I forgot to mention that sometime during that night we were dubbed “Ni good ’nuff to be Welsh like” by the sparse couple of Welsh people who were there amongst the Londoners, Finns, Wessexes, Birminghamers, Ghosts and us. Very priviledged we are!
After another yummy breakfast we were ready to hit the road again by 9.30, only slightly bleary eyed, and headed for the glorious Elan Valley. 
Parts of the country side were surprisingly dry, but this only added to the magnificent colours. Autumn is the favourite season for many Brits, and I can understand why. If the sky is clear and the air crisp, the array of reds, oranges and browns would inspire the most entrenched city dweller to wonder 
at the beauty of nature. The Elan Valley has a series of dams running through it, with lovely old walls and spillways built in the late 19th century. As it was a clear calm day, the waters were reflecting the scenery around them in perfect mirror images. The sort of stuff 2000 piece jigsaws are made of! So while I was driving along marvelling at all the panorama, Susan Stormcloud was snoozing & Gothling was learning her lines for A Christmas Carol. 
I made them get out of the car when we came across this though (it was only 6° so it took some encouraging). A ruin of a small settlement with a couple of buildings and lots of rocks and slate. There was a sign stating that it was an excavation and research site. Have to give the original dwellers credit. Firstly how they built these houses with no mortar, and secondly how they lived in what appears to have been a very harsh country side. Makes you feel all soft and spoilt by comparison. So we have a couple of little bits of Welsh slate to bring home as well.
We finally made it to Conwy (local pronunciation is Conwee) by late afternoon, found a reasonable room, ate a lovely pub meal, and were all asleep by 8.30! Amazing how a late night fuelled by Welsh ghost stories can take it out of you…
The town of Conwy is actually within the castle walls, which gives it a lovely 
enclosed feel. It was built by Edward I (Longshanks), along with a series of other forts along the welsh coast. After a lovely nights slumber we hit the castle proper. There are very few roofs left of the original structure so it has a rather spooky abandoned feel, but we were soon trotting up and down the numerous turrets (trying to warm up largely). 
Some of those narrow spiral stone stairs are nothing short of treacherous! I don’t know how people would have lived with them going up and down all day without breaking a neck or two. But then, maybe they did? These days there are usually hand rails to help us shaky knee people keep their balance, but there only bare walls back in the day. Gothling seemed to scamper up and down with ease, while Susan and I were much more sedate… 
We soon dealt with this show of exhuberance though!
By midday on Sunday we were heading back to Leeds and home safe by 3ish. Another successful mission accomplished! There’s about a million more things to see in Wales, but we’ll have to be content with the lovely little taste we had. Next post – Gothling wows a Leeds audience with some Aussie poetry for a fund raiser – Andy Griffiths will have US to thank when he goes global! 
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