that direction. On the way I passed up a perfectly serviceable bird hide because it had CCTV(!), then set off along the coast path. Amazingly the first tiny copse looked good and was right at the water’s edge, so I set the Gatewood up in double-quick time and spent half an hour watching the sun set over Anglesey listening to the sea birds pecking around on the sand. The only drawback turned out to be I’d rolled out onto a big bed of wild garlic – my sleeping kit reeked of garlic for the rest of the trip!