North Wales Break with a Surprise

Some months ago, when I was miserable at the thought of going on any more holidays on my own, I enlisted my friend Mandy to accompany me on a break somewhere. Or maybe she enlisted me... Mandy has MS and hasn't been away for a number of years due to the difficulty of getting around or having a companion to take her. I have known her for about nine years now and she trusts me to look after her safely and kindly, so we decided on Bodelwyddan castle - a Warner Holiday hotel in North Wales. To give you an idea of the challenges we would face together - I had to hire a car which was low enough for her to get into, but big enough to accommodate her wheelchair, walking frame and bathroom stool as well as us and our luggage. Mandy's left arm and leg don't work so I would be driving and manoeuvring her round in her chair, apart from once she was in her room and could make her own way around her small, familiar space. I wasn't sure how intensive the week was going to be, and I didn't know what to expect of Warner Holidays either.

The hotel was huge and the rooms were also large. Mine was significantly nicer than Mandy's but she needed the wet room and hand rails and more space to move around. There was live entertainment every night, from Elvis and Dolly Parton tributes to songs from the musicals, quizes, a pool and activities like archery if we so wished. The entertainment was pretty good and the food was really rather decent - a breakfast buffet with everything you could want, and a three course dinner with starters and desserts that wouldn't look out of place in decent restaurants in any town. My main problem with the hotel was that it was superheated and I spent most of the time sweating and feeling faint in the heat. I brought the average age down by about 20 years too!

The first night was tentative and I didn't get to bed until gone midnight - I helped Mandy lay everything out in places that she could reach, helped her get ready for the night and made sure she could get into bed comfortably, as it was a bit higher than her bed at home. She admitted she was frightened that she might have a fall and be stuck without help overnight as she didn't feel very safe moving around.

But, when I returned at 8am she was doing fine and almost ready to go to breakfast. After a couple of setbacks that meant she didn't make it to breakfast after all, we decided to head to Traeth Pensarn beach in Abergele for a walk/push along the promenade. It was chilly but the sun was out and it was a nice stroll. Mandy gets cold very easily, as she isn't moving around, but MS also means people can't regulate their body temperature properly. So, after a short walk we grabbed a cup of tea at a little cafe with penny arcades. The tea came in a big mug and was very welcome, but Mandy was not up for the arcades - tacky and distasteful apparently! I guess she didn't have the same childhood as me...

Next, we were aiming for Snowden mountain railway for a 2pm departure on the train to the summit. We were there at 1pm as requested, got our tickets and watched the introduction and safety film, then boarded into the carriage with space for a wheelchair. The journey up takes about an hour and is quite beautiful, but even better. - the sun was out and the sky was clear enough that we would have good views at the top! I took Mandy in and found her a spot by the window, and then did a dash for the top, but there was a queue as if we were scaling Everest, so I made it to about 5m below the summit and that was good enough for me - I've been there before anyway! Then we headed back to the hotel for dinner and a drink at the bar. A full day and quite tiring for us both. Mandy was on good form, her usual feisty self and game for trying everything - a good day following the shaky start.

Sunday was spent on Anglesey. First was Pili Palas Nature World, in pursuit of Mandy's love of hot places - a tropical animal farm. We had a wander round the butterfly house, reptiles, birds, farm animals and bug section. They had meerkats and harvest mice, which were adorable, and a nice cafe too. More sweating for me round the hot houses while Mandy kept her coat on the entire time!

Next was Oriel Môn, an art gallery with a lovely mix of paintings and lovely felt scenes of Anglesey scenery. They also had a lovely display of Charles Tunnicliffe's beautiful bird illustrations. I remember copying some of his drawings as a little girl and loving the delicate colours of exotic looking birds. The felt pictures were really lovely too, especially the snowy ones as the texture of the felt worked really well with the snow, but they were all already sold. I spotted amongst them a couple of interesting looking places on tidal islands off the coast of Anglesey that I'd like to go and search out. I added them to a list of places for H and I to go and explore at some point.

We still had plenty of time so we went to Anglesey Sea Zoo. There were some nice specimens but it was fairly standard stuff, and some of it was quite lacklustre. But it passed an hour or so.

Along the way home I saw a sign for the beach and we took a spontaneous detour for another walk along the promenade in the sun as it was stunning weather over Llanfairfechan. We enjoyed chatting and joking as we walked, laughing together to the point that a passer by commented how nice it was to hear laughter. Mandy is hilarious - she is young at heart, was wild in her younger days with the courage to move abroad without even a place to stay, leaving her world behind for a fresh start. This sums up her approach to life - go for it and soak up every bit that you can. So our conversatiosn can be about anything and take a turn at any moment - she's a lot of fun.

As we got back to the car I found a message from H saying 'where are you staying?' I replied and asked why, but are there many reasons he would want to know...? We drove back to the hotel and had dinner, then made our way to the entertainment lounge for another sweaty night of loud music by way of an award winning Elvis tribute act. Some chatty messages from H asking what the hotel was like followed. I got Mandy settled and then realized I'd left the car in the drop off zone - a good excuse to pop out into the fresh air and cool down a bit. Another message from H - if you're hot why don't you go out for five minutes of fresh air? I replied that I was doing just that. I said how nice it was to be in the cool, still and quiet evening air. H asked what I thought could be better. Of course I said it would be nice if he was there. I wandered back to the entertainment lounge still trying to work out what he was up to. I pushed open the door and someone behind me said 'Let me get that for you, madam' and as I turned to thank him I started at his feet, surprised to see another young person there, and looked up to find H standing right there! What an amazing surprise - genuinely. After a quick hug and once I was over the shock we went over to see Mandy. H immediately charmed her, and vice versa, and we had a fun night where Mandy teased me incessantly and asked several inappropriate but entertaining questions. H took it all very well and gave as good as he got! We enjoyed the Elvis act, then H requested a couple of country songs on the disco (slightly changing the mood) and then asked me to dance - in public - good grief, but lovely!

Monday was a bank holiday which meant that H could join us for a day out at Bodnant garden. Well, we caught it at it's absolute peak. It is a beautiful garden, full of rhododendrons and azaleas! There was a 1.5km accessible path, albeit on a slope for about half of it. I pushed Mandy for the first half, but as we got to the half-way point H took over for the uphill stretch and did a brilliant job. We followed that with lunch at a really nice pub just down the road and then a trip to the Welsh Farm Food Centre to find Welsh cakes and Welsh butter as a thank you gift from Mandy to a friend. There was a nice choice of goodies.

We headed back to the hotel and Mandy said she was tired and was going to retire to her room for the remainder of the day and would not be needing dinner. I said she could ring me if she needed anything. H and I went to investigate Rhyl beach for a walk along the seafront for an hour or so in the sunshine. When we got back we sat in the bar and listened to a Gary Barlow lookalike playing some nice, easy listening songs on the keyboard and then went back to the room to organize a little trip to Glen Coe for the following week when he was coming up to stay with me - very last minute but we found something - see the next blog post for how it goes...

H was up and off at 6.30am to get back to South Wales in time for work (about 3.5 hours) and I was left to get back to the banter with Mandy, who sang H's praises constantly! Coming from someone who knew John, and liked him immensely, this means a lot to me and sets a good precedent for potential future meetings with family and friends. Each time I mention H's surprise visit to anyone he is building up a solid fan base amongst my favourite people.

Tuesday was a trip to Llandudo. First was to try and find some make up for Mandy at Boots, then, after we failed to find the right lipstick shade, we tried out Mostyn Cymru - a modern art gallery. It turned out to be tiny with only one exhibition which we didn't enjoy. But we did have a drink in their lovely cafe.

Then we headed out to drive round Great Orme coastal road. A small toll was needed as it is National Trust owned but it was a lovely 20 minute drive with rugged, rocky views along the way, until you reach the lovely beach at the end.

To finish off the day out we hit the cinema to see the Devil Wears Prada 2, which we both enjoyed very much. Back at the hotel we grabbed our final dinner, then went to the entertainment lounge for the Dolly Parton tribute act, who was excellent and put on a great show. We packed up our bags ready for departure the next day and got tucked in for the last night.

We checked out and set off for home, deciding to call in at Ruthin jail museum on the way - Mandy's choice. Unfortunately I couldn't get her chair through the narrow cell doorways but they had made all the corridors accessible so we could get round the main bits and stop to look through each doorway and read the information boards. Then it was lunch time and there was a delicious bakery a couple of doors down so we ordered tea, coffee and cakes and a scotch egg to share. Then we headed back to Leamington, I took all of Mandy's bits and her up to her room and helped her unpack before agreeing what a brilliant time we had had and say goodbye, until next time.