Bed and Breakfasts and Bridges

After our amazing expedition to Portmeirion, we stopped in Porthmadog for a wander and a beer. It has “port” in its name for a reason.

We then went back to our B&B in neighboring Tremadog and relaxed a bit before getting a dinner of fish and chips. I got English curry sauce on mine. Yum! If you haven’t had it, you’ve got to go to England NOW. Americans, it’s not what you think of when you hear curry.

On our final morning at Plas Tan-Yr-Allt, we enjoyed another fantastic complimentary breakfast with a view. We weren’t in a huge rush to leave (easy to see why), so we took our time packing up. This gave me the perfect opportunity to get some photos of the amazing historic property.

It’s not difficult to imagine you’re living in the past at this place. I’ve never been anywhere like it!

The section to the right of the fence is the B&B. The two top left windows are part of the room Andy and I stayed in, while Jayne and Ian had the top right.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must say I didn’t sleep too well on our second night, after hearing about the B&B’s resident ghosts. I always straddle the line between skepticism and being a total wuss, usually leaning towards the wuss side. Andy will never let me live it down.

In the daylight, though, I had no problem!

Even the forest surrounding the property felt like something out of a fairytale.

The porch was definitely my favorite part of the property, if I had to choose (but don’t make me).

Can’t forget the inside, though!

We reluctantly bid adieu to the property and our wonderful host and hit the road back toward England.

Of course, we planned to take full advantage of the day, so we made our first stop at Trawsfynydd Lake, another place I could never dream of pronouncing correctly.

The sheep weren’t too happy about our presence, but they’ll recover.

Nothing like a good bridge (and good company)!

Lake Trawsfynydd was definitely the perfect spot for a brief break, with a nice mixture of manmade and natural beauty.

We hopped back in the car and, after driving through some crazy rain and making a brief tea stop, we crossed back into England.

We were headed for Ironbridge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I’ll give you one guess as to where the name comes from.

You got it. A massive iron bridge! Opened in 1781, it was the first cast iron arch bridge in the world. Incredibly impressive even today, I can imagine what an astounding feat of architecture it was in the 18th century.

Ironbridge definitely sounds like something out of Game of Thrones, so this next photo seemed especially appropriate.

“Hold the door!!!”

Lucky for Andy, the door held.

After admiring the bridge from below, we climbed up onto it. The view was fabulous out over the River Severn and the charming village on its banks.

Ian has an uncanny knack for catching me when I’m taking candids. Some sort of sixth sense, perhaps. Case in point:

The ironwork on the bridge was a work of art in its own right.

As you can see, the date on the ironwork shows 1779. That’s when the bridge was completed, but it wasn’t opened to traffic until 1781.

We did some shopping on our walk back to the car and stopped in for some pork pies for lunch. I tried my best to sample all the quintessential English culinary offerings that I could on my two-week trip. I’d say I did pretty well for my first go, thanks to Andy’s wonderful family.

When we got back to Lichfield, it was wedding prep time for Kirsty and Jason’s big day! I really can’t do the wedding justice, so I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves. I didn’t bring my camera along, so most of these are borrowed from other people’s photos or my phone shots.

I did have a chance to take some camera shots before the wedding, however, of this especially handsome chap.

Everyone, meet Barney!

He couldn’t make it to the wedding, but cut a dashing figure in the lead-up nonetheless.

Here’s a group photo of some of the wedding crew. I was so lucky to get to celebrate with all these awesome people!

And now for some collages to give you an idea of how fabulous the celebrations were. Thanks, Kirsty and Jason (and all of the family!), for welcoming me with open arms and letting us be a part of your special day.

Does it get any better than this?!