Ancient Yew Trees, A Giant Hand & One Tired Chihuahua
This is the final entry about one of My big days out and about. After leaving the Chirk Aqueduct, That Bearded Guy directed Mum up into The Ceiriog Valley. He made only ONE wrong Navel Gator instruction, but since we were still headed in the right general direction, it was alright. Have I even mentioned that the welsh have insanely crazy skinny curvy lanes ? This was no exception ! Before too long we were back on track and winding our way up into another amazing green valley. No wonder much of North Wales is considered areas of outstanding natural beauty ! I had no idea My new Kingdom was so breathtakingly beautiful ! I learned something too. The Welsh like certain village names so much, that they re use them a lot. Only adding slightly different endings to distinguish them fro another village of the same name. For instance, the village of Llanarmon ( Clan Arm On ) Locally its just Llanarmon, but beyond a short distance they are referred to by Llanarmon DC or Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog. Close to My village of Gwernymynydd, there is another Llanarmon. That one is Llanarmon-yn-lal or Llanarmon YL . Give a town or village a long name, then shorten it so people who are not welsh speakers can actually say it i guess. Like the little town in North Wales with the outrageous name of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysyliogogogoch. Its referred to as Llanfair PG ( rolls handsome green Chihuahua eyes…can’t imagine why ) Mum just loves to pronounce these Welsh village names using American phonetics ! I digress however. We stopped in the quaint little village of Llanarmon DC( <- very cool link worth clicking ). Walked around a little bit absorbing the quaintness like typical tourists, even though the true reason was for me to claim just a little bit more of My ever growing domain. I posed with The Bearded Guy in front of a pub / hotel by the main crossroads ( the crossroads even had wooden signs like those you might see in an old Hollywood movie ) The pub was called The Hand. I am resisting mentioning how nice it wasn’t The Finger.Then The Bearded Guy indulged My Mums fascination for old old churchyard cemeteries. ( click here for a pic of the church ) The small old looking sign on the churchyard gate said ” no dogs” ( actually it said “Na Ci” then below it…No Dogs for the odd non Welsh speakers in a VERY Welsh area ) so Mum had to pick me up and become a Royal litter of sorts. Just as well because of the soft soft soft cushy feel to the ground. This one was full of ancient looking great huge Yew trees that had never had their leaf droppings raked away. Most of the headstones in the older section were dated in the early to mid 1700′s. Those yew trees looked a whole lot older than that ! Many of the grave markers had crumbled into small piles of slate rubble, so perhaps those even predated the 1700′s. Mum just now did a bit of research on the church ( thanks for being such a history geek Mum ! ) There is at least one yew tree in that churchyard that is over 1000 years old ! WOW ! No wonder so many of the headstones were half buried in tree droppings ! One of the mounds Mum walked around is said to be a Bronze Age Burial mound !!! The Bearded Guy snapped a few pictures for My Mum. I was feeling magnanimous and even posed for a few ! Back to My chariot once again and down the road we went in the direction we had come. This time The Bearded Guy didn’t lose us in Glyn Ceiriog. All the little villages we passed through had their own claim to extensive history ! One, Pontfadog, has the oldest Oak tree in Britain. King Henry II ( boo ) has the entire Ceiriog Woods cut down in 1165 ! Guess he heard all the werewolf legends too ! That Bearded Guy was going to take us up and over another steep mountain lane, that would take us back to Llangollen the back scenic way. When we had gotten to the top ridge, the road had evidently been washed out and there was a sign saying it was closed. Ok, this was NOT his fault….but I still raised a brow and began renovation ideas for the back window ledge ! Instead of going back down the ridiculously steep lane we had just climbed with the chariots fingernails, off along the ridge-top we went. The Bearded Guy decided against taking the little road that was for the diverted traffic from the closed one ( did not trust those kinds of diversions ) and since he had found the road we had taken on his map…all was good. I must admit, the views from top there were tremendous ! Mum stopped a few times to let The Bearded Guy take some pictures before the road descended towards Llangollen. We came around a corner, and there in the distance, was the Castle Mum and I were beginning to think The Bearded Guy was pulling our legs about ! Chirk Castle sure looked big !! From what The Bearded Guy said, a family actually lived in part of that castle until very very recently ! The National Trust finally convinced them to move i guess . Mum stopped the car and The bearded Guy jumped out and snapped a few pictures. Sighs heavily….evidently they do not allow Grand PooBahs inside. They will only let Me on the grounds ( which I understand is HUGE and criss crossed with lots of paths ) Not in the formal gardens though…drums handsome Chihuahua toe toes ! I suppose ONE of Edward I’s 700 year old Welsh Marcher fortresses can be claimed as Mine by proxy ! Grins a Charismatically Handsome Chihuahua grin…now which one will I let leave My marks…Mum or That Bearded Guy ?? It was a nice drive home, and a truly wonderful day. I visited and experienced so many ancient places, I was almost afraid my sniffer would give out. My marking leg sure was getting tired and stiff !! The kind of awesome day that took three blogs to tell everyone about !!! Thank you Bearded Guy for the great tour of parts of North Wales ( and England…looks at Mum and snickers…tee hee hee )
Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog AKA Llanarmon DC
Cripes Almighty !! smile will you, people might think you don’t like Chihuahua’s
Are we done yet? The pub’s still open. Make mine a Guinness !
Very Ancient Yew tree and old headstones in Saint Garmons Churchyard
Ssshhhh !! I’m hiding because the sign on the gate says “No Dogs” in two languages !
Riding on My Royal Barge ( well Mums back…was not allowed down on the ground except for a quick dash under a tree ! )
View over the Ceiriog Valley
Looking back in the direction we had just come from
Chirk Castle from a distance ( Mum was stopped in the middle of a crazy skinny curvy welsh lane ! )
One VERY tired and content Grand PooBah a mile from home after an excellent day !
For the complete set of 30 Ceiriog Valley Pictures, click ->> HERE<<-
This is Chopper The Explorer, Grand PooBah of all I survey and King of North Wales, signing off for now……
I raise my Paw and Wag my tail in a *bark out* to my wonderful friend, Debbie with a new last name as of Oct 11, 2008, in Marana/Tucson, AZ !!!!! HellOoOooo and Thank You Debbie Of All Pet Travel ! HelloOoOo and Thank You’s to Rich and Erika, miss and love You’s ! You too, Carmen, All of Vail AZ, …. Lots of kisses and Wags.…Hiya’s to Maxx and Duke ! Chopper The Brave ” Going Where No Chihuahua Has Gone Before “
Tags: All Pet Travel, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Bronze Age, burial mound, Ceiriog Valley, Chihuahua, Chirk Aqueduct, Chirk Castle, Chopper, churchyard, Edward I, Glyn Ceiriog, Guinness Stout, Gwernymynydd, Henry II, Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, Llanarmon-yn-lal, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysyliogogogoch, Llangollen, Marcher Fortress, North Wales, Pontfadog, Saint Garmons Church, The Hand, The National Trust, Wales, werewolves, Yew trees
January 8th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
loved the photos, the ref to the trees, the little dog, the bearded man and the story teller for their inspiration and passion