Day 11: Off to the seaside

We got a fairly early start on Tuesday morning after saying goodbye to Jan and Steve. We had to detour to Birmingham as it  turned out, as I had hung Jeff's new rugby shirt in the closet at Lynne's house and forgotten to take it out when we left. Luckily, we were able to set up a rendevouz with Lynne, who took the shirt to work with her. We survived driving the narrow and busy streets of downtown Birmingham and met Lynne outside her office, then we were on our way.

Our next destination was Prestatyn, on the coast of northern Wales. I was excited to finally make it to Wales, as it was our family's frequent holiday destination when I was young. Prestatyn was the closest we could get to Rhyl, one of our places, using Airbnb. It was a bit of a drive, so we finally discovered, after over a week of driving British motorways, the service stops. Toilets (HOORAY!), restaurants, even showers, should you require one. I was so excited I took a photo. 

Driving long distances in England entails taking a mixture of small, narrow roads and multi-lane motorways where I am going 70 mph and almost everyone else is going 100. Or so it feels. On the side of one of the narrow roads we saw a gypsy encampment. Jeff was enthralled, but there was no one in evidence, just the bright wagons and a couple of horses. Which is probably just as well, seeing as how we parked very obviously on the side of the road to take photos. 

On a whim, we stopped in Stoke-on-Trent to visit the Potteries Museum, as we were ahead of schedule. North Staffordshire became a centre of ceramic production in the early 17th century due to the availability of salt, lead, clay, and coal. Hundreds of companies have been in production there, including Wedgewood and Doulton, and examples of their wares are found in the thousands at the museum. It was a bit overwhelming, to tell the truth. But we had a nice walk through the city and it was a good break from driving. 

Our one planned stop of the day was at St. Winefride's Chapel and Well in Holywell, a Catholic shrine that is not far from Prestatyn. We like to see curiosities along the way, and this was definitely one of those. The well has been known since Roman times and pilgrims have been visiting it since 660 AD. Supposedly, St. Winefride was beheaded there by Caradog, who intended to rape her. She was restored to life by the prayers of her uncle and continued to live there until her second death 22 years later. Pilgrims still visit to partake of the supposedly healing waters. Oh dear, I said "supposedly" twice. 

And you can gain entry for the mere sum of 80p one pound. Unless you are over 60, which Jeff is. 

And yes, Welsh is spoken by many people in Wales. All of the traffic signs are bi-lingual and our host of the evening informed us that the deeper you get into the countryside of Wales, the more it is the preferred language. Which I think is awesome.

The grounds are very picturesque and a little eerie as the sun sank lower in the sky. The chapel is in the middle of this photo and it houses the well.

By the time we were leaving, the sun was catching the tower very nicely.

It wasn't far to Prestatyn from Holywell and we made it in time to cook a quick dinner (I had stocked up on some pork chops and veggies at the supermarket) and go for a walk along the promenade. I do love a good promenade. Our hosts were two of the happiest people I have ever met and they ran off to a concert shortly after we arrived, leaving us to enjoy the evening in peace. 

Day 10: shades of the past

There exists in our family some iconic photos of several trips to Dudley Zoo. Anne doesn't remember much about the place except for the castle ruins. I have a distinct memory of climbing the stairs to the ramparts one time and someone had left a nice pile of poo in a corner. The memory is quite vivid because Mum thought it was very disgusting and I imagine she probably ran on about it for some time afterwards. It must have been the family outing of choice when we lived in Alvechurch, as it was only 22 miles from the zoo.

The first group of photos are from an outing with Dad when Mum was pregnant with Anne and she was feeling too sick to go anywhere. I would have been two at the time. Here I am, in all my chubby-cheeked glory.

The next sequence of photos is from a trip taken about three years later, it seems. We took my little friend Linda along for the day.

Mum always packed a good picnic.

Look at the lovely tartan trousers and knitted sweaters. 

And the last trip looks like it was a couple of years later. 

Anne and I were always two peas in a pod.

Do you see the castle ruins in the background?

Here is the keep from the other side, fifty years later.

The castle (at least its first incarnation), like many English castles, dates from the time of William the Conqueror, around 1070. It has had some interesting moments in history,  It was quite tied up with the whole Lady Jane Grey, Queen Elizabeth 1 story, as John Dudley, who became Duke of Northumberland, was closely affiliated with Kings Henry VII, VIII, and Edward VI. He was executed for treason during the subsequent struggles for power, but his son, Robert Dudley, later became a favourite of Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth visited Dudley Castle and considered it as a possible place of imprisonment for Mary, Queen of Scots.

And the cannon upon which we were sitting?

Fifty years later, taken from above, because the public is no longer allowed near them.

Dudley Zoological Gardens were opened in 1937, based on an idea by its owner, the third Earl of Dudley. The design of the animal enclosures was very innovative and used a modern structure called tectons. Using reinforced concrete, the architects created buildings that curved around the hill and were aimed to protect the welfare of the animals as well as provide clear and safe viewing for the visitors. If you want to read more about tectons, go here and here. 

I had told Lynne that I wanted to visit the zoo for old times' sake, so on Monday the four of us arrived at the gate, feeling a little like kids, I think. It was a bit of a chilly day in spite of the sun shining, and the zoo was only being enjoyed by a few young families and a few oldies like us. Which suited us just fine.

There are zookeeper talks all day long, so we worked out our day so that we could catch all of the ones that interested us. The first one was up by the castle, with the birds of prey.

We live for this kind of stuff and spent a thoroughly enjoyable half hour with the birds and the keepers. There were several birds that showed off their talents, including this owl.

A red kite, once almost extinct in Great Britain, was brought back from the brink and is now a common sight in the country. 

The peregrine falcon, wearing a hood before its performance in order to keep it calm. 

And its reward for a job well done? A cute little baby chick.

We then attended, in quick succession, the otter talk (they knew it was almost feeding time and were being rather noisy and excitable), the giraffes, and the tigers.  

Yeah, I know, no tiger pics.

There was a little lull in the schedule right then so we got a bite to eat and climbed the ramparts of the castle ruin. You can see for miles.

Next was the Go Wild! show inside the Go Wild Theatre. It was nice to sit down in the warm building and there were only about six of us at the show, so it was up close and personal. The barn owl and the kookaburra were the stars of the show.

Then we dashed off to see the meerkats, the sea lions, and the penguins.

They are standing and anticipating the next handful of mealworms. Yum.

I do adore meerkats.

Mealworms, not so much.

The sentry took up his post again as soon as feeding time was over.

The afternoon was drawing to a close and we had a drive left to do that evening, so we headed to the exit.

We bid a fond and sad farewell to Richard and Lynne, promising to spend more time together in the near future, and drove for about an hour to reach the home of Jan and Steve. Jan, if you remember, is my childhood friend. It was a woefully short visit, less than 24 hours, but we wouldn't have missed it for anything. If you want to know more about Jan, see this post. Funnily enough, I have seen her twice since that post.

Steve has been fighting cancer for a couple of years, but his sense of humour is intact. Jeff gave him his treasured Coastguard cap, which Steve apparently liked! Jeff doesn't give away his Coastguard caps lightly, so it was a sign of his deep regard for Steve.

Jan had been off in Birmingham all day, mentoring cochlear implant recipients, but she cooked us a delicious dinner and we reminisced a bit and discussed the World Series before going to bed.