Bank Holiday is an expected one. Even the Bank holiday never expected this when we decided to go for a driving trip. Vinoo and Niyas came up with idea, Ravi and Tara backed it. I too joined with my wife Zubeen. 2 cars (Mazda and Jaguar) were ready and 7 people. Everybody's buffer Mehar was recruited to be the 8th person. The place was decided North Wales, but where are we going to stay and what are the places we are going to see. Zubeen booked the hotel for 4 people. She also prepared an itinerary of the places. Others agreed for the plan of action. Ravi booked for the remaining 4 people.
May 26th 4 PM the Mazda with Hilal Zubeen Mehar and Vinoo left London to North Wales. Navigator for the day was Zubeen. The plan was to meet Jag Guys some where for dinner. The Jag guys Tara, Ravi, Tara and Senthil left from High Wycombe. The North circular road is a traffic nightmare. We crawled and reached Hanger lane. Picking up speed we raced to Wales. As junctions went by Wales was getting nearer. Crawling againTraffic slowed us again. The Mazda was a Mallu Car and the Agenda was to Teach Mehar Malayalam in 3 days. The Jag updates were via Niyas's Phone.Around 8.30 PM it was decided to take a break. A service station was an ideal spot. We checked in at one after Birmingham. Eat whatever you get. People have difficulty in choosing from menu, but choosing from 2 fast foods was very difficult for Vinoo. With great difficulty he picked up Burger King. The break was refreshing. Rocks were falling on the planned route. So we were forced to take diversion.
The Journey from the Service station to Betws y Coed was sensational exciting and Mazda had a huge fan-car following. Tara was making sure that the Wales transport information will be awake all night. Zubeen made sure that the owners of our accommodation will not fall asleep. The hair pin roads made me keep the speed within 40MPH. As I was leading the pack there was a convoy of cars. This was different from a US convoy in Iraq. After losing the way couple of times we were able to reach the Bed and Breakfast by 1 AM. Vinoo and Mehar were dumped at the first Place. I and my wife moved to the farm house. The JAG guys have to travel another 1 hour to reach their village.
May 27th first day of the trip to Wales. As per the plan JAG and MAZDA will meet at the slate mines. Looking out through the window we could see the lovely farm we were staying. The green hills and the sheep’s was a treat to eyes. Had breakfast and then drove down the winding roads to pick up Mehar and Vinoo. 10.30 We were at the slate mines of Ffestiniog.
JAG also reached there. As good things don't begin well, The Mines were closed for Weekly maintenance and will be open only in the afternoon. So we decided to go to Snowdonia-The hill railways.Vinoo was the TOM-TOM for the day for MAZDA. Driving from the hotel to Ffestiniog was perfect no problems. As we were driving to Snowdonia, TOM-TOM told me to take a left, I took the left and we went up the hills down in to the valley but Snowdonia was no where to be seen. No mobile connectivity to call JAG guys. We stopped the car and asked for directions. We were informed that we took a wrong turn and now have to go round the hills to reach Snowdonia. Finally we reached Snowdonia, but explored new places on the way. TOM-TOM was downgraded to TOM-DOM. The JAG guys were saying, we could see you take a wrong turn and go down the Hill, What we could do only was wave our hands hoping someone will look back. We were in middle ages in this communication age.
The JAG guys were waiting for us with tickets to go up Snowdonia mountain rail. We had a quick lunch. Snowdonia is a very beautiful place with slate Mountains, green hills, and the occasional smoke from the trains. We all were stuffed into a carriage. The Mountain train works on a Rack and Pinion arrangement. It will take an hour to reach the top. There was commentary going on explaining the history. As we rolled up into the clouds, there were the occasional clicks and flashes. It started getting cold and windy. When we reached the top it was very windy and raining as well. We did a bit a trekking up the mountain. It was very difficult to see anything; but you won't get lost if you follow Niyas's laughter. After around 30 minutes up the highest point, we rolled down. Back at Snowdonia few more snaps were taken. A quick decision was made to go back to Slate mines at Ffestiniog.
Driving up the mountain pass we have to reach the slate mines before 5.15. JAG and MAZDA reached there on time for the journey to the mines. We all were given Blue helmets (Training for future UN peace keeping forces). It was a 30 minutes experience. The story of the miners who lived worked and died there was presented to us. It was a lively experience. Back to level ground we decided to explore and take pictures. Lot of Pictures of Niyas was taken to prove again Darwin's Theory that man came from Monkeys. Finally we were forced out as they have to close the place. First day got over and back to Betws y Coed for dinner.We decided to wander along the stream and forest at Betws y Coed. Up the stream we trekked along. Niyas was leading the trek as though he is Veerappan. We found a perfect place to freak out. A Rope was tied to a branch overlooking the river. Everyone will have to make a swing and come back to the bank without touching the water. I did not try because of my height. Ravi Tara, Zubeen Niyas and Niyas did it well. Senthil was the best. Vinoo was scared the tree might fall down when he swings. Mehar tried and he was thinking that he was some saint who can walk in the water. He swung right in to water and walked back to the bank. The Sheeps on the other side of the bank were surprised. If that video clip is sent to You Been Framed the cost of the trip can be covered.
Everyone was tired and hungry. We decided to have dinner. The food was hot so also the topic of dinner "How come Vinoo and Mehar ended up sharing a bed". The discussion had everything to replace the "CNN-Connects” by Jim Clancy. Dinner ended when everyone decided to retreat to bed. MAZDA and JAG moved to the respective destinations.
A bright and sunny weather greeted us on May 28th. The plan was to meet the JAG guys at Conwy castle. After an English breakfast, we drove down to pick Vinoo and Mehar. We decided to wander along the Betws y Coed road by the time Mehar got ready. By 10 pm we drove up to Conwy. The 45 minute ride was good round the beautiful country side. I am officially the only Mazda driver. My body was aching a lot. We stopped by the garden and took some photos. A bored dog with a ball in his mouth came to play with us for sometime. The dog was looking for someone to play with.
The JAG guys arrived. We decided to move into the castle. Conwy castle protects the main town centre. It has sea to one side. We wandered around the castle. Everyone was competing with one another who will take the best photos. The castle trip did not have any major incident. Lunch was taken at the castle. From there we drove to LLanludno. A 20 minutes drive took us there.
Llandudno has kept its Victorian and Edwardian elegance and splendour, despite its modern attractions. LLanludno has a beach, Vinoo directed us to beach with pebbles. A competition as who will throw the stone longest into the sea was won by Ravi. We moved to another part of the beach to play Frisbee. That was really good, everyone tried the Frisbee.
Some with power accuracy and dip, some wave ward. Some could catch and some don't. An hour of Frisbee then we walked down the Pier.In the evening we decided to drive up the hill to see the river meeting the Sea. The drive round the mountain and cliff was exciting. We stopped by and wandered round the cliff to take some photos. Vinoo and Niyas decided to go up a part of cliff searching for Dalai Lama. When they came back they found both the cars were gone. We drove down back to the town centre in search of the Worst Restaurant to have dinner.
Dinner was miserable. The hotel was an Indian one. They are out there to fool people. Every stupidity they did had a reason (probably managed by my previous Company).We were made to wait for hours. Someone had gone to buy a chicken.
The hotel had a shortage of Flour for roti, so they added cement. The roti was like round slabs. The Curry was like some one bought it from Super market and water was added to it. I was forced to complain. In the end we have to find something from petrol station to eat. 10.30 we left from LLanludno to hit the bed.May 29th we left Betws y Coed to London. We are supposed to meet the JAG guys at LLangollen. It was raining a bit. The drive was good. There was a diversion and an accident which held us up for a while. Finally we arrived at the destination. With great difficulty found a parking spot. We walked to pub which was an old Corn mill, then something else and finally a PUB. We wandered around the beautiful LLangollen. Lunch was taken at the pub. By around 3.30 the final phase of the Wales trip was complete. Drove back to London. The trip was highly successful and implemented on time.
