Wales, day 3

We all headed out at 9:30 am towards Aberdaron. The drive there was...hair-raising. The roads became progressively narrower until we were on a tiny single-lane road, sunken deep in the ground between earth banks and hedgerows. One late, but two-way traffic = children who are worried we'll crash into an incoming car. "Papa, slow down!"

"Ca va," he would always reply.

(We did not crash into anyone, although we had some close brushes with the bushes along the side of the road.)

We pulled into Aberdaron two minutes before the church service started. It was a big event: a visitation by the Archbishop, which apparently hasn't happened for a long time. It was a bilingual service in Welsh and English. Very interesting! And the Archbishop's sermon was quite entertaining and engaging.

We stayed afterwards to chat, eat lunch, and get access to the parish records. Eric's great-grandfather is buried in that churchyard, and with some assistance we were able to find the headstone.

Some very nice church ladies stopped to chat with us, and we got invited to come back tomorrow evening for a sing-along. "We only have 3 people right now so you'd be a welcome addition!" It would be fun, but I suspect we'll be too tired to make a 1.5 hour round-trip drive just for some singing.

Next, we took another "interesting" drive up to Mynydd Mawr, an old coastguard lookout point on the westernmost tip of Northern Wales. Such a gorgeous area.

We were blessed with another day of full sun and warm temperatures (for Wales). Many of us came away quite sunburned by the end of the day.

Our last stop was Traeth Porthor or Whistling Sands Beach, where the sand indeed whistles when you step on it the right way. I didn't have the courage to swim, but Eric, Ivy, and Dio all jumped in. Eric said the size and number of fish were incredible, and he wished he had his spearfishing equipment (he only had room for a mask & snorkel).

We drove home in the late afternoon, very hungry. By time dinner was done the hunger had gone up to ravenous! We had some leftover mushroom ravioli, plus an Asian vegetable stir-fry and barbequed spareribs.

A few of Eric's family put on a family history lesson in the evening, going back about 5 generations through the families that all lived in this small area in Wales. Eric's grandmother emigrated to Canada when she was 4 years old in 1924. Now his immediate family is scattered all oll over the US, Canada, and EU.

Ivy is in bed now, and the other kids are watching one of the women's Olympic soccer games. I'm exhausted so I'm going to read a little bit and then get to bed.