Friday, 30 June 1978
Shopping at Farnborough. Bag £10.24. Camp lantern £5. Darts £3. Ball point £1.65.
Drove to Byfleet and then went to Woking and then Guildford. Marks & Spencer – slacks £8, 2 blouses £10.
Came to Lucy’s, Aunt Daisy & Keith before tea. Peter, Doris, Nikola and Charles came after tea.
Wednesday, 28 June 1978
Haircut at Stow (to Slaughter). Haircut at Cirencester.
Visited church. Went to Cheltenham. Elsie picked 7lb strawberries @ 30p/lb.
Broadway, Chipping Camden to Stow.
Tuesday, 27 June 1978
Cold, drizzle
Oxford – up tower to view city. Bought hamper £18.20. 2 blouses.
Oxford
Went to Christ Church and heard evensong.
Back through Witney (photo).
Visited Blenheim Castle – garden and Churchill exhibition in morning.
Waterfall in grounds of Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace
Monday, 26 June 1978
Cold, windy, some showers
Through Hay-on-Wye. Back road came to a toll bridge (7p) over a canal. The WHITNEY toll bridge.
To Hereford and Worcester through rich rolling country to Stratford. Place full of tourist buses to see Shakespeare’s cottage that has been set up as a tourist attraction. Town very busy.
Shakespeare’s birthplace
Down to Stow-on-the-Wold. Old buildings around a square. Meal at White Hart £8 [Ed. I had some great meals here when I visited in 2000]. Stayed with Mrs Heatt – very good H&C £3.50 ea.
Stocks in Square at Stow-on-the-Wold
Our B&B at Stow
In the village at Stow
Sunday, 25 June 1978
Cold, cloudy, occasional showers
Breakfast 9.00. Drove to Llyswen and bought skirt and heavy jumper – to be sent to Australia.
Cattle moving through the main street of Llyswen Wells
Onto Brecon Beacons Mountain Centre. A special centre for the use of visitors – cafeteria, picnic facilities, showers, rest centre. Very well set up with a wonderful view of the Beacons in the distance. Beacons – an unusual outcrop of red sandstone pushed up many years ago.
To Merthyr and to Abergavenny where [we] tried to find Llangua where Marion’s cousin lived. Inquired at bus depot – talked with the mechanic. Place was 11 miles out on the Hereford border. Passed through the place and came back. Went up a road for miles – came back – the place Elsie asked at turned out to be where Paddy and Tony Wollan lived. (5.00pm).
Stayed for tea. Tony had had a throat operation and has his larynx removed (12 months ago). His partner had had open heart surgery. Both families live in very large house (300 years old in parts) that used to be coach house. – 7 bedrooms upstairs. Dining and a couple of lounge rooms. Paddy showed us the large sideboard (£13) on a solid stone floor. The cellar and bar (of old inn) were below in another room down below they have a full size billiard table.
Back through Talgarth to Builth Wells.
Saturday, 24 June 1978
Drizzle all day, very cold
Shops at Betws-y-Coed – purse and woollen hat. Through Snowdonia National Park.
Large slate quarries at Llechwedd. Stopped at mills and several shops.
Mountains shrouded in mist all day. B&B at Builth Wells with Mrs Bruce. Very comfortable. £3.25 ea. £13 for the 2 nights.
Friday, 23 June 1978
Wet (VERY)
Set off to Mt Snowden. Very heavy rain as we went through the Llanberis Pass. Very rugged cliffs but could not see much. Saw the rack and pinion steam engine that goes up the mountain but cloud was very low.
To Carnarvon Castle. The walls very impressive but much restoration work has been done. In one tower an exhibition of the development. Built in time of Edward I between 1280 and 1320s. The city wall completed in 4 years.
Inside Carnarvon Castle
The dias where Charles was installed as Prince of Wales
Another tower has the story of the crowning of Charles as Prince of Wales. Special chairs sold as souvenirs – slate dias, slate chairs for the crowning.
Very cold and windy in the passageways. Lunch on the quayside.
Saw the 3 bridges of Castle Conwy – rail, suspension bridge (1833) and new road bridge.
Pouring rain. Back up Conwy valley. Looked at shirts – bought little purses in Llanberis.
Thursday, 22 June 1978
Through Peak National Park (Blue John Cave near Castleton – peat stone). Mountainous country. Confused on way near Chapel – in to Frith and Congleton and coming out of Wrexham.
To Betws-y-Coed in mountainous country. Rocky – stream through village.
Cattle move down the main street of Llyswen Wells
B&B £3.75 / £3.50. Walk up the river side.
Wednesday, 21 June 1978
Drizzle and very heavy rain
Big breakfast.
Heaviest rain we have driven through. Rolling country to Skipton. Some climbing through the Yorkshire Dales.
Harrogate – a very large city. Difficulty in finding the Tourist Info Centre so that we could find Grove Road for Elsie to visit her aunt in Convalescent home. Molly (94) very excited to show us her room and the home. Uses stick but manages 2 flights of stairs quite well. Took a couple of photos.
Molly
To York and looked at the cathedral. Very light sandstone. Visited the undercroft where they put cement foundation to support one of the towers that was moving. Stainless steel pins 63ft long go through the concrete. Now a museum as they uncovered Roman foundations.
Couldn’t find [a] B&B [so] heading to Sheffield Royal Victoria Hotel (£25) without bath. You have to miss out sometime.