Mochdre
(North Wales, near Colwyn Bay)
July 2014
We decided fairly late on to go away for the week of Lynne's birthday in mid-July. As Gregory was a mere three months old at this point, as in previous years we thought to go for the easy option, i.e. somewhere not too far away. The small village of Mochdre was our chosen destination which met the criteria and where we (i.e. Lynne) had hired a three-bedroom cottage for six nights.
For those who have not heard of Mochdre (neither had I), it is located between Conwy and Colwyn Bay, south of Rhos on Sea and a short drive from Llandudno, which the attentive of you will recall is where Daisy had her first holiday a little under three years ago, so Gregory is following in her footsteps (not that he is anywhere near walking yet).
We did not have access to the cottage until 5pm, so we did not set off until a little after 3pm. Gregory and Daisy slept the whole way, so the 90-minute journey was fairly painless (and essentially enjoyable, since we could play our own music as I drove).
Thus, on Sunday 13th July, our holiday began, and with a fine afternoon too. This was taken from the skylight upstairs, where there were two bedrooms (Gregory and Daisy had one each).
An hour later, we hopped in the car to head to Rhos on Sea, after a bit of casual internet research picked up La Dolce Vita as an Italian restaurant that seemed like it would be worth visiting.
After hovering downstairs for a while where no-one seemed to be, we were directed upstairs to fairly intimate surroundings for our first holiday meal as a foursome. Daisy is now pretty well-behaved at these, ordering her own orange juice (they alas had none of her first choice: apple juice) and getting straight into her artwork. If I recall, we had a couple of nice pasta dishes and consequently I had a thought that we might go back later in the week if choice was limited. We never did.
We skipped dessert in the restaurant for a strawberry ice-cream the size of Daisy's face consumed on the promenade. It was sadly too big as it melted too quickly and plopped off on the zebra crossing we traversed. Afterwards, Lynne sagely informed me of the optimal solution: a tub. But we enjoyed it while we could.
I hoped that the owners of these boats had nowhere to be soon. Look at that blue sky, though. Could we actually get a week of decent weather? Stay tuned to find out. (Don't touch that internet dial.)
You can see the aforementioned zebra crossing to the left of this picture, which is most notable for the name of the shop "Lazy Daisy".
We had a late night that night, as the kids were late to bed (not helped by Daisy sleeping in the car and the fairly late meal - it was 7.30pm in the picture above). We watched the World Cup final (Germany vs Argentina) somewhat in the background rather than as the main event.
The next morning, all was well with the world again. We had managed, with some efficient packing, to squeeze the swingy chair into the car, and with good reason: it's great for getting Gregory to sleep. Here he is not sleeping (obviously), but happily chilling with his blue and white stripy dog. Gregory mostly chills.
There were lovely blue skies again in the morning, but unfortunately they did not last. However, despite the clouding over, we still headed for Llandudno beach as it remained mild (perhaps 19 or 20 degrees). And Daisy loves the beach (who am I kidding? So do I).
The one downside to sitting on the beach was that we were subjected to the constant stream of advertising for the "one hour special" boat ride, announced as nauseum. In fact, he promised each time that it would be the "last couple of calls". They almost never were as it did not take long for him to renege on his promise. Below is the "one hour special" boat ride boat. We were actually tempted but not sure if Daisy would like it (and Lynne would have to stay behind with Gregory). Later in the day/week, he advertised half-hour rides too.
As is typical for our visits to the beach, especially when it is not amazingly warm and particularly given we had Gregory in a pram, Daisy and I relaxed on the beach while Lynne headed round the shops.
After a spot of lunch, we headed to the arcades for some two-penny action, with Daisy perched upon a stool to enable better access.
Gregory managed to sleep through the excitement and the noise.
Unfortunately, for Daisy's £1 of two pence coins, there were few options other than variants of this game, where you try to encourage more coins to drop than you are putting in.
Daisy replenished her stocks reasonably well such that it took a while for her to run out of two pence pieces. Meanwhile she garnered many tickets which could be exchanged for various goodies. Here she is with a tub of tickets and a tub of coins.
In fact, she wanted to keep most of the tickets, and handed just enough in to get a pink lolly (pictured). We moved along the pier to go on a spinning teacup ride, which Daisy enjoyed for a while but then suddenly did not enjoy at all.
Here is evidence that she indeed enjoy herself for some of the ride, with the picture taken by Lynne.
By this point, she was getting a bit tired. Despite us funding her entrance into this bouncy castle play area (on request), she was mostly grumpy about it.
It was thus time for us to head back to the ranch where Gregory could stare meaningfully at various hanging objects, as is his wont.
Daisy's mini obsession with collecting things is encapsulated nicely here, from the shells pilfered from a display in another room of the cottage, to the tickets she won at the arcades. She hadn't been looking at pasta recipes, however.
The next day, the Tuesday and also Lynne's birthday, we headed over to the Welsh Mountain Zoo in Colwyn Bay, where Daisy daringly navigated a wooden bridge (with a drop of at least several inches).
And just monkeyed around generally.
More or less the first animal we saw was one of the flightless birds, perhaps a rhea.
The zoo had a good layout, with a spacious field home to a few events during the day and giving some sumptuous views. Foreground: Daisy running urgently from place to place.
Thankfully she is not squatting by the rocks for a number two, but instead surveying the land before her.
More lovely views from atop the mountain zoo. In the foreground, partially obscured by the bushes, you can see the penguin pond.
This showing off penguin demonstrated ably that he (or she) could swim whilst not even looking the right way.
And this chubbier one with a piercing was content to just watch the surroundings.
Gregory looked grumpily on, all wrapped up and with dangly toys which, at that stage, he did not interact with particularly.
Meanwhile, Lynne chased Daisy around the grass for laughs and giggles, before Daisy collapsed in an hysterical heap.
As we approached the snow leopard enclosure, we were fortunate to time it as they brought the two cubs out for people to look at. An "official" photographer or two semi-politely barged me out of the way (with explanation), but I still managed to take this shot. (I later saw them in the café, inspecting their photos.)
The mother looked on, somewhat unimpressed with the show being offered up to visitors.
The meerkat was desperate to get a look at what was going on too.
In the background, a 70-seater; in the foreground, a 1-seater.
It was when the camel turned to have a sip of water when I realised that the back hump looked all tilty. Not sure it would pass its MOT.
Whilst Lynne walked around with Gregory, I took Daisy into the reptile enclosure, where we were eyed by this alligator (or crocodile, I forget which).
This was his chunky mate. They were pretty enormous.
We then moved on to the farmyard section, where Daisy did her best to impersonate a turkey.
And there we shall leave it because that's quite a big update in one go (although admittedly this wasn't written in one sitting).
A rabbit in the same farm pen looked thoughtful as he sat beside a decorative tree trunk. We then got the call from Lynne that there was a bird show starting, so we headed off across the zoo...
...looking in on a terrapin along the way...
...before following the noise of the public address system to where Lynne and Gregory were. We congregated behind a school party...
...watching on as one of the staff handled a bird of prey (whilst another gave us some facts about it - I cannot recall the actual name of it, though).
This bird of prey (sorry, don't know which these are either) looks on wondering whether to join in on the party.
Talking of parties, there was a mad scramble of penguins suddenly. Hopefully they've locked away those falcons (or whatever), otherwise it's time to p.. p.. pick up a penguin. What could they be running for?
Well, of course, what else. Fish. Seemingly their raison d'etre.
Daisy was generally quite pensive about the whole show. Should they keep animals in captivity, she no doubt wondered.
It was turning into a lovely day so I had to be careful with Gregory in the baby carrier and the direction of the sun. But there was time for a pose with my two little 'uns.
Things took a turn for the rose as Daisy sulked on the grass. This looks close, but zoom has been applied.
This is how close she actually was. You can just about make out a dot left of centre. That's Daisy. We were calling her bluff but also willing to leg it over there in case she tried to go further away.
All in all, bloomin' marvellous.
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