Last night in the UK - tomorrow Ireland

I've just got used to using UK cash and its time to leave! I'm left with a pile of cash and now I'll have to learn Euros. Most shops here are still happy to take cash and in one shop I even got given one penny change when I spent 4.99.  I've also learned how to use the trains and buses. The BritRail pass for $NZ685 worked out to be an efficient option for 4 days of travel; from Gloucester to Edinburgh to Glasgow to Oban, then back to Edinburgh, and finally Llandudno. Over  dozen different trains. Although I probably didn't save a whole lot in $$, it meant I could avoid line ups at multiple ticket offices.

I arrived in Llandudno yesterday and have been looking for the hotel that my grandparents William and Elizabeth (Lil) Cooke stayed at over 100 years ago. We have a photo of them taken outside Ormscliff with a large group of people.  Because in the photo it appears to be such an impressive and ostentatious building I thought it would be easy to find! But there must be hundreds of similar gorgeous and impressive Victorian buildings in Llandudno. The promenade is lined with them. 




This is the Grand Hotel where I'm staying.  She's a tired old lady now but still has some lovely features from the days when Ringo Starkey and Winston Churchill stayed here. It was a last minute deal on bookingdotcom. It's so popular with older travellers that it's hard to find a free power point in the "quiet room" because of all the electric mobility scooters being charged!

The beach in front


This afternoon I caught the tram up to the top of the Great Orme from where the views are spectacular and there are lovely walks through the heath.


Welsh heath


In the distance is one of the world's largest offshore wind farms






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bartholomew Cooke

Image
Bartholomew Cooke, son of William and Bridget Cooke, was born in Cork in 1818. He had one sister, Eliza. His first marriage was to Eliza Eccles who died June 28 1847 aged 22, when their daughter Anna Christina born August 1, 1847, was just over a year old. We were very fortunate to meet one of her descendants earlier this week; Patricia Sargent who still lives here in Cork. She makes amazing delicious rocky-road style chocolate squares! Bartholomew married Sarah Jane Kiely Connor in 1850 (no children recorded).  She died in 1856 aged 34. When he was 42 years old he married our great grandmother Alice Levingston and they had one son together, William Levingston Cooke born 13 July 1865 in Cork.  Bartholomew was a successful businessman but lost all his savings in the Munster bank crash. However he must have partially recovered financially by the time he died as his will held in the record Office, Dublin gives the value of his estate at 3064 pounds which would be worth about half...
Read more

Who's That Sleeping in My Grandfather's Grave?

Image
 After an arduous 40 hour journey from Cork to Nelson I am home and energy levels are restored. The lawn is mown, the courtyard weeded and spuds planted to be ready by Christmas. The dolphins have been past to say hello and the cat has forgiven me for abandoning him to the bony knee of the house sitter. I would have liked another 2 weeks in Cork to finish off what I set out to do. By the time I left there was a snowball effect of meeting interesting people one after another. Historians, storytellers, museum curators -all willing to help me with my questions. I will keep posting information that I found on this blog as I get time to write it up. At St. Fin Barres cemetery plans to re-inscribe the headstone on the family grave were brought to an abrupt halt when we were informed by the staff that there are 2 extra people buried in the grave that we didn't know about. We had to find out who they are through the Cork City and County Archives.  They are Isaac Cooke, a bookbinder fr...
Read more

In the dungeon of Huntington Castle, Clonegal

Image
 I'm not really one for visiting castles but what better to do on a cold, rainy day in Ireland?  So that is how I stumbled upon an underground temple, the headquarters of the Fellowship of Isis, deep in the dungeon of Huntington Castle. The castle was built in1625 on the grounds of an old abbey. The IRA were last to use the dungeons as a place of confinement when they took over the castle in 1921. Ruins of the abbey Ruins of the abbey where Druid rituals are practiced Huntington castle today, still lived in by the Durdin Robertson family  Isis is the ancient Egyptian goddess of love and the Fellowship of Isis honours and celebrates the divine female. The fellowship was set up on the vernal equinox of 1976 by Olivia Durdin-Robinson, a member of an old Irish Ascendancy family who lived in the castle until her death; her brother Lawrence  (Derry) an ex Anglican clergyman; and his wife Pamela. Its purpose was to worship "Isis of 1000 names and mother of all beings." In t...
Read more