The Ruffled Crow

Today we didn’t range far from Morlyn House – only to our rocky beach and a bit beyond to a small inlet not far from St Tanwg’s.

A view of our nearby rocky beach next to St Tanwg’s

It’s been quite blustery all day and it started out with some good heavy rains. As a Seattle native who doesn’t own an umbrella and considers most rain as ‘little sprinkles’ it means something when i say ‘heavy rain’. There were a few good squalls in the morning and in the afternoon when they’d passed we decided to take our wander to check out the boats in the inlet that we could see from our room’s deck.

Once we got past the old church we were on a path of hearty grass and shrub that, to us, is ubiquitous to about every shoreline we’ve walked. Once we got to the inlet, however, we found a distinctly different shoreline.

The area is known for it’s slate – there’s an old slate mine just across from us at the base of the Snowdonian hills, and where the grass meets the sand is littered with flat slate gravel. Around the area, the shoreline declines very gradually out to sea before dropping off so there’s not the large wave action as there is on the Washington state coast. That may be a contributor to the large layer of silt around the inlet.

One of the local fauna we spied on the trail to the inlet

A very fine, reddish-brown, water-infused layer over sanded slate made the footing rather squishy. We’ve walked enough beach to be in little danger of slipping, but the layer of silt did make the depth our shoes sank in to be quite unpredictable.

Did I mention that it rained? Yeah, well apparently the rains weren’t really done for the day and we got the full force of the last a squall of the day. (never mind. as I write this Mrs Crow just pointed out that it is indeed raining again) Now, I remind you of my Seattle heritage only to mention that we have a quaint saying that goes “it’s starting to rain” which means just that. The rain often builds over the course of a few minutes, does it’s thing, then tapers off. This rain was just there, and in a matter of seconds we were soaked through. It was a bit of a surprise, but whatever. We’d been damp much of the day already and we are a pair of those odd folks that like rain, so we rather enjoyed it.

Down at the inlet there were several beached boats, a few blocked up, but most on their sides. There were also several washed up, and rather large jellyfish (the tentacled kind)

I’m afraid, dear reader, that the rest of our day has been quite boring for those of you who are looking for more thrilling tales of our day. We’ve spent the balance either watching various British tv shows (8 out of 10 cats has become a fave) or sitting on the deck watching the sheep move from one and of their field to another. A wonderfully relaxing day for us, a stone cold yawner for you lot.

I will take the opportunity, however, to sing a praise or two for Morlyn House. Lisa and Steve have been wonderful hosts and the meals have been superb. I’ve mentioned how utterly fantastic the view from our room has been. There is a bird feeder just below our deck that the local House Sparrows, a rather large flock of them, fight over. In addition we’ve watched Magpies, Eurasian Blackbirds, and Wood Pidgeons work the gardens and fields around us. We’ve also spied Ravens (of course), a few Red Kites, and even a pair of Common Buzzards! They are large hawks and not the circling carrion eaters you’re probably thinking of.

The bench in front of Morlyn House has a protected little bench flanked by two gargoyles. Behind the camera, besides Mrs Crow, is the birdfeeder we delighted in during our visit

I think the topper, though, has been meeting and spending some time with Percy and Molly. Percy is a stocky black and white shorthair cat, and Molly is a quite elderly black labrador. Both loved our attention and we certainly loved giving it. We will miss them both, but it does remind us with a twinge of our own Miss Izzy (a ginger tabby) waiting for us at home. We’ll be home in a few days and that reunion is certainly one we’re looking forward to.

And thats just it – we’re leaving Llandanwg tomorrow to pass through Birmingham for one last night and hopefully dinner with Young Master Crow, and then down to a hotel near Heathrow in preparation for a flight out monday. It’s beeen quite a ride and over the next few days I expect I’ll post some final thoughts on hotels and places and things we’ve seen and thought on this journey.

Observations for day….yeah: If anyone tells you that Brits don’t wear shorts, your reply to them should be “Rubbish”.

Brits love trashy tv, and Frasier. More than once when mentioning we’re from Seattle we’ve heard “Oh! Where Frasier lives!”