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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Sunday, September 25, 2016

L is for LLANBERIS

This week we are honouring the letter L as in lion, letter, language, leapfrog, lettuce, llama, lovely, and literature.

While visiting Wales this summer, I learned that lots of places haves names beginning with a double LL...like Llandundno, Llanarth, Llandona, Llandyfrydog, Llanellen, Llangeview, and Llechcynfarwy. Now the "Ll" part at the beginning of the name sounds kind of like a hard "chl..." and Llan means "village" or "parish" and Llech means relating to slate. One of the loveliest places I visited was the village of "Llanberis" which is where you get the train to go up Mount Snowden.  It was a lighthearted day with my friend Jane and the village was lively with tourists, both Welsh people and people from other parts of Great Britain and the world. 

We started off on our own tour of the area, first stopping at a local lake called Padarn Lake, where we saw boats lazily drifting along.  There is an entire country park at this lake (or Llyn, in Welsh) where you can see Dolbadarn Castle, Quarry Hospital - a museum housing the restored ward, operating theatre and various gruesome 19th Century hospital equipment, the National Slate Museum, a diving center, and more.  We stayed on the side of the lake where we got the train up the mountain, and while awaiting our turn, we had an hour to kill.  So we wandered over to the Llanberis Lake Railway where a little steam engine takes you on a five-mile return journey around the lake. Watch the youtube video below and be sure to turn up your sound for the music and some explanations and you can also watch it in full-screen, just clicking on "escape" to go back to normal. I'm going to do this trip next time I'm in Wales.


Then it was time to load the train with the 3 o'clock visitors so off we went.  It wasn't sunny, but it wasn't raining so we locked hands and hoped the weather would hold until we reached the summit, which was an hour's ride away.  We had to laugh as we got about halfway when the rain started coming down in sheets!  Well, we wouldn't get the lovely view from the top, but we did have a coffee and bought some postcards of the view when we got there.  It was a bit better going down, and the sun was shining when we reached the bottom.  It was well worth the ride, though, and I would do it again in a minute.  Enjoy the brief slideshow of our time there. All the photos are mine except two at the end that I found online but don't know the photographer. 

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow
With legendary thanks to the Lady Denise Nesbitt, creator of ABC Wednesday, and to
Lord Roger, our administrator, for all the laborious work he puts into organizing our weeks. Also, thanks to the loyal and lively group of assistants who leap through their day so they can leave all of us lavish and limitless appreciation of our contributions.

20 comments:

Reader Wil said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Reader Wil said...

Blogger Reader Wil said...

When we were in Wales and were sight seeing, we had a Welsh guide, who asked us to pronounce Llandrindod. My children were the only people who pronounced it properly, because the Dutch language knows this "ch"sound very well like in School, Scheveningen, Schiedam.. etc.
Leslie, thank you for your comment. I wish I could see you in person, because of what you wrote.
Best whishes!

photowannabe said...

Wonderful travel memories. My language pronunciation isn't very good at all. I think I would make a mess of those words.

Hildred said...

I am pleased to learn of the double L pronunciation - it amazes me as I get older to find that there are so MANY things I don't know....

carol l mckenna said...

Absolutely gorgeous and such fun ~ what a delightful train ride and Wales looks so beautiful!

Wishing you a wonderful week ~ ^_^

Amit Agarwal said...

Words beginning with Ll..lovely!
Double delight, Leslie:) Thank you:)

MelodyK said...

What an amount of L's ;-)

Lovely or LLovely.... both is good where its concerning you ;-)

Have a nice ABC-day / – week
♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ (ABC-team)
http://melodymusic.nl/abc-wednesday-19l/

Roger Owen Green said...

I see double LL and before reading the piece, I said WALES!

ROG, ABCW

Joy said...

Love those little steam trains. My friend unexpectedly met her next door neighbour on the top of Snowden, how random is that. My welsh roots must be too far back to have any success with LL.

Indrani said...

Wonderfully composed post with L words!
Happy ABCW!

Photo Cache said...

It's lovely to see and read about others travel stories.

My ABC WEDNESDAY

Powell River Books said...

Seems like old world spelling have been preserved. - Margy

Ann said...

I don't think I would try to pronounce Ll, I would probably demolish it. I adore old ruins and the hotel is glorious. Lucky you on a wonderful trip.
Ann

Splendid Little Stars said...

Llanberis looks like a lovely place!
I didn't know about the double L. good to know!

Su-sieee! Mac said...

I had fun pronouncing all the ll words. Your trip was delightful. It's so green.

Arnoldo L. Romero, MLA said...

I can see why the train ride was the highlight of your stay. The Llanberis is a charming town, but the views from the train were breath taking. Blessings!

Trubes said...

I enjoyed your slide show, even better than the youtube one, even though the weather was wet in parts there was more definition in your pictures.
Maybe you should have a change of career and become a professional photographer you'd do well at weddings with your engaging personality and smile!
We're going to mid Wales to celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary later this month. will tell you all about it when i drop you that promised line xx
Love n hugs,
Di.
ABCW team.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

what a lot off Wales LL words.

Suzy said...

Those Welsh names are so hard to pronounce. But Wales is beautiful. Someday I'd like to go back there again.

Unknown said...

nice
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