Tuesday, July 26, 2011

After a Welsh breakfast, which in my case included smoked haddock, we headed for North Wales. Our first stop was at Nevern, known for its 10th-century Celtic cross, made of sandstone, and bleeding yew tree. The Celtic cross, 13 feet high and two feet wide, is one of the three best Celtic crosses in Wales, this one dating to the 10th or 11th centuries. Inside the church, a 5th-century stone with Ogham writing on it had been built into a window sill. Ogham writing uses slashes above or below a line to indicate letters, and is read from right to left. The same words in Latin were also carved into the stone, causing Abby to name it the Ogham Rosetta stone. A mounting block was built outside for 18th-century churchgoers to mount their British-saddled horses after services.

From the church we went toward Pentre Ifan, where there are the remains of a megalithic tomb, consisting of a 16-ton slab of rock set on three other vertical slabs. Originally, a cairn of rocks would have been piled around the three big rocks. (A fourth vertical rock is not actually touching the 16-ton slab.) Rob dismissed a theory that the tomb is actually a sculpture of an alien space craft, looking a lot like the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. He told the story of a witch and her “long-suffering boyfriend” both of whom he had brought there at night for a ceremony. Rob said that he and the boyfriend stood around like a couple of "nit wits" while she sprinkled oil around the ancient tomb. When the witch asked if he could feel the spirit, Rob reported that he had replied, “No, but I can feel the electric charge draining from my flashlight.” Back in the van, we continued a beautiful drive through the mountains of North Wales to Caernarvon, seat of the Prince of Wales and unofficial capital of North Wales.

During the drive to North Wales, Bill and Lois sat in front, where Rob regaled them with stories about Thomas Cooper, the Welsh comedian. Cooper was reported to have said, in connection with a conversation he once had with Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister, "He took me aside, and left me there." Their conversation also touched on the subject of Rupert Murdoch, who was then in the news, unfavorably, because one of his newspapers had hacked into people's voice mail messages. Rob's comment about Murdoch, "He ought to be turned out into the wild."

We stopped for lunch at the Cardiff Arms pub in Cilgerran. I had a “jacket potato” with chili, which was quite good; however, Abby’s lamb burger was even better. The owner of the pub was not behind the bar, but in front of it, drinking a beer. We chatted briefly with him about soccer. Across the street was an old Methodist Church. Some of its leaded glass windows had been replaced with sheets of tin. Like many churches in Wales, it had seen better days. We drove to Caernarfon, where we would spend the next three nights in the Menai Bank Hotel, “One of the Hidden Places of Wales,” according to a plaque next to their front door.