The City of Dreaming Spires

It's almost like the opening sequence from an episode of Endeavour as we drive towards Oxford in the brilliant morning sunshine with Beethoven's Emperor Concerto playing on the car radio. We take our host's advice and only drive as far as the Peartree Park 'n Ride before hopping on a bus into the city centre. Although it's early, Oxford is already bustling when we arrive. Our first stop is the tourist office where we sign up to a 2-hour walking tour. As we have some time to kill before the tour starts we visit Blackwell's bookshop - something of an Oxford institution. I'm sad we only have time to go there to feed Ross' cappuccino habit, rather than to browse, but with floors and floors of books, we'd have to spend a whole day there to do it any justice.

Back on the High Street, there are crowds of tourists assembling in groups for various walking tours in different languages. We find our guide and so begins a tiring but amazing tour of Oxford grandeur. We wander past the Sheldonian Theatre, where graduation ceremonies still take place entirely in Latin. From the outside of the Divinity School, we see the door added by Sir Christopher Wren in the 17th Century. There is a book motif high up on the door frame with an inscription in Greek from St Luke's Gospel which reads, 'They found Him in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors'. It's a bit of a tradition apparently for graduands to stand under the book before they make their way across the courtyard and into the Sheldonian to receive their degrees. My own graduation ceremony is still very fresh in my mind so it's nice to soak up a bit of Oxford graduation magic.

One of many beautiful views of Oxford University buildings

Grand doorways all

Outside the Divinity School

The Wren door with book and inscription

We soon discover that Oxford is as famous for its links to the Harry Potter movie franchise as it is for its University and centuries old traditions. There is plenty of HP merchandise on sale and when we actually go inside the Divinity School, we're told that it stood in for the Hogwarts infirmary. Personally I was more taken with the vaulted ceilings and magnificent windows.  

Divinity School

Divinity School ceiling

Although it's a Saturday and summer holidays, the University is still working (all those postgrads and researchers beavering away!) so we're only shown the outside of the Bodleian Library. We are allowed into certain colleges so we walk around New College and the beautiful Trinity College. It's all grand dining halls, chapels and walled gardens, age-old quadrangles and stone buildings that emanate history and learning.

Radcliffe Camera - built in the 18th Century and part of the Bodleian Library 

More Oxford vistas

The Bridge of Sighs

Trinity College

By the time the tour finishes, we are both hungry and tired. We swap the old for the new and walk through the main shopping precinct to the new Westgate Centre. There is a rooftop promenade with lots of eateries so we settle on a Japanese restaurant and indulge in some sushi (rice! splendid!). After lunch we retrace our steps and return to the Weston Library where earlier, we'd spied a free exhibition on Tolkien's artwork and draft manuscripts. Although it's free we have to get tickets from the front desk ... We end up leaving disappointed as the library has already allocated its quota of tickets for the day. Bit weird that a free exhibition should have a quota but there's nothing for it so we must leave.

We arrived this morning in a city bathed in beautiful sunshine and a dazzling blue sky but as the day has wore on, clouds have moved in and the wind has picked up. As it's mid-afternoon we call it a day and take the bus back to our car and back to the comfort of our room for some much needed rest before dinner.

Journey to the Cotswolds

We have our final breakfast with Ross' mum and load up the car. The sky is overcast again and after hugs we drive off in silence as a light drizzle starts to fall. Aberporth is quickly left behind as Google Maps takes us down perilously narrow country roads in rural Carmarthenshire. We pass through some tiny hamlets with gorgeous stone cottages that look like they have been there forever. Mindful that the roads are only wide enough to fit one car comfortably, Ross concentrates hard on the road ahead. We see a large truck barreling down the lane from the opposite direction and as it approaches, realise that the driver is not slowing down at all. Ross pulls over hard left and stops while the manic truck driver passes in a flurry. We are lucky to escape without being sideswiped but the truck driver is not so lucky. As he squeezes past he pulls as far left into the hedgerow as possible and with a loud BANG promptly loses his wing mirror. Karma:) In any case we don't stick around and dart off quickly.

Fortunately it is not long before we rejoin the major highway and settle into a few hours of motorways and dazzling countryside that passes by in a flash.

Trecastle, Brecon Beacons National Park

Brecon Beacons National Park 

Brecon Beacons National Park

We stop for lunch in Ross-on-Wye and before long we're back over the border in England where vowels magically reappear on the road signs. It is a little while longer before we reach the Cotswolds but we know we're getting close to our destination when we start passing through beautiful places like Moreton-in-Marsh and spot the honeyed-hues of Cotswold stone cottages. 

Moreton-in-Marsh

Our home for the next three days is in a tiny village called Salford. We pull up at The Barn, a delightful self-contained property, where we're welcomed by our hosts, Nell and Tim. Ross rests a while after the long drive and then, at our hosts' suggestion, we walk the short distance down the hill to the local pub. It is still early on a Friday evening but the place is already bustling. The pub has recently changed management and Ross gives the new kitchen a go by ordering a fish pie. It's very good. We strike up a conversation with some friendly folk at the next table and on our way out after dinner, bump into Nell and Tim and chat some more. It's a real feel-good close to our first day in the Cotswolds.

Salford near Chipping Norton

The Aberporth Days

For the next few days at Ross' mum's house, we settle into a bit of a routine. If the weather is good enough we go for a walk down the hill to Aberporth and battle the steep gradient back up again. Ross' mum insists on feeding us as surely and comprehensively as she feeds the birds that wait patiently for her to stock their backyard smorgasbord every morning. We are not allowed to lift a finger around the house, although I do register a small win by washing up after dinner one evening.

The view from the hill towards Aberporth

Walking downhill is so much easier

At the seaside in Aberporth

We make a daily excursion into nearby Cardigan too and hungrily devour the free Wifi at a cafe. Happily Ross enjoys some nice tasting (not burnt!) coffee at the same time. Despite our best efforts, and another trip into Cardigan, we cannot get Ross' mum's tablet connected to mobile broadband. We tell her about the cafe with its free connection to the world but we suspect she is not entirely sold on the idea.

Oh Wifi where art thou

Cardigan town centre

We buy the newspapers daily and bring them home, and spend a couple of hours all sitting together in the front room reading, swapping papers, and then swapping stories. We have our dinners early and then settle in front of the TV to watch one of Ross' mum's favourite programs... Walker Texas Ranger. Although we know it is on TV back at home, we've never watched it until now. Chuck Norris = the all-round American Saviour and Nice Guy. I suppose he can kind of grow on you. As the days pass we meet a kindly neighbour and also marvel at the books in the library. However, before too long the end of the week rolls round and it is time for us to go.

Ross and his Mum

A return to old haunts

Overnight the rain has set in so by the time we leave our B+B after breakfast it is raining quite heavily and the day is grey and dismal. Yesterday's brilliant sunshine would perhaps have cast Portmeirion in a more favourable light but we head there nevertheless.

We arrive just as the gates open and donning our raincoats, we join a free guided walk around the fantasy village. We have no idea what the guide is saying as his strong Welsh accent obscures his narrative, but he speaks with a delightful cadence and it's a good opportunity to pause at some key vistas and take photos. Fortunately the rain stops soon after we arrive and while the greyness lingers, the pretty pastels of the buildings and beautiful gardens ensure there's more than enough colour to entertain the eye.

Ross' fantasy village

Portmeirion accommodation

Kitted out for the flood

We walk along the seafront again where there is a beautiful stillness that hangs across the estuary.

Views over the estuary

Ross sits down for an overpriced and bitter tasting coffee. As more tourists and day-trippers start to pour in, the magic starts to wear off and so we give Portmeirion a parting glance and beat a hasty retreat to the car.

A parting glance

It is to be a 2.5 hour drive south to Ross' mum's house but we stop in Aberystwyth to pick up some items that she has asked for from the supermarket. As we leave the town centre, we notice a lot of traffic heading in the same direction. Not far out of town, traffic comes to a standstill and we edge along slowly until we reach a police roadblock. The road is a single lane in each direction and it looks like a lane is closed up ahead. The cars in front are eventually let through and we are the first car to be stopped again by the police while traffic coming the other way is allowed to pass. We sit and wait. And wait. And wait. More and more cars and trucks come down the hill and yet we are not waved through. Eventually after nearly 45 minutes, the policewoman controlling the traffic comes to the driver's window to apologise. The road up ahead is closed because of a traffic accident, but a few hundred metres beyond that, some silly tossers were involved in another accident. The highway is in gridlock. Eventually we are allowed to pass and fortunately do not have to wait too long at the next roadblock to be let through. We pass queues of traffic waiting in the opposite direction in a long line that snakes along the highway for miles.

Happily it is a smooth run from there and we reach Aberporth by mid-afternoon. We're welcomed by Ross' mum and we settle in for a few days of chats, food, sleep, reading, walks, excursions to Cardigan. Repeat.

Into the West

It is a bit of a disorganised start to the day as our B+B host ends up having to prepare our breakfasts himself (the kitchen staff seem to have deserted him?) When we do get on the road, it is not a long drive to the outskirts of Warrington. We spend a few hours visiting my dear Veronia, who has had her fair share of trials recently but remains characteristically chirpy. She insists on piloting us back to the motorway when we leave, which is probably just as well, so we follow her little red car through the maze of roads until she waves us off at the motorway on-ramp. 

Me and Veronia

From there we head west until the indecipherable road signs and mysterious lack of vowels herald our entry into Wales. We stop at Bala and again, battle the school holiday crowds to find a parking spot in the pretty main street and a table at a cafe. Salad! How I have missed you!

On the shores of Lake Bala

The Welsh countryside puts on its best face in the sunshine and rolls out the green carpet. Blue skies gradually become more overcast however as we pass into Snowdonia. By the time we reach our destination of Porthmadog, the air is warm and heavy with humidity. I try to tell Ross the name of our B+B but I eventually give up and just point. Despite my best efforts, it always comes out sounding like a swear word. How is it possible to have F, C, W and N in the same word, without any vowels?! Our B+B for the night is humble - a small room with slate walls at the top of a long staircase. But it is comfortable and quiet and that's all we really need. 

The fabulous green carpet

Into Snowdonia

Having sat in the car all day, we go for a short walk to nearby Borth-y-Gest and back to Porthmadog. Walking down into the town from the hilltop, Porthmadog looks quite pretty ringed with mountains and facing the sea.

Borth-y-Gest

Walking down to Porthmadog

The main event is yet to come however, and the reason we have chosen to stop here for the evening. Five years ago we visited Portmeirion for the first time (see blog post here) and Ross is keen to return to the architectural fantasy-land. Our visit is reserved until tomorrow but we have our dinner at Castell Deudraeth on the fringes of Portmeirion village. At the next table is a couple holidaying from Oxfordshire. We start chatting and eventually dine together as we discover they have family in Perth and we share many other points in common. The world is indeed a very small place. 

Second visit to Castell Deudraeth