Grandma Goes Coastal: Menai Bridge to past Beaumaris June 30

Today, at the end of the walk, I was met by Car Talk's chauffeur, PickupandDropoff (from now on to be referred to as Pu&Do) to be transported back to Beaumaris, then, to be returned tomorrow to recommence. This is one of my least favourite arrangements because I like to be in charge of my schedule, pero bueno, it worked out fine, and besides, Eurwyn, planner and driver, is helping me pronounce Welsh, a definite bonus.

A few words about guilt! I was feeling guilty that I had bought a new backpack and new rain gear for this walk, oh, and new boots, but those I had to buy, the resoling of the old ones having turned out to be a total waste of money, but now I am so happy that I made these purchases. The left at home raincoat and pants (from Zpacks) as lightweight as can be, but the raincoat makes the left side of my face itch like crazy. Both coat and pants (very large) make an annoying sound as you walk, besides. Now, the OR Pertex Shiled Plus ensemble fits perfectly and does not make my face itch nor do these garments make an annoying sound when you walk! But I hope I won't need the pants and jacket quite so regularly because at this very moment, local time 7:15 p.m., it is not raining and the sun was out for a few minutes a little while ago, which reminds me of a story:

Yankel always had bad luck. Nothing ever went well for him. For example, every morning after he put jelly on his bread, he dropped it, and it landed jelly side down. Day after day, the bread fell and landed jelly side down. One morning, Yankel put jelly on his bread, dropped it, only this time it landed jelly side up! He could hardly believe it! He ran to the rabbi and with great excitement shouting, "Rabbi, rabbi, this morning when I dropped my bread on the floor it landed jelly side up. Does this mean my luck is changing?" The rabbi stroked his beard, thought carefully for some time, and finally replied, "No, Yankel, I am afraid it does not. It just means that his morning, you put the jelly on the wrong side of the bread."

We'll leave the virtues of the new backpack for a slow news day.

Despite the rain, which you cannot see, I could not resist struggling to take off the gloves and mittens, and get the camera out to capture this bull breakfasting:

But back to the rain....there was walking on the beach, which, in the rain and wind would be fine, or maybe not so fine, except this beach had huge slippery, slimy stones. Before you know it, you are no longer vertical, but uttering expletives from a prone position, but really happy that your iPhone did not shatter. Some of the scenery was quite bucolic. I am guessing there will be more of it as the circuit around Angelesy continues.

In Beaumaris there is a GAOL and an old courthouse, but they are closed on Fridays, which means that today you couldn't go to court and you couldn't go to jail! I really sulked about this:

Beaumaris also has a castle—the remnants of a castle—that was never completed due to financial issues: the money ran out and the workers deserted when Edward I turned his attention to Scotland. What there is, though, is intricate and impressive, having been designed by James of Saint George, the most famous designer of castles in all the land. He also designed Conwy Castle (seen) and Harlech (yet to be seen). (I think the statue of James was designed by someone who specialised in religious art.)