Debkakes in the UK 2022

I’m not sure why I took so few photos of the bus and train ride, it was really lovely — maybe I got jaded and “standard green lush beautiful UK scenery” is well, just more of the same. There was one dumb delay as the train waited for an hour for an ambulance to arrive for a passenger who was ill. Most folks were pretty impatient. I really didn’t care, except that the conductors were unforthcoming about events and it was all rumors flying through the cars.

A little about me and Llwyngwril: I stayed in this charming little village in 2018, found by chance on Airbnb. I was staying a week in the eastern part of Snowdonia in North Wales (near Betws-y-Coed) and wanted to spend an equal amount of time on the coast. My search took me to a renovated train station, which was still an operating train stop. It looked perfectly charming, was walking distance to the sea, and convenient to lots of things I wanted to see. I loved this stay so much! The hosts, Larry and Margaret, are a really sweet older couple who seemed to dote on me. Going back to Wales was an opportunity to stay with them again.

The original plan was to stay there for about five days with my partner, who would join me after my walk, then take a train up to Edinburgh for ten days before I headed up to Shetland on my own. We decided to re-jigger his journey to start later in the month, but I didn’t want to go to Edinburgh on my own. I decided to stay at Larry and Margaret’s train station for just short of two weeks. It was an excellent decision, as will become apparent. However, I knew David would have loved staying at train station, so I was sad about that part of the change. Maybe next time!

I’d had a good breakfast in my flat at Hay, but didn’t really plan well for the rest of the journey. I had a train change at Shrewsbury, but not enough time to get food, so I was pretty hungry upon arrival in Llwyngwril. After a lovely greeting from Larry and Margaret and dropping off my bag, I rushed over to the pub. As it turned out, I barely got there before they stopped serving food for a catered event that evening. Good thing, I was *quite* famished!

I was so happy to be in Llwyngwril, a place that really and truly felt like coming home to me. As they trains came and went from the platform outside, I felt connected and content, ready to relax and rejuvenate from my 100 miles along the Wye River.

14 May, 2022