Five
cars met up at Ty-Hafan and we were met by Sandie who gave us an excellent but
thought provoking guided tour. Some of the stories she related were heart
rending, but the lasting impression we came away with was one of a bright
colourful place where people make the very best they can of any situation.
The hospice doesn't open at weekends at the moment due to staff shortages, so none of the children were there. Sandie said that was a shame as some of the boys particularly would have been interested in the cars. We promised to make time when they want so we can go back on a weekday when the children are there.
Ever keen to stress the technical aspects of the club, Mark
did an impromptu lesson in freeing a seized front calliper. Instead of helping,
I decided to take pictures.
Mark had booked lunch at a pub called the Bell Inn at Skenfrith, but we were
running late and another pub, coincidentally named the Bell Inn came into view.
SO Mark did one of his "mirror, manoeuvre, signal" tricks and we all
stopped there for lunch. When Mark rang the landlady of the other Bell Inn, she
wasn't best pleased, so when we got to Skenfrith later, we hid our heads in
shame, because the pub was opposite Skenfrith castle.
Pen how. This castle looked more like a grand house, and was even available for
accommodation.
Next
it was on to Skenfrith. Luckily Ray had visited here in his school days and lent
me this picture for the website.
Skenfrith at it looks
today (well the day Mark and Chris were there obviously) . There's a community
shop opposite raising funds for the upkeep of the castle and the ladies at the tea shop were lovely and
the tea and Ice-Cream were welcome. It was here that we had to pretend we
weren't the MX-5 Owners' club who'd cancelled the 10 lunches!
Grosmont. There isn't much of Grosmont castle left today, and it was a short
walk from the village, but a kind passer-by took our picture to prove we'd all
been there.
Pembridge
- "Gerroff my land". Pembridge Castle is privately owned, so we had to
make do with a few pictures in the distance, but getting to it gave us the
opportunity to drive down a marvellous sweeping hill (twice??).
White Castle. This was the last, and supposedly most complete, castle, but it
was guarded by a fierce lady who wouldn't let us even step over the gate line to
take pictures without paying. She was kind enough though to take our picture
outside of the gates.
Mascots and more mascots. What is it all about?
On the way back, we stopped off at Abergavenny Bus Station for a cup of tea. Now this might not sound like much, but if you'd ever been there on a Sunday lunch time/afternoon, you'd know. It has become a Mecca for bikers. Some days there must be millions of pounds worth of machinery parked in that car park. There weren't too many by the time we got there as it was quite late in the afternoon, but the treat of the afternoon was a trike built using the back end of a Skoda Estelle (you have to ask yourself why?)
The day went off pretty well once Mark's brakes were sorted, but we did seem to enjoy various places so much that we drove through them twice; Monmouth was a double tour as was Abergavenny and the hill near Pembridge castle as mentioned above. Oh, and we'll never be welcome in the Bell Inn at Skenfrith.
As I write this, we've already had close to £500 sent in with more to come. Michelle and I would personally like to thank on Ty-Hafan's behalf all those who took part on the day, plus those others who've sent donations in. I'm pretty sure we will want to do more of this in the future. Maybe a few more members will get involved the next time around?
Hi Ho Silver