Visit by sister

All was ready for my sister! And then she showed up. Hurray! And we hadn't seen each other in three years but that is always immediately forgotten when we meet again. And we always keep in touch; I have two big fat ring binders with her letters, and she has something similar with mine. So we were close to up to date, but it was great to consolidate that with actual live conversations!

The first day we didn't get up to much; I picked her up from the railway station, drove the beautiful detour home, popped by the shop for food, and welcomed her into my house. By that time we were ravenous so we had some lunch, and litres of tea, and then the day was almost done. But that's OK! During the eating and drinking she bombarded me with natural science questions (questions from the lay are always the hardest - she has accidentally found quite some grey spots in my knowledge that I should fill in on a rainy Sunday) while I hurled all my lay person's psychological hypotheses her way. Great! And her visit also allowed the possibility for a comparison of Welsh and Finnish. They have many strange quirks in common! Just as I expected.

There she comes!

The next day we went for a walk. Not a long one; we didn't quite know how her foot, which has a habit of playin gup, would behave. And we did know the weather would not be perfect. I proposed Carmel Head, on the north coast of Anglesey; it was accepted. We didn't hurry, though; just pootling around was quite nice too. But once we got there it was beautiful! We even found mushrooms (in july?). And a mine shaft. What more could one want!

View on the Skerries

More coastal scenery

That night we ate the mushrooms. And we looked at the weather forecast, and at Marieke's foot; we decided another walk was in order. Marieke chose Sychnant pass. Excellent choice! We set off in beautiful weather (I regretted my long trousers) and had a nice walk from the pass to the southwest and then back to Capelulo. We had lunch there and then went on, walking around Allt Wen and back to the car. It was Sunday, so by now the shops were closed, but we had enough food in the fridge to not care. And we decided that our last full day would still be one for a walk! In the evening we would have Jaco and Marjan over, so our walk couldn't end too late, but we could of course start earlier. So far we had taken it very easy in the mornings!

Wales in the sun

View on the recently burnt mountain

Pretty flowers

We did leave a bit earlier  the next day; we headed for Llanfairfechan. We walked in the direction of Foel Fras, but didn't go all the way to the top; it was shrouded in clouds and we would not see a thing. The walk up to the cloud was very beautiful, though! When we got back we had to start cooking fast. We made it in time!

 

Cottongrass and black mountains

 My sister!

It was nice to have dinner with the four of us. I figured everybody would get along well. It was true! But when they left we were both quite tired. Not strange; we had walked 18km that day.

The next day was already the last one! Doesn't time fly. We did more pootling and then it was time to drive to the railway station again. By another beautiful detour! And that already was the end of the visit. It had been great! And here on the blog it just looks like two people going on three walks, but I hope one understands that what really took place, which is two very close sisters maintaining that closeness, is not easily described on a blog. Marieke said she liked it a lot and would come back if I would end up staying here long enough for it. I sure hope so!