MADGANG GO ABERDOVEY

"Take me to the beach, my good man, and do it now."

Aberdyfi (or Aberdovey - the Anglicised spelling is still in common use) is 

a village on the north side of the estuary of the River Dyfi. The village was 

founded around the harbour and shipbuilding industry, but is now best known 

as a seaside resort. The town centre is on the river and seafront but it stretches 

back from the coast and up the steep hillside in the midst of typical Welsh 

coastal scenery of steep green hills and sheep farms. 

Looking south from Aberdovey beach across the mouth of the River Dyfi 

towards Borth Sands  

Looking upstream from the mouth of the River Dyfi

Mrs MP is in serious danger of becoming a serial paddler

Dammit! I had twenty quid on the dog that's having her throat ripped out.

Honest, they are just playing. At least, I hope they are.

"Yummy, yummy, fish shit."

Aberdovey harbour (taken by Mrs MP on her phone)

Quiz on the beach (taken by Mrs MP on her phone)

Aberdovey town centre (taken by Mrs MP on her phone)

The Wesleyan Chapel in Aberdovey. Built in the days when the chapel was

the centre of everything in Welsh towns and villages

(taken by Mrs MP on her phone)

The backs of the cottages in the town centre (taken by Mrs MP on her phone)

I think all houses should be painted in different pastel shades. It would make
everybody's lives so much happier. I bet violent crime would drop dramatically.
(Photo taken by Mrs MP on her phone)

THE REVEREND (UNEMPLOYED) AND MRS MP'S

SILVER WEDDING ANNIVERSARY APPEAL

Tomorrow is my birthday. Five days later, and far more important, it will be the Silver Wedding Anniversary of Mrs MP and myself. Earlier this year, Mrs MP celebrated a significant birthday. To celebrate this conjunction of auspicious occasions the MadGang are holidaying in Snowdonia, North Wales, a place they have never been to together.

To keep costs low we are in our caravan and spending our time rambling and pottering around on beaches. I have been up Mount Snowdon on the funicular railway, many, many years ago but on this visit I hope to climb it along with Mrs MP and the two dogs. However, as always we could do with some extra cash.

With every previous birthday appeal I have asked you for money towards the running of my blog and online ministry. This time, because of its specialness, I am asking you to consider sending in a donation for us to squander on enjoying ourselves in the Welsh mountains and on the nearby beaches. Of course, if we don't spend it all on Welsh beer and a slap up meal on our anniversary any remainder will go towards the maintenance of my online presence.

Here is the widget via which you can donate.
You do not need a PayPal account to do so.

I will keep you fully informed of how the appeal is going.

MADGANG GO HARLECH BEACH(FOR FANS OF QUIZ AND DELPHI)

Followers of the MadGang's holiday adventures over the last couple of years are not going to believe this but today, not only did it not rain, but the sun shone. In fact, it was so bloomin' hot that big walkies was definitely out of the question. So we visited Harlech Beach, which is not far from our caravan site and which has a large stretch of flat, rock-free sand on which dogs are actually allowed to run free. So Delphi and Quiz ran free and here are the photos.

"Jaws III"

Quiz heads for Ireland. Delphi heads back to the beach.

Quiz, practicing his "River Dance" footwork

Quiz the Sphinx (with nose)

The daring Mrs MP goes barefoot for her, now traditional, annual paddle

Looking north from the beach road

Harlech Castle from the beach road

(my idea of what a real castle should look like)

Harlech Castle was built by Edward I during his invasion of Wales between 

1282 and 1289 at the substantial cost of £8,190. Over the next few centuries, 

it played an important part in several wars, withstanding the siege of Madog 

ap Llywelyn between 1294–95, but falling to Owain Glyndŵr in 1404. It 

then became Glyndŵr's residence and military headquarters for the remainder

of the uprising until being recaptured by English forces in 1409. During the 

15th century Wars of the Roses, Harlech was held by the Lancastrians for seven 

years, before Yorkist troops forced its surrender in 1468, a siege memorialised 

in the song Men of Harlech. Following the outbreak of the English Civil War in
1642, the castle was held by forces loyal to Charles I, holding out until 1647 

when it became the last fortification to surrender to the Parliamentary armies. In

June, 2013 it once again fell into English hands after a completely unexpected

raid by a gang of Border Collie Reivers. However, after their humans had eaten 

a rather nice William Pear flavoured ice cream in a nearby creamery, they left

as suddenly as they had arrived. There was no bloodshed. In fact, the two

humans even paid for the ice cream.

I like Harlech a lot. It's a civilised place. For a world heritage site it is very quiet. Even the groups of school children who are brought here to study the geography or history of the area seem to succumb to the calming effect of the village as soon as they get off the coach. The lady at the Tourist Information Centre was really polite and helpful (unlike some of her colleagues we have met with over the last few days). The young lady in the Post Office was equally pleasant. The fish and chips are okay and there's a Chinese takeaway. There is a village dog and two village cats. The local pottery is ridiculously cheap and we may well return there later in our holiday to buy a souvenir if we have any money left.

Which reminds me...

As usual, the MadGang are holidaying on faith and so the Reverend and Mrs MadPriest's Silver Wedding Anniversary (and MadPriest's Birthday) Appeal is still very much ongoing and will remain so until the evening of the wedding anniversary, June the twenty fifth. Here's the blurb.

The twentieth of June is my birthday. Five days later, and far more important, it will be the Silver Wedding Anniversary of Mrs MP and myself. Earlier this year, Mrs MP celebrated a significant birthday. To celebrate this conjunction of auspicious occasions the MadGang hopes to travel to Snowdonia in North Wales, a place they have never been to together. We will, of course, be blogging our adventures in this foreign land - hopefully it will not rain every single day.

To keep costs low we will be in our caravan and spending our time rambling. I have been up Mount Snowdon on the funicular railway, many, many years ago but on this visit I hope to climb it along with Mrs MP and the two dogs. However, as always we could do with some extra cash.

With every previous birthday appeal I have asked you for money towards the running of my blog and online ministry. This time, because of its specialness, I am asking you to consider sending in a donation for us to squander on enjoying ourselves in the Welsh mountains and on the nearby beaches. Of course, if we don't spend it all on Welsh beer and a slap up meal on our anniversary any remainder will go towards the maintenance of my online presence.

Here is the widget via which you can donate.
You do not need a PayPal account to do so.

I will keep you fully informed of how the appeal is going.

UNWELCOME TO WALES

The Wales Coast Path is a long-distance footpath which follows the whole of the coastline of Wales. It opened on 5 May 2012, and offers a 870 miles walking route from Chepstow, in the south, to Queensferry, in the north. If Wales is a country and not just a region it would be the first country in the world to provide a dedicated footpath along its entire coastline.

Since 2007 the Welsh Government has invested in improving public access to the Welsh coast through its Coastal Access Improvement Programme. In addition to this funding from the Welsh Government and the coastal local authorities of approximately £2 million per year, the European Regional Development Fund has additionally allocated nearly £3.9 million over three years in support of the project. All that money, all the time and effort that the hundreds of people involved in this mammoth endeavour have put into this great project, and yet some "Get off my land!" yokel can f**k it all up by erecting this sign at one of the entrances to the walk.

Fortunately we were assured by a nice, old English lady, who lived nearby that there had never been any bulls in the field. The sign had been put there by the farmer who owns the land in order to disuade walkers from using the public right of way. It is, of course, against the law to put dangerous animals in a field through which a right of way runs and, anyway, if you put breeding bulls in a field  edged on one side by a two hundred foot sheer cliff face, you are soon going to end up with an ex-breeding bull on your hands or, to be more exact, in the sea.

The Welsh Tourist Board is claiming that the coastal path was fully opened in 2012. This is, in fact, untrue. We were unable to walk the section west of the field of the imaginary breeding bulls because the farmer who owns it is blocking the path. The nice, old English lady told us it was at present being sorted out in the courts. Now normally I would be on the side of the little guy versus big government and all that, but these two obnoxious landowners are not versus the big guy. They are stopping all their little guy Welsh compatriots from making a living out of all the tourists  (possibly millions of them every year) that will be drawn to Wales in order to walk this new and spectacularly beautiful long distance walk or, like us, just spend a day or two walking sections of it. The MadGang had put off visiting Wales for years because of the reputation the Welsh have for being unfriendly and arrogant (the "they all started talking Welsh as we entered the pub" is no urban myth). How much money are the people of Wales loosing each year because of this bad publicity?

The two thick farmers (yes, thick, because they obviously can't comprehend the bigger picture) farm cattle and sheep on their land. The butchers, hoteliers, shopkeepers and, even, the big supermarket chains, who make their living from tourism in the region, should boycott these two bozos and refuse to buy their meat until they get with the programme.

Meadow above Porth Ceiriad beach, Lleyn Peninsula (looking east)

Meadow above Porth Ceiriad beach, Lleyn Peninsula (looking west)

Sailing boat rounding Trwyn Yr Wylfa

Porth Ceiriad beach

Saint Tudwal's Islands

Cave at Pistyll Cim

St. Tudwal's Island West - recently purchased by Bear Grylls and converted

into a holiday home. Bear Grylls (born 7 June 1974) is a British adventurer,

writer and television presenter. He is best known for his television series

"Man vs. Wild", known as "Born Survivor" in the United Kingdom. His 

unusual Christian name is the result of his mother always wanting a
large, bearded, homosexual baby. 

St. Tudwal's Island West is owned by the British sitcom writer, Carla Lane.

Tudwal (died c. 564) was a Breton monk. He travelled to Ireland to learn the

scriptures, then became a hermit on Saint Tudwal's Island East.  He later

emigrated to Brittany, settling in Lan Pabu with 72 followers, where he

established a large monastery under the patronage of his cousin, King Deroch

of Domnonée. He was made Bishop of Tréguier on the insistence of

Childebert I, King of the Franks. Tudwal is shown in iconography as a bishop

holding a dragon. His feast day is celebrated on the first of December.

The remains of a priory, referred to in the 1291 tax rolls, can be found on the

eastern side of the island. Carla Lane is the younger sister of Penny Lane who

became famous when Paul McCartney wrote a song about her.

Ruin at Porth Tocyn