Above the castle

We were scheduled to visit our friend Gareth back in March, but the onset of severe back pain meant I had to cancel. Thankfully, as you’ll remember, pain relief and muscle relaxants sorted out my back, and at last we’ve managed to find a gap in all our schedules to reschedule our visit. 

Gareth lives in a gorgeous stone cottage high above the picturesque Harlech castle with the most gloriously views of Tremadog Bay, part of the huge expanse of Cardigan Bay which stretches from Pembrokeshire to Llyn.  The drive up the single track road is always nerve wracking, but always worth it. 

We spend several hours sitting in his west facing lounge, chatting about family, travel, health. We met 45 years ago in the Oberoi Hotel in Colombo, travellers on an exciting Asian Panorama tour. We immediately gelled, and energetically organised lots of additional independent elements to the arranged tours. 

An inveterate traveller through most of his life, his home is full of idiosyncratic momentos of exotic places. He has an eye which has enabled him to spot items most of us would dismiss, placing them in his home where they just look ‘right’. Sadly, eye problems have prevented travel for much of the last decade, but he enjoys travelling vicariously through our itineraries. 

He’s Daniel’s godfather, and as we’re driving over there, Facebook reminds me that eight years ago to the day, we visited with Daniel and Solveig. Bizarre! 

One other thing - as we are diving here, I receive a completely unexpected phone call from my consultant who will be performing my surgery on Monday with a colorectal colleague. He just wants to know whether I have any questions , and tells me I’m second on the list. Once again, I’m very impressed by Liverpool. 

Today’s main is taken from Gareth’s garden - you can see the castle far below, just beyond the gate. In extras, there’s another view of the castle taken just along the road from the cottage, earlier sunshine having disappeared replaced by a distinctly autumnal feel.