Rocking Day

An earlier start than desirable today. My front wheel hub was playing up badly and I needed the bearings replaced. Fortunately, a call to Evolution Bikes in Bangor last night confirmed they had the right sized little balls in stock and they could fit them if I popped in early.

After doing that, we went to Blue Sky, a cool Bangor Cafe for breakfast. We were all starvingmicated as it was now 10am. A flat white arrived, my 1st proper coffee in days. What a relief! Whilst fine, I'm a fussy bugger and their beans were too dark roasted for my palate. Still, a well needed caffeine fix. A great veggie breakfast followed, with thick brown toast, very nice sausages, hash browns, mushrooms, beans and a perfect fried egg. Yum. As it was holidays we followed with a posh tea, me having a rather nice spiced chai and a shared home made biscuit cookie thingie. Excellent indeed.

Although they say not to swim on a full stomach, we headed to Porth Dafarch beach and donned wetsuits. The initial entry into the water resulted in ice cream head, but we soon acclimatised and managed a 35 min swim. Rosemary found it hilarious when I managed to swallow the entire contents of a tsunami wave, resulting in me having a salt water wretch that sounded like an angry sea lion. Ha ha ha... Hilarious. not! I love swimming in the sea and had a great time....larger waves are more fun though.

We then headed to Llangefni for a quick lunch. I had a really good Welsh rarebit, with tangy cheese, mustard and a nice beer kick! The cheese was sticking to my ribs for many hours to come. There was a good exhibition on from Elfyn Lewis within the arts centre where we were eating. Contemporary abstract canvases that were aesthetically pleasing and very well hung. A little more information on the artist and his painting process would have helped understand his work more. The work of local teenagers on the walls outside the main gallery was excellent too. Much better than I've seen at some undergraduate degree shows. I especially liked "chavs" a painting of ehhh...chavs but through the eyes of a teenager. Superb work for one so young!

We then headed off to Parys mountain, the site of a rather amazing old copper mine. I loved the colour of the rocks, the deep quarried faces and some cool little tunnel entrances. Although not much is able to grown because of copper contamination, I could have wandered around all day. It looked like a great place to play on a mountain bike! I was glad I had my big winter jacket and a puffa gilet on though, as the wind was bitingly cold.

Finally, we headed back to Bangor to pick up my wheel, did a wee bit of shopping and I'm now having a relaxing night in preparation for a long mountain run tomorrow. The forecast isn't bad apart from the temperature, with high windchill and a predicted -9*C on the tops. Brrrrr!