The Open 2023

Up at 6am. A good breakfast cleaning up some of the food we had. Car was all packed under Roger's tutelage and ready to go by 9:30. Caroline and Steve's home couldn't be better located for golf, food and sights to see  like Harlec Castle.  I had suggested that we break the 3 hour drive up to Manchester and thought we would stop at Chester.  Our GPS took us through some beautiful country high up in the mountains,  mostly on roads with no centre line which means you have to pull to the side of the road when you meet an oncoming vehicle. We were definitely in sheep country and rarely saw anything else.  Too bad it was rainy and foggy because the countryside would have been beautiful if we could have seen it.  Stopped for gas at a small place for the first time since we took the car. According to the information on the dash it gets about 38mpg which is excellent.  We arrived at the Wrexham Park and Drive station about 11:30. It's a marvelous sy...

Up at 5:45, wrote up a day in this blog. Breakfast with the gang. Dishes all done by 8:30. Roger, David and Brian went into Harlec, about 3 miles and parked at the Pay and Display lot. Walked along the main street past some nice shops but none were open yet. Our purpose for going here was to see the Harlec Castle built in the late 1200s over a period of 7 years. It is now a Unesco World Heritage site. It is an amazing structure with it's outer walls still intact.  Walking up the 141 steps in an inner turret you can see where the gatehouse apartments and suites are located.  At the top are some of the best views of the town and Royal St David's golf course.  After spending about an hour in the Castle we stopped for refreshments and the hot chocolate was superb. Walked back to the car and drove to pick up Steve. Had a message from the golf course to say that they could get us out early because the weather for the afternoon was looking poo...

Up at 6:30 and downstairs.  Everyone was up by 7:30. I bought some sausages at the local shop and cooked some up for Steve and I. Delicious. I got the Nespresso machine going so had one of those. Roger did the dishes (Refer previous night note about scat.) In the car and on the way to Aberdovey by 9am. Nice drive down, took about an hour. Navigation system took us on one short road that was like a bicycle path; hardly enough room to pass the man with his dog. We avoided that on the way home. Arrived at the golf course about 10:30 after a short stop at a Nature Centre. Confirmed our tee time and cart arrangements. Roger and I used the Moto Caddy and Steve and Dave shared a buggy. Steve stayed at the course while Roger,David and I walked into the town of Aberdovey - 10 minutes at the most. It was a quaint seaside town with a big beach, sailing lessons and swimming. We stopped for lunch at a fish shop I had fish cakes (thai) and a salad and fries. Roger and David had fish and chips....

Up at 6:00, lots early.  Good breakfast and set off for Porthmadog around 8:15. Picked up our Motocaddy trolleys for 12.50£. Tee time is 9:40 so we had time to talk to lots off groups.  Two different 9 holes on this course. First 9 has lots if hazards and water. Second nine is more links style with views of the ocean. Scenery was tremendous. David got another birdie.   Stopped for a ham and Welsh cheese sandwich at the turn that was one of the best I've ever had. Let a twosome go through so we'd know where to go. Had a better back 9 than the front. It was a wonderful day weather wise and played the back in shorts and golf shirt, 17-18c. After the round we stopped into Tesco for some things, most of which we didn't need and then drove home. Rum and cheese and grapes and chips on the back deck. When it became too cool in the shade we moved to the front of the house in the sun. Talked to a neighbour who was renting #5 beside us and got some details on the ro...

Up at 6:30. After breakfast we packed our clubs and drove the small roads to Porthmadog.  15 miles takes about 35 minutes.  At least there was hardly any  traffic. We were early for our game but decided based on the iffy weather forecast for today vs tomorrow that we would delay our game for a day. We bought a couple of buckets of balls and went to the driving range for about half an hour. Roger, David and I reserved an electric trolley for tomorrow and Steve will have a buggy.  After Steve finished hitting more balls we drove back through town and stopped at Tesco. We got extra supplies and then headed for home. It was still only 11 am so we each did our own thing, wandering about the small town of Llanbedr. Roger and I stopped into an old church,  St Peter's. At noon we went to the Victoria Inn, Robinsons and had lunch. I had a roast pork dinner that was excellent.  They also have a wonderful back garden with a covered arbor for ea...

Up at 7:15 and had a breakfast buffet served at the Hotel, included in our stay.  They had a broad selection and I had 75% of what was on offer except the black pudding.  About 9am we started walking the streets of the town, looking at various shops and tourist centre's. I bought a magnet of Llangollen with a picture of the Pontsycillte Aqueduct on it that Carol and I had visited in 2010. So many good memories of this area. We thought we would take the old steam train from Llangollen station but it takes an hour and a half which is too long. So after having misplaced Dave and then found him we decided to take the horse drawn canal boat which takes 45 minutes. We drove to the canal boat site where I dropped the guys off and then drove back to the hotel and I walked back up. Took 5 minutes. A very interesting illustration of how trade worked in the 1700s. Finished about 11:30. Dave and I went to a tea shop where we had a very nice mushroom soup and a tea....