July 10th, 11th and 12th 2017 - Criccieth; Brecon; Tintern Abbey

There was no sightseeing on July the 10th as Nuvi had frozen and no efforts from either Jim or me could get any response from her. We needed help! I did a bit of research and we found a Halfords in Llandudno. It was raining anyway so we weren't too bothered about not being able to be touring. It turned out that Nuvi was 3 years old so there would be no replacement so she was laid to rest. However, our Nuvi 2, a back up bought a year ago but which had gone on strike when we gave it on loan to Geoffrey, could be replaced. What we got is in fact an upgrade. Wonderful! It works and has extra features. We had coffee to celebrate and then decided to go to Conwy Waters for Dutch pancakes and to see the beaver or otter which Owain had mentioned. Unfortunately it was closed because it was a Monday. Back to Conwy and to Amelie's for lunch - closed on Mondays! So we lunched in Time Cafe - full of clocks! Then we did a coastal drive up Orme and it had great views. Back home and I saw a bit of Wimbledon - Muller beat Rafael Nadal and Jo Konta beat Garcia. Both were good matches.

On the 11th we were leaving Llanfairfechan and making our way to Dorset with an overnight in a B&B in Brecon. I had chosen a scenic route on the A470  to see as much of Snowdonia as possible but the weather was against us and we were barely aware of the mountains around us as we couldn't see them. We stopped in Criccieth for coffee - great coffee and walnut cake as light as a feather. And yes, people do speak Welsh in Wales - we were the only customers speaking English! We got to our B&B just outside Brecon - it was good but not deserving of the outstanding reviews on Tripadvisor we thought. I was a bit disconcerted by the ensuite which was not ensuite but across the corridor. Thankfully I did not encounter anyone during my middle of the night sorties! We had dinner in Llangroes in a local pub - the Castle. It was just up the road from the B&B. I had a great local venison rump steak. However, we had to tolerate a rather voluble know all of a man who insisted on engaging us in conversation once the locals had left. He did however enlighten us as to where we could buy venison.

After a reasonably good breakfast we made our way to the venison farm shop where we got venison steaks and venison sausages. When the butcher heard we were en route to Dorset he put in an ice pack so that the meat would keep fresh.

En route to Ashburton, Devon, we stopped to see Tintern Abbey - the Tintern Abbey  of Wordsworth's Lines Written a few Miles above Tintern Abbey. The landscape is indeed very beautiful as suggested in Wordsworth's Lines. The Cistercian Tintern Abbey is one of the greatest monastic ruins in Wales. Despite it being without a roof or glass in the windows it inspires a sense of reverence and awe.

We arrived in Ashburton at around 2pm so we had ample time to look around finding 2 really good delicatessens, one specialising in fish and seafood and the other having good bread and a wide range of tasty bits. That was after negotiating the very narrow roadway that led to Lindy's house. Little did we know at that stage that narrow was going to be a significant feature of our week in Devon! Jenny had left us a chicken casserole which she said would take an hour and a half in a low oven - more like 2 hours in a very hot oven! Not to worry, we were well catered for.