Aberaeron
On Tuesday, 10/10, we all were driven to the beautiful seaside town of Aberaeron about 20 miles from Aberystwyth. The area has history a lot farther back but we learned today from Louri, our Rotarian tour guide that the town itself dates back to 1807 and they will be celebrating their bicentennial next year. She is on the planning committee and has learned much about the history of the town and its heritage. We went on a walking tour of the town except for Richard as he was out on a semi vocational visit nearby. Pictures will be posted later as I am not the picture taker of the group. The town was a planned community and the houses had to be built according to certain plans and it was built around the town green which is used as the athletic fields for soccer and rugby but also for other town events. It was a beautiful town and was very neatly laid out. It reminded me of historic Charleston District with more space. The Aberaeron Rotarians treated us to a lunch of Fish and Chips. We were also accompanied on our tour by Nick who was a District 1150 GSE Team Member to India- their last outbound team. He and his team had an interesting stay in India as the poverty and living conditions of most Indians is beyond belief. He ended up in the hospital in India for 4 days with food poisoning and is still having some health problems from his trip. He was a neat guy as his job is fostering children with learning disabilities. Thanks to the Aberaeron Rotarians for showing us your lovely town and introducing us to Nick. It made us appreciate our GSE to Wales even more.
We had a free afternoon in Aberystwyth and I will let the team tell you about their experience. I got a special treat as President Mike Price took me to his home course, the Borth &Ynyslas Golf Club. The oldest golf course in Wales. Talk about being in Hog Heaven, Playing on my first links course on a beautiful, warm & sunny afternoon overlooking the Irish Sea with beautiful scenery and walking with one of my new Rotarian friends and enjoying every moment. My first shot was right down the middle and my second was nice and crisp and was looking good until my host said I hit it too far and landed in the thick rough on a little hill behind the green. We played 7 holes and a made 3 pars, a bogey and the rest were "dreaded others" as I quickly found out you do not want to hit in their rough which it is properly named. If you are lucky enough to find your ball you can only advance back to the fairway if it is snarled in this tough thick grass. Our last hole we played turned back to Aberystwyth and you could see the rolling hills as a backdrop, the Irish sea on the right and more rolling hills to left with sheep grazing on the hill. I felt like I died and gone to heaven with the beauty and the serenity of the moment as we were the only two people on that part of the course. Thanks Mike for a wonderful and special afternoon. We then went home to get ready for the Rotary meeting at 7:30PM. We were served lamb for the first time tonight and it was absolutely delicious. We thought we would have had lamb a bunch more times than now especially with all the sheep we have send in our first 9 days here. It was another great Rotary experience as we only had to introduce ourselves and we got to sit back and learn more about Wales from Richard Morgan, who was Richard's host here and our speaker for the night. We leave in the morning for another part of Zone 1 as we spend the next 2 days being hosted by the Haverfordwest Rotarians.
My Host family was Hue and Enfys Spencer Lloyd. A lovely couple who postponed their holiday to keep me. Enfys ( which means Rainbow in English) cooked 2 of the best meals that I had since I have been in Wales. They live on the side of a hill in a house that Huw practically built by himself some 40 years ago. In their backyard, they have created this most wonderful garden and Enfys gave me the grand tour this morning. For those of you who like flowers and gardens, you missed out on a special treat. I wish my wife, Millie could have send it as she would have " oohed and ahed" with a better understanding of the work and effort that goes into a creation like that. As you can see our adventures are continuing as we continue to meet interesting people and see more wonderful sites. We haven't even told you about the National Library of Wales that we visited yesterday and the great tour and wealth of information we saw and got yesterday. I will tell you one special treat that we experienced at the Library, As you have read we went to Aberglasney on Sat and got see beautiful gardens and learned more history there. Our tour guide Bryan told us about this artist who came there before the property was restored to the state it is in now and had a vision of what the place could look like with a little effort and work. At the library there was a painting done by this artist. I believe his last name was Wilkins and it was a picture of Aberglasney as it looked when he first saw it. You talk about COOL!!! Well, I could go on and on but we have an early start tomorrow so I better get to sleep. It keeps getting better each and every day!!!! Rick PS: A special thanks to Richard Griffiths, Gwenda's brother and Betsy's host. He owns the hotel where Betsy is staying. He helped to get everybody home on Monday night after we spent the evening "out on the town". He probably stayed up a little past his bedtime to accommodate us and it was appreciated very much. I really like your comments tonight at the meeting. It is people like you that is making this GSE Special!!!!
We had a free afternoon in Aberystwyth and I will let the team tell you about their experience. I got a special treat as President Mike Price took me to his home course, the Borth &Ynyslas Golf Club. The oldest golf course in Wales. Talk about being in Hog Heaven, Playing on my first links course on a beautiful, warm & sunny afternoon overlooking the Irish Sea with beautiful scenery and walking with one of my new Rotarian friends and enjoying every moment. My first shot was right down the middle and my second was nice and crisp and was looking good until my host said I hit it too far and landed in the thick rough on a little hill behind the green. We played 7 holes and a made 3 pars, a bogey and the rest were "dreaded others" as I quickly found out you do not want to hit in their rough which it is properly named. If you are lucky enough to find your ball you can only advance back to the fairway if it is snarled in this tough thick grass. Our last hole we played turned back to Aberystwyth and you could see the rolling hills as a backdrop, the Irish sea on the right and more rolling hills to left with sheep grazing on the hill. I felt like I died and gone to heaven with the beauty and the serenity of the moment as we were the only two people on that part of the course. Thanks Mike for a wonderful and special afternoon. We then went home to get ready for the Rotary meeting at 7:30PM. We were served lamb for the first time tonight and it was absolutely delicious. We thought we would have had lamb a bunch more times than now especially with all the sheep we have send in our first 9 days here. It was another great Rotary experience as we only had to introduce ourselves and we got to sit back and learn more about Wales from Richard Morgan, who was Richard's host here and our speaker for the night. We leave in the morning for another part of Zone 1 as we spend the next 2 days being hosted by the Haverfordwest Rotarians.
My Host family was Hue and Enfys Spencer Lloyd. A lovely couple who postponed their holiday to keep me. Enfys ( which means Rainbow in English) cooked 2 of the best meals that I had since I have been in Wales. They live on the side of a hill in a house that Huw practically built by himself some 40 years ago. In their backyard, they have created this most wonderful garden and Enfys gave me the grand tour this morning. For those of you who like flowers and gardens, you missed out on a special treat. I wish my wife, Millie could have send it as she would have " oohed and ahed" with a better understanding of the work and effort that goes into a creation like that. As you can see our adventures are continuing as we continue to meet interesting people and see more wonderful sites. We haven't even told you about the National Library of Wales that we visited yesterday and the great tour and wealth of information we saw and got yesterday. I will tell you one special treat that we experienced at the Library, As you have read we went to Aberglasney on Sat and got see beautiful gardens and learned more history there. Our tour guide Bryan told us about this artist who came there before the property was restored to the state it is in now and had a vision of what the place could look like with a little effort and work. At the library there was a painting done by this artist. I believe his last name was Wilkins and it was a picture of Aberglasney as it looked when he first saw it. You talk about COOL!!! Well, I could go on and on but we have an early start tomorrow so I better get to sleep. It keeps getting better each and every day!!!! Rick PS: A special thanks to Richard Griffiths, Gwenda's brother and Betsy's host. He owns the hotel where Betsy is staying. He helped to get everybody home on Monday night after we spent the evening "out on the town". He probably stayed up a little past his bedtime to accommodate us and it was appreciated very much. I really like your comments tonight at the meeting. It is people like you that is making this GSE Special!!!!
posted by GSE Team Wales | 12:41 AM
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