Happy Holiday

Remember this December, that love weighs more than gold!

Ok I am sorted, well sort off.

We have just spent a few days in the Delamere forest
photo’s here.

After setting up camp we headed into the forest to the Delamere Christmas bit  with the promise of a glass of mulled wine and a bowl of stew and a ride on the Christmas train, (yes we are big kids), what else could we do? Only to find when we got there the only stalls open were the chip stall and a stall selling donuts/candyfloss and sweets. So we had chips and tea and sat on a bench listening to the piped Christmas music, all very Christmassy. The train arrived but a school trip was loaded on and it took off again. We thought that maybe we were a little late in the day, (2.30) even though the website says it is open all day. We decided to try again another day.

On Tuesday we headed out for a walk and decided to do the Delamere forest and Pale Hill walk, which was a nice walk, (short walk because the weather wasn’t being too kind) Route and info here.  Yes I am being lazy, but it is said so much better there. Blakemere Moss was both eerie and stunningly beautiful and yes we did walk a little way out into it. It was a freezing cold day and despite having two jumpers a fleece and a top water proof coat on I was still cold, at the end of the walk we took a detour back to the Delamere Christmas with Delamere stew and mulled wine on our minds, (12.30, surely we will get it now), well no. The only stalls open were the same ones as the day before, and they weren’t cooking stew. So it was a hot pork cob and tea again, and again any chance of a ride on the train was out of the question as yet again school trip after school trip were lined up to ride. I think they need to re write their web page to state that all stalls are not open all day, (like it says) and no you can’t ride the train in the week, (like it gives the impression that you can).

Wednesday we got the train into Chester,it was lovely getting on a clean roomy train, I have never been on a train where the seats are like the ones that used to be on old buses. Chester is a lovely wall city with lots of history. We started the day with a look at the Roman Amphitheatre, which I took this photo of, which is not very good, but those lights weren’t there when I took the photo, tut they spoil it completely!
From there we got onto the wall, it is possible to walk the wall right the way around the city, so we did. We had a spot of lunch by the river then headed into the town. We took a look at St. John the Baptist Cathedral which is just a ruin now, and took a walk through the Roman gardens. Another walk through Grosvenor Park where the squirrels run at you and sit right by your feet so you have no choice but to stop, obviously people feed them, but we had nothing. We also had a look around Grosvenor museum which was very interesting. What I was disappointed with was the Cathedral, the outside is beautiful however the inside is somewhat lacking, it just doesn’t seem to give what the outside offers. It cost us £11 to get in, (I always think there’s something very wrong with having to paid to see inside a church), and given we had paid to see the inside I was disappointed that a section of it had scaffolding and TV cameras in it, another part was closed off as it was full of more cameras and the cleaner was still in there doing the hovering. If you do go to visit stick to the outside and don’t bother going in. We spent a few hours wandering around the shops, yes us, the pair that hate shopping with a passion, but these were different shops. Old tobacconist’s, a specialist vinegar and oil shop with barrels of vinegar, real vintage clothes, I fell in love with a beaded 1930s dress, curiosity shops and a shop front hubby had to drag me away from which had a lovely dolls house in.  As evening set in we went back onto the wall to see the lights in all there glory, and listened to this group of men playing Jingle bells, it was the only tune they knew, but they were giving it their all and everyone who went passed smiled and had a little dance, you just couldn’t help  yourself.

Thursday the weather forecast was awful so we headed for the coast first stopping at Ross-on-Sea for a walk on the front and a spot of lunch and then onto Llandudno.  We walked the pier,  (as you all know I love a pier) and had a wander around the shops, yes shops again good old fashioned seaside shops, you know the sort full of c*&p I mean treasures. The weather turned very cold and wet so we headed back to the car and onto the toll road onto the Great Orme,  we rode to the summit and looked out to sea, not that you could see a lot with all the cloud, heehee

All too soon Friday came around and it was time to pack away and head home, in the snow. Yes would you believe it, it waited for us to start packing away. This is the robin I was feeding from the window, (see no snow) 5 minutes later

🙂