AWOL Until Saturday

We didn't get a good start to the day - I overslept and didn't awake until 10:30. It was a glorious sunny morning and I hate to waste a minute of good weather during the winter. Management coaches the England sleeping team and would easily sleep until noon if I let her.

We drove along the coast road, over the Menai bridge and headed for Beaumaris, a nice little town with of course the Castle.

From there we visited Red Warf bay which is very scenic - even when the tide was fully out as it was this morning.

We got back to the hotel in time for dinner and organised a new table which is nicely located against a wall. I had deep fried brie as a starter with a salad dressing and redcurrant sauce. My main course was a medium rare sirloin pepper steak which was cooked perfectly with triple cooked chips, mushroom, vine tomatoes and a small salad dressing accompanied by a bottle of very pleasant red wine.  The meal was superb and the hotel thus redeemed itself.

We had a bit of fun - we didn't have desserts but the menu included Spotted Richard. We were both niggled by the concession to the PC brigade and Libby crossed out the word Richard and substituted the correct word "DICK".  When the waiter came to take our desert order he removed the menus and handed them to a couple at the table behind ours, who looked at them and called him back. I thought Oh Oh - but in fact Libby owned up and they thought it was a hoot. He left with orders for two spotted Dicks, one with ice cream and one with custard.

The entertainment was a lass named Tamsin Killen who is a Katherine Jenkins replica. She has a fine voice and sang for 60 minutes with some opera arias mixed with light classics and pop. Jolly good - but we didn't stay for the sequence dancing afterwards.

So you missed you breakfast !
That breakfast is the best part of the break for me.
Don't forget to have a walk around the gardens and try to imagine how beautiful they look in Spring and Summer.

My breakfast is always - even on a cruise or 5 star hotel - two slices of toasted granary bread with butter, coffee with baileys and fresh orange juice. I always carry a hip flask of Irish Cream with me when out and about so when we pop into a café for a coffee I have my coffee creamer with me.

I can trace my aversion to milk back to when I was a boy scout. During one of our annual scouts Jamborees - or whatever they were called - they had an endurance race where we had to run two laps of the field then go through a series of trials such as crawling under a net, climbing over a wall, walking a tightrope and I forget what else - but it ended with a cow tethered at the finish line. You had to milk the cow into a mug and drink it down. It was warm, greasy and utterly repulsive and I have never drunk milk since.

Fast forward 60 years and my wife warns me that my disdain for milk could lead to osteoporosis due to a lack of calcium. So I started putting baileys in my coffee to shut her up and have done so ever since. I sometimes get strange looks in restaurants when I pull out my hip flask and pour Baileys into my black coffee.  Who cares!!

I have porridge for breakfast most morning made with MILK, and a very generous portion of blueberries.  We drink a lot of milk and always finish the day off with Horlicks made with MILK.  For breakfast when away my favourite is scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on buttered toast.

It makes me wonder why you are not overflowing with the MILK of human kindness
 and groan all the time......

Quote :

I always carry a hip flask of Irish Cream

I can't stand the stuff !

I feel that way about sherry. Also trifle with soggy cake at the bottom.

Works a treat that one Alan. 

hic ello sailor - give me a bourbon any day !

Bourbon comes from Trumpland

Who is the Russian in the first photo Alan?

malcolm wrote:

Quote :

I always carry a hip flask of Irish Cream

I can't stand the stuff !

It is absobloodylutelydeicious.  :D:D

Good old andsome - a man of taste.

Just bought my Daughter-in-Law a bottle yesterday. She loves it. It's her Birthday today.

Just got home after a 3 hour drive from N Wales. Management wanted to do the scenic route so we came via the Horseshoe pass and Llangollen. It was snowing after we reached 1000 feet altitude but wasn't sticking, but a light touch on the pedals was considered prudent.

Overall we had a nice 4 days away and the hotel was lovely - but we are unlikely to go again. The evening entertainment - except for one evening - was mediocre. However, the singer in the bar area - a guy named Vaughan Kennedy - was superb. Shut your eyes and you were listening to Matt Monroe. Libby bought his set of 4 CD's (containing 64 tracks) to enjoy his voice on our Sonos audio system.

The Bodelwyddan Castle Hotel is set in lovely grounds with a woodland walk that is excellent - but better on a day when it is not freezing. I don't know how many rooms it has - but for us it proved to be too big - with too many guests jostling at the buffet each meal. We stood out from the crowd by not wielding a walking stick, zimmer frame or scooter.

It cannot be denied however that it is terrific value for money. Those who appreciate a really spacious and comfortable room, lots of entertainment throughout the day and food that covers the spectrum between superb and mediocre will have a great time there.

Warners is not for me in future - but I can well understand that those who can take full advantage of all it offers would go there time after time. As Libby will tell you - I'm hard to please.