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Just a few miles before the bridge that takes you over the Menai Straight into mainland Wales is the small town of Llanfair. Photo Gallery
Today we travel from Dublin to Bridgend.
Early start from Dublin on the super swift Irish Ferries cat. There was talk last night of bad weather and having to go on the slightly slower ferry but this morning it was all blue sky, cotton wool clouds and a smooth sea. Barely two hours later we're driving the Fiestas onto the quayside in Holyhead on the island of Anglesey.
Quiet is the right word for Anglesey, except when the RAF's Hawk trainers from RAF Valley fly overhead. Just a few miles before the bridge that takes you over the Menai Straight into mainland Wales is the small town of Llanfair. Llanfair is the home of the world's longest railway station name. Llllllwhateveritis.
Some language Welsh. If you don't agree then try playing Welsh Scrabble. To get into the spirit of the country we set out a board on the back of one of our Fiestas. There's no Z, which in English Scrabble is a ten point letter. In the Welsh game the A gets ten points. Perhaps we'll spot seme Welsh signs with words containing A on our way south towards Bridgend.
Gwyndaf Evans
Now here's a man who can explain the mysteries of the Welsh language: Gwyndaf Evans, ex-Ford works rally driver, ex-school bus driver and today a Ford dealer with two garages in Dolgellau. Evans still competes in rallies but these days it's mostly in an immaculately prepared MK2 Escort in historic rallying.
Amazingly, Gwyndaf has never played Scrabble, though it doesn't take long to teach him the rules. Anyway, even if he's a poor Scrabble player the fact that his first language is Welsh will give him the upper hand. He can also solve the mystery of there being no Z in the game. 'We don't use Z in the Welsh language,' he explains. Evans opens play with Ddarnau. A good start but what on earth does it mean?
"The parts", says Evans. Suddenly there's an exclamation from the rally legend: "There's a J in the game. We don't have J in the Welsh langauge either." This is serious and the sales manager is brought over to consult. It seems that there is some debate in intellectual circles as to whether or not the J does exist.
Evans learnt his driving skills on these roads and points us in the direction of some great Tarmac to take us on to our next night stop in Bridgend. It's a fair swap: we get some local road knowledge and Gwyndaf learns a new letter of the alphabet. And to show us our thanks we leave him our Scrabble set. He will have more fun out of it we reckon.
Goodbye Dolgellau
Yet more sunshine and showers as we leave Dolgellau and head to Bridgend, Snowdonia looming over us in the East. There are no motorways on this side of Wales, hardly ever any dual carriageways and rarely a piece of road that's straight for more than quarter of a mile. It is not a huge distance to South Wales and Bridgend, but those 120-odd miles are tortuous and twisty. If there's a truck in front it can take several miles before a safe overtaking section can be found. But it is no hardship to wind one's way along these roads for the scenery is stunning.
As dusk falls we are near Mythyr Tydfil, crossing moorland roads dotted with absent-minded sheep. To the west towering cumulous clouds are backlit by a falling sun. It's almost a match for yesterday's stunning west coast of Ireland.
Tomorrow we visit the Ford engine plant at Bridgend and later driver to London on the M4 motorway. Apart from the view from the new bridge over the Seven we will be starved of stunning scenery. Only temporarily because tomorrow will also see us head south through Kent to stop the night before crossing to the continent.
