Ynyslas

 Ynyslas

Driving through West Wales. 

Today we went to Ynyslas, Near Borth, “a bit up from Aberystwyth”. Well worth the visit. 

Pure Nature, miles of empty beaches and dunes. 

The guy who collected the £4 for the car park asked if we had come all the way from Belgium just to visit Ynyslas; we lied and said yes.

First, I visited the men’s toilets, very clean. On the way back, I met a Guy who had broken both his feet; it looked painful, and he had a job walking. His wife was angry that he had “done it just before the holiday”; now she had to do all the driving.

We parked next to a camper van from Birmingham; they had a dog called Ralph, the two children were called ‘go and play’ and ‘no, there is no internet here’.

I sat and shared some of my cashew nuts with a seagull; the gull just stared at me between nuts. I wondered if gulls could have a nut allergy. The gull was very patient and not pushy; very polite, actually. In Ireland once, a gull stole my fish and chips. I think Welsh gulls are more into poetry.

The tide was on its way out, a great time to get rid of shoes and socks and go paddling; (seashells can really hurt the bottom of your feet).

The car is now full of sand.

At the visitor centre, the electronic payment machine was broken, and we only had enough cash for one ‘cuppa Kofi ’ from the vending machine, which was good because two cups would have been heavy on our stomachs.

When we were drinking our coffee, a big lady came and warned us that the dunes were ‘full of snakes this year, but they aren’t dangerous and don’t bite’. 

There is a campsite near Ynyslas; driving past, we saw two families of Hassidic Jewish people, which is not a regular sight. Hopefully holiday makers and not ‘settlers’. 

On the way back, we stopped at Morrisons in Aberystwyth. We parked behind a big black people carrier; again, a family of Hassidics stepped out. They might have followed us from Antwerp; they smiled and waved.

In Morrisons it was cold; the fridges were on full blast. Outside it’s 21 degrees.

In the store, they have a robot that sweeps and cleans the floors in the aisles. I put a trolley in front of its sensor, and it stopped. Luddites 1 Robots 0.

At the tills, a lot of the cashiers are retired people; are students lazy? Or are the pensions low?

Got back to our Airbnb, I noticed there was Seagull poo on the roof of the car, cashew colour.

We had tea and a Welsh Cake and took a nap.