French windows

Friday 4 September 2015

So here we are, after far too long a time, back in the idyllic little corner of Brittany that is Pénestin

bikes at the ready

 Beaches with (real!) golden cliffs

 lunches under the grapevine

. . . after which, on this our first day, we ventured along the coast to Pointe de Pen Bé

 with it's famous mussel beds
 lovely houses

and the odd prospector digging for palourdes

but sadly no luck today - and the tide was encroaching fast

 so it was a quick shimmy to port de Tréhiguier 

 and the lovely Brigittes's to buy her amazing mussels

 Then back to cook our wares, under the watchful eye of friend Beau

 dinner was soon served

and totally yummy it was too

 bon appetit

and after that, it was all bets on for a game of poker

the holiday well and truly starts here . . .

And if you want to read on to the next day of our adventures in France and Northern Spain, then click here for Saturday ...

triangles

It's a bit of an 'in' joke, but it had to be this piece of music to chronicle last weekend.  Set it playing to set the scene for Sunday

But before that, Saturday saw us in Tudor Square for the Jeremy Corbyn roadshow hustings - great fun, palpable excitement and a brilliant unscripted speech.

And on Sunday the rain didn't deter us from a wander into the rhubarb/sculpture triangle, starting with the Hepworth

'Angel of Mercy', 1934 by Eileen Agar

and some of the wonderful Anthony Caro sculptures on display

Arena Piece 'Kiss' 1995, by Anthony Caro

'Terminus' 2013, Anthony Caro 

'taking a break' 2015, by GAH (ha ha)

and then onwards to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and a whizz around the highlights.
Loving Barbara Hepworth's Family of Man

and Al Weiwei's Iron Tree

and then it was back for a Viennese style dinner - with a bit of a team effort at crafting the Spätzle

ready for our showing of The Third Man!!  Hence the amazing theme tune at the start! Play it again Harry and Holly!!

A brilliant weekend and now the house is very quiet and back to the diet!

revisiting

We're off to the seaside!!  First stop St Asaph cathedral and the shiniest eagle ever

after a great lunch at Jacob's Ladder

 

and then it was onward to the bright lights of Llandudno

and the regal splendour of the St George on the prom.  No less than the red carpet for us!

and such a happy reunion with the rest of the McNeil clan

 even a peek from the balcony as the midnight hour fell over Llandudno
But despite partying into the early hours, we still managed breakfast at our B&B and an exploration of the streets of Llandudno.  Where we found the wonderful Oriel Mostyn

sensitively modernised and extended by architects Ellis Williams and reopened in 2010

but first it was lunch at the lovely gallery cafe - Caffi Celf

followed by a tour of the great exhibitions and the fabulous building

We loved reading the fascinating history of the Gwynedd Ladies' Art Society, for which the gallery was founded in 1902.  The first gallery in the world built specifically as a home for the presentation of artwork by female artists.  Groundbreaking.

and the exhibition of the history of Llandudno through it's many picture postcards.  This one of an original Codman's Punch and Judy - I well remember the same on the steps of St George's Hall when I was little!

and look at this amazing old card - one of many

Saturday night saw us celebrating with the birthday girl - and what a happy night it was.

all the McNeil girls together . . . . Imagine if Daniel and Jane could have seen us all now, their youngest granddaughter and 4 great granddaughters all together and all back in Wales.
This was the potted history I wrote some time ago - meet the (grand grand) parents

And finally, at midnight again, we said our Saturday night goodbyes and wended our way down the red carpet (in the rain) and onward to the final day of our North Wales holiday.

On Sunday it was a revisit to our childhood holidays in the lovely Corwen.  And you can see some old pictures of us there back in the 60s in this piece I wrote some time ago - The Sunken Church
This was the original railway sign which always heralded our arrival from Liverpool - until Beecham closed down the line that was!  Great to see part of it has reopened again.

and there's now a magnificent statue to Owain Glyndwr - we all remember climbing up to his 'seat' on the hill behind the town on many a happy occasion.

but if was onward to Cynwyd and our lovely friends from those far off blissful holidays

and a feast and a half

. . . friends for ever and always so much love and laughter when we meet up.

A happy happy weekend, full of memories