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.
Wow! What a few very busy days! We have been trying to pack as much in as we can. Our first day was a long sightseeing trip, going via Raffles and the Theatres (they look like giant sparkly bug eyes next to the river) and Parliament house. We have gone in most of the shopping malls – Andys face lit up when he saw the vast Electronics Mall!!
We found the City Mall too, where some citys might have a tunnel under the road Singapore has the City Mall is a 60,000 square feet under the city shopping mall
We ate a traditional ‘Malay’ meal of chicken satay, fried rice and noodles on a street cafe near the very impressive Sultan Mosque. Chanting can be heard during dusk when it is the call to prayer, makes a rather cultural backdrop for dinner! Then, a speedy trip to Orchard Street- the main shopping street before the shops closed at 9.30 (midnight tonight!). Luminous signs and cleverly lit up shops guided us down this long road (think Oxford or Regent Street in London then double it), once the shops were closed we popped back onto the Underground and headed to the river and the Merlion glowing under the nightlights. It is interesting to note here that Rough Guide to Singapore says this is the ugliest statue they have ever seen, well it’s not that bad…
Today was started by us heading off to the beach, Singapore doesn’t have ay natural beaches, so, as Singapore does, they designed, reclaimed and crafted their own on an island to the south, complete with two choices of getting to it, 1. use the monorail located at yet another huge shopping mall on the harbour, over a bridge conviniently dropping you off at the beach or 2. go to the local sky scraper, head to the top and get on the cable car that carrys you over the water to the island, crazy (If you zoom in on the map here, you can see the little cars). Its a lovely beach if a little odd as its facing a harbour so there are huge tankers sailing past.
After leaving our urban beach we headed off to the URA building, rather unexcitingly Singapores Urban Redevelopment Authority but Andy wanted to go since we got here. It was a city designers dream, lots of tiny models, plans, more even smaller models etc. Fascinating… But I did learn something, according to the Singapore designers the Northern Lights in Alaska are man made… hmmmmm (Andy writes: The URA is a really great place to visit! They have 3 models of the Island in various scales on display showing Singapore now and the future, they have displays explaining what they want to do with demos of lighting to be used, mock ups of buildings and areas, its more of a gallery than a planning department. Oh if Somerset County Council had one. If you come to Singapore I think this place should be first on the list! You’ll have more of an understanding of the city and the transportation system they have! Becky however, may not agree)
Finally headed back to the hostel past a food court for noodles, chicken and rice, I think its safe to say we’re going to miss a hearty dinner and drinks for two for 3 pounds.
If you’re wondering about the title they are the three things Singaporians love to do.
