Angleseying about - despite Europcar, because it was windy....

Guess what, after our one day weather window, the forecast was for lots of nice southerly or south westerly wind with nice bumpy conditions off St Davids head. The one window was not terribly long (need 16 hours or so to get into Milford Haven and it was more like 10) and there would still be a residual nasty lot of waves on the nose for the entire journey. It wasn't tempting. In fact, a New Zealand yachtsman who was checking the weather at the same time made the same decision to stay put. As he had been around Greenland, Iceland etc and was heading south - "probably ending up in the Falklands again" we felt that it was a good call! This is pretty typical of things:

What to do in the time until it calms down a bit - or is supposed to calm down? Well, as Holyhead is a decaying dump of a town (but with a very nice new Lidl store in walking distance), we wanted to explore a bit further again.

We found that Europcar really have one of the worst websites for hiring a car out of Holyhead! Here is an example of the cost for a baby car for a week. Note the midweek 10 am pickup and return times:

Not a bad price for a week you think. However, you also get this message:

The top bit says that this is outside normal pick up times and so an extra £60 charge has been applied. So, if I pick a time when they are "open" then the car would only costs £30.98 for a week - result!! Pretty unlikely though.

Sadly, no matter what time you enter or day you choose, the place is reported as "shut" and the mythical £60 added. So, you assume this is a website error and continue with the booking. We had a voucher from Europcar thanks to the stuffed up service at Glasgow airport last year. Naturally, the voucher details could not be entered in their reservation system properly. Then, when the booking was completed OK on-line, around 20 hours before the rental was to start, this email arrives:

Yes, despite an "all OK " on the website, the email tells you that the booking will be confirmed within 48 hours. With the rental due in 20, you call the call centre. "Yes, that is all OK but to make sure please call the branch by dialling the same number you just called on then taking the following IVR option numbers, I cannot transfer you".

You call the branch, it rings and rings. Then a lady answers. She checks their system, says it is all OK and that a confirmation email will arrive. When you mention to her that the on-line system tells lots of funny stories about Holyhead opening hours and surcharges she say that she knows but the head office folks will not fix it and she is all alone today and has three phone lines for three locations to manage and it is very busy and (she stopped before telling us that she has a drink problem and that her rent was due and that she was broke and....)

As for trying to use the voucher when collecting the car - now telling you about that would get too boring. Suffice to say that the captain had, whilst waiting for the naturally late "meet and greet" service, read the reverse of the voucher. When the staff had no idea what to do with the thing, he showed them the instructions on the reverse. Hearing them translated into Welsh on the phone was bizarre in the extreme.

Anyway, an upgrade to a seriously bashed about and slightly grubby Focus was fine and let us loose on the unsuspecting locals.

Where to go - well, Beaumaris castle looked lovely when we passed through it before. So, we went mad, visited the place and even joined Cadw  despite the fact that we could not pronounce it.

The castle was never completed as King Edward ran out of money and interest - there were so many people to fight and subdue in those days. It would have been an amazing place - kind of the big brother of all 1300s castles:

It is amazingly well preserved - perhaps because it was never finished and so there was not too much fighting to gain or retain it:

Mind you, there seems to be a little sword-fight action for supremacy in the place these days:

The crew, together with penguin rucksack that now goes everywhere (Patrick is a little jealous but he is way heavier to lug around and his carrying capacity is filled with millet) read about the walls and toilet facilities:

The text on the sign says "Big and perfectly formed". She is probably OK with half of that.

All in all, an amazing place with a  strange history, great location and well worth visiting. Afterwards, you have to continue "up north" on the island to Penmon Point, the lovely lighthouse and views to puffin island and the mainland:

A tranquil and beautiful spot. The sign painted on the lighthouse advising people not to try and pass between it and the land is amusing. Wonder how many lifeboat calls there had been before they agreed to deface the lighthouse.

Our liner curse was active again by the way. Mein Schiff was in Holyhead:

and they picked a nice gloomy misty day to visit the delights of the town. As well as Lidl, we think that the nice church qualifies as a local delight. The folks who didn't take the optional coach trips seemed to enjoy wandering about the town in a very non German sort of way. They kept walking across the roads in front of us - luckily the Focus brakes were good. This behaviour is not at all typical for Germans who will wait at a red pedestrian crossing sign at 4am in the morning with not a car in sight until it goes green for them, in case they set non-existent children a bad example. Obviously, the inbred good behaviour of the German nation is overcome by the "I am a cruise liner passenger and I own this place" attitude that comes with a little cabin, unlimited food, the illusion of being special, sharing a dinner table with 6 total strangers and the regulation branded T-shirts and baseball caps. Such a pity.



Maintenance news

Well, we duly checked the little piece of oil drain hose and found that it had been weeping again. It had been fine since it was double clipped in Mallaig a couple of months ago but it looks like the inner liner is giving up, allowing oil to weep out. Grr. The new piece that we had bought from a nice on-line race car parts company had been "stretched" by leaving a couple of hose tails fitted into it. Guess what. Despite this, it still would not fit onto the turbo pipes. The inside diameter was a tiny bit smaller than the original (0.75 inch original and the same 3/4 inch ID hose as supplied was 0,72 according to the calipers).

Grr. So a new piece of silicone hose was ordered and the captain can struggle with it once it arrives - or just refit the original and struggle during the winter when there is a gale blowing and rain tipping down. Hang on, that is forecast for tomorrow!