Another trip off to a Landmark Trust property, this time Fort Clonque.
It’s a fort built sometime around 1850 to protect England, now just protecting tourists like us from the elements. It has been modernised since being bought by the Trust, with Electricity, heating in the form of storage heaters (although the open fire in the main room is still usable), running water and a lovely shower room. The bedrooms accommodate 13 people in single beds, but with just eight of us we had plenty of space.
We all arrived at the airport at different times, collected in one of the few pubs on the Island and headed for the Fort via ‘Zig Zag Path’.
Many days were spent exploring the island of Alderney walking all the way around, photos will follow of the rest of the island.
We arrived at the lay by sometime after 7pm, it was dark and very cold, we were still some distance from Ty Capel. Being in our new car for its first outing we were hesitant to leave it so far from where we were staying, but we collected our bags regardless and headed up the path into the darkness of the woods. After half an hour or so of walking (stumbling) in the dark we finally found it, in the dark, all on its own.
Ty Capel is an old chapel in Snowdonia, Wales. As well as a Chapel it was also used as a school and but now owned and run by the Landmark Trust as a little holiday home for anyone willing to try and find it. I’d booked it as a surprise for Becky, for the new year of 2009.
We found the key, let ourselves in, lit the fire and started to explore. Ty Capel is a little building with one large room acting as the lounge and dining room with the beds up on a mezzanine floor, under the ‘bed room’ are the kitchen and a lovely little bathroom.
The weekend was spent wrapping up warm and venturing outside for little walks, but soon returning to the house to sit in front of the fire and defrost.
On the Saturday night we had cooked the dinner we’d bought in Betws-y-Coed earlier that day, stacked the fire with wood and sat down to play some games. We hadn’t brought many with us so the game soon turned to hangman.
I’d gone for something tricky with a sentence made up of 4 letters, then 3, then 5 and finally 2 more, I filled in the final question mark to make it a little easier. While getting desperately close to loosing, and me nervous as anything, Becky finally hit upon what it was, with ‘Will you marry me?’.
After some excitable screeching Becky happily agreed as I popped the engagement ring I’d been carrying around for months onto her finger.
You can see some more photos on flickr.
We should have done this earlier, but with the unpacking, washing and backpacker blues, time has slipped away from us, we’ve been back for a week or so now, started settling back into work and catch up with friends.
Lots of people have asked us our favourite places so here’s a few:
Romance and Worry Free Relaxing: Maya island in Fiji
Shopping and Culture: Singapore
Scuba Diving and Idyllic Beaches: Rarotonga in the Cook Islands
Cheap Living (and most probable place to get food poisoning): KL in Malaysia
Most expensive: Tahiti
Extreme Sports, Kayaking, Climbing, Fantastic Scenery, collecting injuries: Quite Obviously, New Zealand
Place we’d like to explore further: Sydney and Australia (and eat those Manly fish and chips!)
If I really had to pick one place from the whole trip to call my favourite? Abel Tasman National Park, sitting in my Kayak with Bex and Zoe singing ‘Tom Cruise Scares Me’ to the seals.
We hope to keep in touch with new friends and you’re welcome to come and visit!
Well back to the chilly uk weather that is summer.
