Didn't we have a loverly time...

We've come home, again. From - not to - Wales. It might not be the land of my fathers but it certainly feels like home (having lived not-that-far from the border for many years) and there's still a welcome in the hillsides. (And hillsides themselves are something of a novelty when you live in Lincolnshire!)



Anyway, in the manner of an awards ceremony, there a few people I'd like to thank.



First, the Welsh Assembly (or maybe the EU, or the local authorities or whoever is responsible for highway maintenance). Because - with the inevitable exceptions of those tiny, single-track local lanes that are little more than farm tracks - the roads we happened to drive along were wonderful, new, smooth, perfectly cambered, and clearly signposted. (And when you consider that signs in Wales are twice the size - having twice the number of words - that's quite an achievement.)



Ok, I know the principality (sorry, Welsh people, I know it should be 'kingdom' or maybe 'republic' but...) is small by comparison to England but, honestly, I've not had as much fun behind the wheel of a car on holiday since we last went to France. And no, I'm not being sarcastic. And, yes - I define 'fun' as a smooth, event-free and easy journey from A to B.



If that's not your idea of fun, there's plenty of the blind-bends-grass-in-the-middle-high-hedges-no-chance-of-stopping-close-your-eyes-keep-praying kind of roads as well. It's just that I didn't like them.



What I did like were the 'A' roads (and quite a few 'B' roads, too). They were wonderful.



I also liked Llandudno, and Conwy; Beaumaris, on Anglesey, and this little place with a long, long name...







And we enjoyed the beaches, too!



I'll tell you more about them tomorrow.