Bangor amongst other places!
This is the story of Willfield Camera Club’s camping trip 2018.
It comes to something when you go on a camping trip and end up as the son of another member. Quite what this says about Willfield other than we are a true family club I have no idea. Probably best not to speculate….
This year’s camping trip was to North Wales where JP had kindly offered us the use of his garden to camp in. Having bought a property he and Cat thought that having Willfield members along to stay was a good idea. When we left we had broken the only working toilet, John had wound up the cows in the adjacent field and Claire had thrown breakfast all over the place. I’m not sure we’ll get invited back when it’s finished….
The house itself is in a wonderful location overlooking the bay but needs quite a bit of work before it will be ready to move into. It’s up a narrow lane which threatens to tear off the undercarriage of your car, has one working tap at the moment, a soon to be broken toilet and one working electricity socket. So yes, there is work to be done but it will be incredible when it is finished.
We all arrived on Friday night and those that arrived in time managed to get shots of the sunset over the bay from the front lawn. Yes the view is that good. Cameras were then abandoned as we chatted into the wee small hours….okay it was after midnight….before clambering into our tents.
After breakfast we began a nice, restful day…and managed to squeeze in two piers, one viewpoint, a waterfall, one gaol (NOT jail), a trip to Asda, a barbecue, a rubbish meal with incredibly slow service and a castle. We didn’t make it to midnight that night as we were all somewhat shattered!
John kindly drove us round in his BMW despite me telling this joke:
‘What’s the most pointless job in the world? Making indicators for BMWs….’
Thanks John!
It was in gaol that I became John and Brenda’s son with Claire becoming my sister. John booked for two adults and two seniors and the lady said it would be cheaper to buy a family ticket as senior tickets were the same price as children’s tickets….and thus Claire and I became adopted and called John and Brenda Mum and Dad for the rest of the weekend. Prior to helping us the lady had threatened JP. A sign said no photography without permission so JP asked her about it. It was okay taking pictures as long as it wasn’t for commercial purposes, if that rule was broken she would come down on JP like a ton of bricks. PHOTO FOR SALE of inside of Beaumaris gaol-apply to JP…
Let’s see what happens!
Beaumaris castle was good for exploring, Aber falls were good but would be better NOT at the end of the dry season we’ve just had, one pier was frowned upon for the planks going the wrong way and Brenda’s Greek salad was more leafy than a rabbit’s dinner. And much more expensive. It was a grand day though but we had walked many a mile when we finally made it back to the house where I was chef as we barbecued avocados amongst other things.
I’m not sure who finally finished off the toilet so we had to use a bottle of water but it was a wonder Brenda hadn’t brought a spare as she seemed to have thought of everything else! Astrophotography went out of the window as we were all too tired to stay awake much beyond nightfall.
After breakfast and a meander along the sea front we said our goodbyes and thanks to Cat for allowing us to stay. Bravely they shook our hands and hugged us after two days without a shower but then I guess we were all in the same boat, albeit a smelly one. Thanks again to you both for having us and good luck with your renovations.
The rest of us headed off to Llandudno and took the tram up the Great Orme where we added to the odour by going for a walk around the top. I should add that we had hot weather all weekend so no showers probably wasn’t a good idea for anyone we came into contact with!
After a better meal than yesterday and heading back down the hill on the funicular it was time to head home after a fantastic weekend. So much seen, so much done and such great company. And I have another Mum and Dad I can blag money off!
Next year we will look for somewhere closer so maybe more people will come along, somewhere you can bring a motor home and definitely somewhere with showers! Any suggestions anyone? Would people who don’t like camping come along if there were chalets or static caravans to hire maybe?
